As to the making of the agreement now in dispute, witness said that at that time all the shares were held by Chinese, and the company had not yet been registered at Hongkong. It was decided that the commission agreement should be drawn up by way of encouragement for the promoters. At this time, Mr. King, who held 1,000 shares in the company, received no payment from it at all. Witness held 80 shares, and in 1914 Messrs. Parker and Israel tried to force him to part with them. Upon witness telling them that the shares were mortgaged he was told that if the shares were not transferred, they would '"'raise difficulties." Mr. Israel prepared a deed of transfer, making the shares over to Mr. Parker, but witness would not sign and referred the matter to his lawyers. The shares were transferred, but not to Mr. Parker, ang witness left the company because of this incident.
Upon the death of Mr. Tsao, one of the directors, his son approached the company with a claim under an agreement similar to the one now disputed. and the company bought back this agreement for Tls. 2,800.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.