Cigarettes Convicted at the Mixed Court At the Mixed Court on Tuesday morning, before Mr. Loh (Magistrate) and Mr. King (American Assessor), three Chinese, described respectively as a coolie, a tailor and a hawker, were brought up on remand from last week, charged with having on the 15th instant, at No. 436 Dent Road, manufactured fraudulent imitations of British-American Cigarette Company's cigarettes bearing the trade-mark "Victory."
Mr. W. B. Kennett represented the B.-A. T. Ca., and reminded the Court of the circumstances of the remand Det.-Sgt. Quayle said that the two girls, released last week on security of $10, had not been able to find the security and were now in Court to give evidence.
The first of these girls gave evidence that she saw the three accused at the "factory" frequently. She was engaged to work there by the third accused. Her employment was to select the paper for the making of the cigarettes. She worked only five days and during that time all of the accused made promises of wages, but she had not, received any payment.
The second girl stated that she was engaged as an employee by the po son of the third accused, and had been employed only five days. She knew that the three accused were joint proprietors of the business because the son of the third accused had told her so. The girls received, at the most, 40 cents per day—this when working at late hours. They frequently saw the three accused there. Witness did not know how long the place had been running. Boxes of made cigarettes were placed upstairs after the day's work. Several boxes were sold, but she hack no knowledge as to the amount of sales.
Det.-Sgt, Quayle stated that the books found on the premises showed the quantity of cigarettes sold.
The accused denied that they had any share in the business, two of them stating that they were merely helping a friend who could neither read nor write. One said that he was merely there to report on the amount of work done by the employees.
The Court ordered the accused to pay a fine of $30 each, or in default of payment to undergo one week's imprisonment. The accused were also warned not ta imitate trade marks in future. An order was also made for the destruction of the cigarettes which had been seize Tue leader of a robber band" which has been causing much trouble in Anhui and Kiangsu was caught by the Chapei police at the Shanghai-Nanking Railway Station on Saturday as ha was purchasing a ticket to Chinkiang.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.