What was described as one of the most complicated of a long series of cargo pilfering cases came before Mr. Martin and Magistrate Kuan at the Mixed Court on Wednesday. The accused were Li Yung-kung (24) and Sung Ping (26), tally clerks employed at Holt's Wharf, and they were charged with the larceny of six cases of woollen goods, valued at Tls. 2,400. A shopkeeper, Wong Siao-ziao, of 1910 Sewiaird Road, was also charged with being a receiver of the property.
Mr. C. Mansel Reece, prosecute ing for the Wharf, said the essence of the crime was that it could not have been committed unless there had been a conspiracy between three or four men. A cargo had been stolen which had never before been shipped to Shanghai. As she lay alongside the wharf the ship was watched night and day. The only men who could have known that this particular cargo was in the ship were the accused, who were ship and wharf tally clerks, As regards the manager of the shop, the third accused, he had made a statement that he obtained the goods from a man who spoke like a coolie, a man who gave him no explanation as to where he got them. The manager of the shop Would also no doubt be unable to explain why he mutilated the cloth to remove traces of its owner's marks,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.