CHINESE GO FREE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 309, 21 March 1928, Page 14

CHINESE GO FREE

ILLEGALLY HELD ABOARn SHIP m MASTER AN INNOCENT PARTI (From Our Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, Tuesday The three Chinese held aboard British ship Yoseric are to be releak, j under the orders of Mr. Justice Bla ; I who to-day granted the application f a writ of habeas corpus. nlor Mr. L. P. Leary acted for the | Cheng Fong. Chen Foo Ging, and Ch. Ling Gui. and Mr. A. Moody sented Captain Sydney Letton. miof the ship, who opposed the appM~ : tion. The Judge said the evidence of n, applicants reached him through I? medium of interpreters, and it . difficult to derive anything Irom a facial expressions of the witness One therefore had to look at probabc ties. Tlte question was whether u.t~ Chinese ever signed the ship's articlk The captain said the articles signed in the presence of a Brtti s ' Consult, but he himself was not pre« ent, and was not able to say whether any of the applicants were ainoor those who signed. The only person who could give eyi dence on the point, continued his Hoii our, was the chief officer, and he not present. The chief officer seemed to have had doubt as to whether the me: were not substitutes. The men gat! no trouble on board, and in tho nit months they were on the ship thmade no complaint. They were prof ably fatalists, and were inclined to ml things as they came.

No one had disputed their evidence In order to disregard entirely wh they had said, one had to assume that they had some profit to gain. As i; was, a great deal of money was befcc spent to secure their liberty for them His Honour said there could be a, suggestion against the captain cr anof the officers, all of whom hud giveevery facility to investigate the posi. tion. They were anxious to be fair and were not in any way to blame. No order was made against th e master of the ship for costs, his Honour holding that the master Ini rightly defended the motion for tht writ. The men were ordered to be discharged from the ship.