CHINESE CUSTOMS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 9, 10 July 1931, Page 11

CHINESE CUSTOMS

MONEYS IN TRUST

GARDENER'S INSOLVENCY

Some Oriental customs with rcgaid to business and finance t\ liicli seem strange when compared with European methods revealed yesteiday at a' meeting ol the creditors of Sam Yoik, .1 Chinese market gardener and sloie-| keeper, of Gicytown, before the Offici.il A^bignce, ifv. S. Tanslcy. The liabilities of■' the'estatc amounted to £715 105 10d, all of which was owing 1o unsecuied creditors, and the ]iiinupiil item was a sum of .SlOt 7s> oujug to one Gcoige Young, of Grey--luwu, tor w.iges. The amount was quesiioned by the Assignee, and the interpictci, through whom York answered questions, explained that there was nothing unusual among Chinese ill a man owing such'a sum to an employee. It was customary for the employee to diaw small amounts as ho required them, and the balance of his wages was allowed to mount up, sometimes over a long period. The employee might at some timo make a request for a sum to be sent home to China, aud that would be done and deducted from his wages. Mr. J.! Moltzer,: who represented the bankrupt, ( said that in practically all cases in which he had dealt with Chinese he had come across the same system, which revealed a remarkable stato of mutual trust between the employer and ; employee.. . It was invariably found that the amounts could, be checked up' almost to a penny. Air. Tausley said that he had had no incitement of pioof fiom Young, and pointed out that he could claim ioi onl> four months 5 wages. 'MEANS/OF IDENTIFICATION. Some questions later aroso as to the amounts given in the list of unsccuied creditois, and the interpreter's seivices were again in demand to give an explanation. 110 *said that York, who could not : speak: English, employed Young as a soit of manager, and York ( kept a. boaid behind the door of his store, on which he would put down a dcseiiption of any peisons with whom he had done business, such as "the fat man" aud the "short man." Young's job was'to identify the. people and secure their names. Young also handled York's banking account, and the bankrupt was unable to give any information as to some of the persons to whom payments had been made by cheque. STOREKEEPER TRUSTEES. Tho intoiprcter 'having extracted a denial that York gambled, put forwatil the explanation that it was common among Chinese for moneys to bt? placed in trust'with a stoiekecper, and that was piobably the reason for tho eutiies. Not 10 per cent. oC the Chinese employees in this countiy kept banking accounts, their money being handed over to their1 countrymen who were in business. The trust was legarded as inviolable among the Chinese, and he recalled a case which had come before him in Auckland, in which the trustee or' a deceased' estate "had paid over £2000 to a nephew instead of to the widow of the decdascd. The nephew had gambled the -money away, and the s triistcp had been ordered 'by >Mr. Justice, Stringer to make good the £2000 to tho widow imdiina. Tho assets, of' the estate comprised stock-in-trade .valued, at £200; crops and implements, £.150; and book debts calculated to produce £50: ' In his sworn 6tatemont tho bankrupt said thnt lie had been in.business jbn 'Iris 'own ac'coimt during the twerttycight years he had been in New Zealand, 'although from-1922 to 1928 he was in partnership1 at Greytown. At -present ho was gardening and keeping a small store which ho took over ±rom his partner when, ho bought him out 'in 1928. Until about April of last year his takings tfcre approximately £60 per week, tut'they haft since fallen to about.£l2 per woek. .lie'1 attributed tho fall-to, the closing down of. a big store in Greytown, and to the general depression. Last Easter' a '-severe frost had Tuined his crop of cauliflowers. It was decided' to leave the matter in ,tho hands of tho Official Assignee to disposo of the- assots as speedily us possible. *No further "action will lip taken with regard to.tho crops! at present in the ground. '