WATCHMEN, Jullement was delivered in the U. S. Court for China on Sept. 21 by the Commissioner, Mr. A. Krisel in the ease of Wazir Singh r. Th Robert Dollar Ca.
Plaintiff sued as a sergeant "of watchmen, and as assignee for 11 other Sikh watchmen, for wages for July and for an additional month's wages in liew of notice, bared on alleged wrongful dismissal defendants on July 17. Defendants entered a general denial and the issue raleed in the ease was simply, Was the employment of plaintiff and his acsignors a fixed, definite employment or not?" It appeared from the evidence that Mr. H. E.
Gibson, a representative of defendants, applied to Capt. Kennedy, of the S.'M. P. for assistance in the employment of 30 Sikh watchmen, and that plaintiff and his assignors were among those employed on Capt. Kennedy's recommendation. No written contract was made and there way no evidence of any oral contract of employment, fendants maintained that, as the contract of employment "was not specific as to the time of employ. ment, such employment could terminated at any time by either general rule in appeared to be that a contract of employment, in which there was 19 expressed or implied provision as to duration, should terminate at the will of either party.. However under some of the decisions, general circumstances and customs surrounding each case were held rafficient to take the same out of the general rule, The only sue-rounding circumstance to which ho could refer was the testimony of Capt. Kennedy, wherein he stated that, while Mr. Gibson did not inform him of the terms of employment, he understood that the watchmen taken on by the Robert Dollar Ca. sould receive $23 per month, the sergeant receiving $38 per month, so he informed the watchmen.' This testimony—was given by a witness for the defence. Plaintiff produced no other testimony to support his ense. As the burden of proof rests on plaintiff, the Conimissioner found that he had failed to sustain this burden and that the surrounding circumstances in this case were not nuficient to alter or vary the general rule.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.