On Monday last at the Mixed Court, before Mr. Grant Jones and Magistrate Vu, Liu Chnoshang, clark, was charged with eon-spiring with D. 0. Chock, not in UN
297 custody, a Customs shroff in the employ of Messrs. Macbeth, Paw-sey & Ca., to steal certain money belonging to the complainants. He was further charged with and abetting D. C. Chock who was en'rus'ed with a cheque for Tls. 62, the proceeds of which were to be paid to the Chinese Customs, in respect of duty upon certain merchandise, to convert and appropriate the same. There were, also further charges of aiding and abetting D. O. Chock to defraud the Customs.
According to the prosecution it was alleged that the defendant and D. C. Chock had ao different times obtained from the complainance the full amount of money due the Customs on the declared of goods, which they were importing, to have succeeded in paying the Customs a smaller amount and vw have kept the balance. As to how this was actually done there was no proof, but it was suggested that one way might have been to send in an application for release of the goods claring the true value when a duty memo for the necessary amount would be handed back by the Oustoms. By then passing in another application giving the value of the goods much lower than in the firs instance a fresh duty memo might be obtained bearing lower figure than the first. The correct: memo would be dhe one on which the merchant would pay his shroff and the incorrect one would be that on which the latter would pay the Customs bank before obtaining the receipt on which the bill of lading would be suitably endorsed. It was suggested in this case that, however the trick was worked, the balance between the amount handed to the man in custody and the amount paid to the Customs was setained. TU was alleged that the applications produced in Court by the Customs did not declare the real value of the goods and that they bore the signature of the defendant.
The defendant wold the' Courb that some time after the Dunlop case in 1914 he was approached by a man named Texe who wanted to borrow some Customs application forms. As he had been a neigh-hour of the defendant's family for some ten years he, after demurring, lens him " number of forms which be tad signed. Later he heard that the forms were being used to his detriment and demand ed their return. Some were eventually handed back to him, but how many, he did not know, for he tore them' up without counting them when he received them back from Tore. He denied all knowledge of the present charge.
The Asseesor said tha the defence was as feeble a one as he had ever hoard and sent the defendant prison for seven years.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.