52 
[February, 1902.] 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
Vol. VIII. No. 86. 
COMMERCIAL LAW INTELLIGENCE. 
Freight Dispute. — In the Admiralty Division, an appeal 
was heard from a decision of the Judge of the County Court at 
Cardiff. The Owners of the Dowlais (s. ) sued Messrs. 
Budd & Co. for £y. 6s. 3d. balance of freight. Under a 
charter-party dated 12th January, 1900, plaintiffs agreed to 
carry for defendants a cargo of pit-props from Bordeaux to 
Newport on the payment of freight at the rate of 6s. 3d. per ton 
of 20 cwt. delivered "or on intake weight less 2 per cent, at 
charterers' option." The intake weight of the cargo was 1,272 
tons, and the weight delivered was 1,277 tons. When the 
freight was paid defendants claimed to pay freight on the intake 
weight less 2 per cent. Plaintiffs contended that the 2 per cent, 
option must be declared before bulk was broken, and that as 
defendants had not declared it freight must be paid on the 
delivered weight. The County Court judge had held that the 
option was given for the benefit of the charterers only. He 
considered that defendants could not fully exercise thefoption 
until the cargo had been delivered and weighed, and that until 
that was done they were not in a position to know how the 
option could be exercised so as to give them the benefit which it 
was proved by the charter-party they should have. He had 
given judgment for defendants. Plaintiffs now appealed, 
contending that the judge’s decision would have the effect of 
depriving the shipowner of his lien for freight. Their lordships 
dismissed the appeal with costs. Sir Francis Jeune, in giving 
judgment, said that in his opinion the option must be exercised 
when it is necessary it should be exercised, or, to put it in a 
more concrete.way, either at the time of the tender or at the 
time of payment If the lien was insisted upon, of course, he 
said, a tender or payment must be made, and in those circum- 
stances necessity arises then for exercising the option, but if the 
lien was not insisted on then the necessity did not arise till later, 
namely at the time of payment. Leave to appeal was refused. 
Preference Shareholders’ Eights. — In th ■ Chancery Divi- 
sion Mr. Justice Farwell delivered judgment in the case of Bond 
v. the Barrow Hematite Steel Co., Ltd., by which the 
plaintiffs, who are preference shareholders in the defendant 
company, claimed that profits made by the company since 
1898, amounting to nearly a quarter of a million, should he 
paid to them as dividend. Mr. Justice Farwell stated that the 
contention of the plaintiffs was that they were entitled by con- 
tract to be paid a preferential dividend out of the balance to 
the credit of the profit and loss account in each year, and 
that the company should not appropriate any part of such 
balance to reserve or carry over one shilling until they had 
been paid in full. He did not think that the resolutions creat- 
ing the preference shares gave that class of shareholders new 
rights by rescinding the articles relating to declarations of 
dividends, formation of reserve fund, and the like. The resolu- 
tions must be read as subject to the provisions of the articles 
of association, and the plaintiffs' case failed. 
Passengers and their Tickets.— In the Court of Session, 
Edinburgh, Mr. S. Cunningham sued the Glasgow and 
Inveraray Steamboat Company, Ltd., far ^500 damages. 
On the 4th September last plaintiff bought two first-class 
tickets at St. Enoch Station, Glasgow, for the Inveraray tour 
from Glasgow. On the return journey on the Lord of the Isles , 
the portions of the tickets applicable to the stage between 
Inveraray and Greenock were collected on the steamer, and 
two checks marked "cabin" given to the plaintiff. Plaintiff 
not expecting to be asked for the checks again, did not take 
particular care of them, and he forgot where he put them. 
When the steamer arrived at Greenock plaintiff on getting on 
the gangway to go ashore, was asked for his tickets. He 
explained that he had given up his tickets, whereupon the 
checks were demanded. On plaintiff failing to produce these 
at once, he was, he alleged, violently pulled off the gangway 
and the steamer was started. The officials refused to allow 
him to land at Glasgow until he had given his name and 
address to a policeman. It was contended that the whole of 
the proceedings were malicious and unwarrantable. The jury 
returned a verdict for plaintiff, and assessed the damages at 
j£i 5°. holding that the check ticket which plaintiff had was not 
a receipt showing payment for his fare, and was not a substitute 
for his travelling ticket. 
Sale of Food and Drugs Act. — In the case of Smith v. 
\V is DEN and Others, the question arose whether the sale of 
marmalade which contained 13 per cent, of starch glucose con- 
stituted an offence under s. 6 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 
1875. I hat section makes it an offence to sell to the prejudice 
of the purchaser any article of food not of the nature, sub- 
stance and quality demanded by the purchaser. The evidence 
showed that marmalade was a preserve composed of fruit boiled 
with cane or beet sugar, but that there was no standard, and the 
recipes varied ; that glucose was used by many manufacturers, 
and prevented the marmalade from crystallizing and prevented 
fermentation and mildewing, and was not injurious to health. 
The magistrates convicted, and the conviction was upheld by the 
Quarter Sessions. The Divisional Court quashed the conviction 
and the Lord Chief Justice said that the difference between the 
article demanded and that supplied must be to the prejudice of 
the purchaser; the object of the Act was the protection of 
health ; in the present case the article was rather the better for 
the addition of the glucose. 

BRITISH CONSULAR REPORTS. 
Chile. — The official statistics of the foreign trade of Chile 
for 1900 are summarised in a report issued by the Foreign Office. 
Last year the trade amounted to 296^ million dollars {or pesos), 
or 22J millions sterling, at the nominal exchange of is. 6d. per 
peso. This is a very substantial improvement— over two millions 
sterling' — on the trade of 1899. The imports amounted to nearly 
95 millions sterling, and the exports to over 12.^ millions, being 
an improvement under both heads on the previous year, but 
chiefly in imports. _ Great Britain, Belgium and Portugal are the 
only European nations whose imports to Chile have declined ; 
German imports have increased considerably, as have those of 
the United States and France. But Australia and India have 
also increased their share of the import trade, the increase of 
Australia alone being double that of Germany, owing to the large 
quantity of coal (valued at ^604,111 in 1900) the former sends to 
Chile. Wheat, copra and tallow are other important items in 
the trade of the Commonwealth. If die British Empire rather 
than the United Kingdom alone be taken, British trade with 
Chile has increased and not decreased. The total imports of 
the United Kingdom to Chile in 1900 amounted to ^£3,186,145, 
those of Germany amounting to a little over two-and-a-half 
millions, and of the United States to less than one million. The 
total for the British Empire was just under fou; millions sterling, 
or nearly half the total import trade of Chile, on which the editor 
of the Chilian official publication remarks: — "The result is, 
therefore, that the United Kingdom occupies the first place 
among all the. providers of our articles of consumption, a pre- 
eminence maintained for many years, and which the efforts of 
the other nations have not sufficed to break down." Germany’s 
share of Lite imports was 26 and the United States’ share 9 per 
cent, of the whole. It seems, also, that the apparent decrease, 
as compared with 1899, in the trade of the United Kingdom is 
due to a rearrangement of the statistics, whereby Australian coal, 
which formerly appeared under the United Kingdom, is now 
included with other imports from the Commonwealth. At the 
Buffalo Exhibition of 1901 the Chilian exhibits carried all before 
them amongst South American countries. They consisted 
mainly of wines, cognacs, furniture, textiles, drugs, hides, 
decorative leather, candles, parquet flooring, boots, cigars, per- 
fumery and soaps. The main imports which show a tendency 
to increase are sugar, coal, cashmeres, flannels, wheat, tallow, 
glassware, galvanized iron, cottons, woollens, and stearine. 
Tea is also increasing and is ousting matd, which is the drink of 
the country people. It is curious to note that in spite of the 
heavy duty of 60 per cent, which has been imposed on certain 
articles for the past three years, most of these articles show a 
steady increase year by year. Although British trade with Chile 
is in a very satisfactory condition, the report gives a long list of 
goods in which it ought to have a larger share. It is admitted 
that there has been a great improvement in British methods in 
the last two years, especially in such matters as trade lists and the 
number and class of commercial travellers. The increase in the 
export trade is due to more nitrate being sent, and to the 
development oi the copper industry around Coquintbo. In 
exports the British Empire remains pre-eminent ; it took all 
but three-quarters of the whole last year. Nitrate absorbed 
three-quarters of this share, copper, chinchilla, beans, guano and 
wool being the chief remaining items. British trade promises 
to hold its own in the future in Chile ; British merchants resident 
there do not hold the same position that they did in the old days 
when they had no rivals ; but the German firms in the country 
now sell British goods,, and this will probably continue -so that 
British trade does not lose. On the other hand British merchants 
in the country are proving thamselves fully equal to the changed 
requirements of the day, and there are still great possibilities for 
British commercial energy in the country. 
France.— The Cycle and Motor car Industry in 
France. — The Consul-General at Paris, in his last report on 
French trade, states that in 1900 the number of registered cycles 
in France was 975,878, of motor-cycles 11,252, and of auto- 
mobiles 5,286. The department of the Seine had 212,510 cycles, 
3,449 motor-cycles, and 1,436 automobiles, the Nord and Seine- 
et-Oise came next in importance with over 40,000 cycles each. 
The use of motor cars has made such strides in France in recent 
years that it has given rise to an important and ever-increasing 
industry, France being probably ahead of all other countries in 
this respect as well as in the numerous subsidiary industries 
which it creates and fosters. Of late numerous competitions 
have been held to popularise the use of alcohol in place of 
petroleum essence for propulsion, and it is thought that one 
result of this substitution will be an improvement in the position 
of the cultivators of all crops from which alcohol can be extracted. 
The motor race from Paris to Berlin is said to have brought orders 
to motor manufacturing firms in France to the value of nearly 
four-and-a-half millions sterling. A decree of March 10, 1899, 
as modified by one of September 11, 1901, governs the driving of 
motor-cars. The effect of these is that there must be no leakage 
from reservoirs containing explosive or inflammable matter ; the 
mechanical parts must be so arranged that there is no noxious 
odour, and that the noise does not frighten horses ; that all cars 
weighing more than 7 cwt. must have a reversing gear, while all 
cars whatever must have two separate and efficient brakes ; each 
car is to be numbered and have a certificate from a Government 
engineer that it fulfils the requirements of the law ; every driver 
must have a certificate of competency ; the speed is never to 
exceed i8f miles an hour in open country, 12^ in populous 
places, and the pace of a man on foot in encumbered and 
narrow passages. Every car must have a trumpet or horn and a 
white and green light in front. Road races can only take place 
by the special authority of the Prefect or Prefects, but in no 
circumstances is the speed in populous centres to exceed 12^ 
miles an hour. The regulations for the examination of drivers 
and for sizes of the lettering on cars are very detailed and strict, 
but the examiners of drivers are informed that their extensive 
powers should be regarded by them, not as a means of hindering 
a rising industry which deserves every encouragement, but of 
granting facilities for it, always bearing in mind the safety of 
the public on the roads. 

FOREIGN CONSULAR REPORTS. 
Demand for Pitch.. — The Compagnie des Mines de la 
Grande Combe, 17 rue Haxo, Marseilles, state that they are 
desirous of receiving offers to supply about 5,000 tons of coal-tar 
pitch, for immediate deliver)' at the port of Marseilles or Cette. 
This company’s annual needs amount to 30,000 tons. The 
Compagnie des Mines de la Grande Combe have heretofore 
placed their contracts for tar (brai) in England, and they 
intimate that, if American exporters can deliver this article in 
Marseilles or Cette for less than 47 francs ($9.07) per ton, it will 
not be difficult to come to terms. These buyers supply samples 
to importers, and require that deliveries be in conformity there- 
with. This merchandise is not packed in barrels by the English 
exporters, but is dumped into the vessel’s hold, like coal. It is 
probable that a freight rate about on a level with that demanded 
for coal could be obtained for pitch. Latest quotations for 
whole cargoes from the United States to Mediterranean ports 
are 9s. 6d. ($2.31), and still better offers have been made quite 
recently. United States Consul Kehl reports from Stettin that 
the James Stevenson Aktien Gesellschaft, of Stettin, wish to buy 
coal-tar pitch. The article must be almost pure, not to exceed 
one-half of 1 per cent, of ash. The Consul is informed that 
the present supplies of the firm come from Great Britain, and 
the cost is about 40s. per ton c.i.f. Stettin. Correspondence 
can be conducted in English. 
Photographic Apparatus in Brazil. — The United States 
Consul at Bahia reports on an opening for photographic 
apparatus and supplies in Brazil, stating that the camera that 
seems most popular is the smaller size of what is styled "cycle 
camera," with rapid rectilinear lens, bulb shutter and single 
swingback. A decided preference is shown for plate holders of 
metric sizes, doubtless because supplies have always been 
imported into Brazil in those sizes, the metric system being 
used there. The papers in use are gelatine printing-out paper, 
both plain and matte, and a quick-printing developing paper. 
The Consul adds that until recently the professional photo- 
graphers had for the most part been using iron developers, but 
now they seem to have turned to metol and hydroquinone. Two 
are relying chiefly on pyro. The amateur uses metol and 
hydroquinone, either separate or combined, while a few are 
using glyein. 
Rhodesia. — Commerce and Industry. — The United 
States Consul at Elbenstoek thus summarises the commercial 
possibilities of Rhodesia. Situated in the heart of the Dark 
Continent, bounded on every side by the colonies of Great 
Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and Belgium, lies a country 
as yet but little known, controlled by a great stock company 
famed for its^ commercial and political enterprises in South 
Africa. The Chartered Company is to Rhodesia what the East 
India Company was once to India. Rhodesia is divided into 
two parts— Mashona and Matabeleland south of the Zambesi 
and North-East and North-West Rhodesia north of that river. 
The whole country is extraordinarily rich in mineral treasures. 
Apart from the gold mines, which in spite of the war and 
scarcity of labour, yielded during 1900 nearly 166,000 ounces, 
there are silver, copper, tin, antimony, arsenic, lead and coal. 
Railroad building in Rhodesia, according to German reports, is 
making rapid progress. The stretch from Bulawayo northward 
to Salisbury will soon be completed, thus connecting Cape 
Town- by rail with Beira, the seaport town of Portuguese 
Gasaland. The great Cape-Cairo railway, planned by Mr. Cecil 
Rhodes — an enterprise of immense importance to all Africa — 
will intersect Rhodesia from north to south. There are already 
some 3,000 miles of roadway, with intervening cart roads, 
built in South Rhodesia, In regard to agriculture, much 
remains to be done. The rich soil is eminently adapted to 
growing corn, oats, potatoes, tobacco, and even coffee. The 
vast territory adjacent to the head waters of the Zambesi and 
its tributaries forms the Mississippi Valley 'of Africa. It has a 
great future, and the next ten years will witness a large 
emigration, not only to Rhodesia, but to England’s other South 
African colonies as well. It will be the policy of the Chartered 
Company and of the British Government to encourage English 
settlers to locate in these colonies. The discovery of gold in 
South Africa induced many Americans to locate on the Rand. 
The opening up of vast tracts of land favourable to fanning 
piay produce similar results. After the war is over, there will 
be a great demand for corn-planters, harrows, cultivators, 
reapers, mowers, hay-rakes, seeders, ploughs, disks, thrashers, 
corn-shellers, wagons, carriages, carts, harness, saddles, wind- 
mills, and every other piece of machinery or utensil necessary 
to run a farm. South Africa as a farming conntry has a future, 
and the British Government, from a political point of view, will 
make doubly welcome settlers of the English-speaking race. 
Rubber Culture iu Venezuela. — United States Consul 
Goldschmidt transmits an article published in the Venezuelan 
Herald , which, the Consul notes, is of unusual interest to all 
who wish to study the cultivation and exploiting of rubber, on 
account of the details and apparent knowledge of a subject 
generally very little known. The article is by Dr. Lucien 
Morisse, who, in the course of explorations on the Orinoco and 
in the district of the Rio Negro, has executed much medical 
and botanical work. He states that Orinoco or Cuidad Bolivar 
caoutchouc is exactly the same as that found on the Amazon, 
and known as Para caoutchouc ; it is extracted from the 
same tree, and the method of collection is similar. The 
various classes of caoutchouc found in these regions are 
species of Hevea , which belong to the great family of 
Euphorbiacece ; the caoutchouc of the Orinoco is, therefore, the 
true Syringa Braziliensis. The product of the caoutchouc is 
everywhere the same — the Para — except, perhaps, that of 
Guayana, which, when the sheet is fresh, is of a bluish white ; 
when, however, it is dry, it is impossible to distinguish it from 
the pure Para. These species are very different from that which 
comes from Africa, especially Madagascar, which is generally the 
product of Ficus elastica (a fig and not a Hevea), and are 
superior to them, Para caoutchouc being most highly esteemed 
and the dearest, on account of its several qualities. Ficus 
elastica is found on the Amazon and the Orinoco, and pro- 
duces a milk ; but, naturally, in the regions where the Hevea 
are so numerous and productive, that species is not exploited. 
It is curious to remark that while the Hevea is called Syringe in 
Brazil, it is called caoutchouc in Venezuela, where the Syringa 
is called the Ficus. All these various caoutchoucs, known as 
Para, generally reach the markets of Europe in the form of 
large loaves of first, second and third quality, and the residue 
in the shape of balls. The sap of the Hevea is a milk found in 
the bark of the tree, which ascends and descends naturally 
like all sap, according to the season of the year, and advantage 
is taken of this law to gather it by means of incisions made in 
the trunk, the product of which is more abundaut as the 
incisions approach the dermis. The Hevea, when cut or 
tapped, ratoons from the foot, and those ratoons, at the end of 
five years, yield a product equal to that of the original tree. 
The Venezuelan Government forbids the natives to fell these 
trees ; but this prohibition is altogether unnecessary, as it 
relates to an immense forest, measuring upwards of 30,000,000 
hectares {74,000,000 acres), where caoutchouc exists in abund- 
ance, and which it would require millions and millions of 
hands to exploit, whereas it only contains three or four 
thousand Indians, not more than the tenth part of whom are 
engaged in the work. Fifty thousand immigrants might well 
be introduced for the purpose of cutting the largest number 
of trees possible without the least fear of destroying the 
forests, and the work carried on in this fashion would, in 
Dr. Morisse's opinion, be more efficacious and productive. 
On the Upper Orinoco the caoutchouc trees begin to be found 
in considerable numbers only below the Falls of Maipure ; on 
the affluents of that river, to the west or the Meta, Meseta, 
Tomo, Chuparo, Vicheda, the Atabapo, and to the right of the 
Catanopo, no appreciable number is found. The Venezuelan 
Guayana, or Black River, contains a number of species as far 
as Maroa ; from that point they generally become rarer, but 
they again abound below San Carlos, and from there on they 
are found at varying distances all along the Rio Negro up to its 
confluence with the Amazon. 
Textiles in Greece. — The Austro-Hungarian Consul at 
Pirmus, Athens, writing to his Government, notes that there is 
a large and profitable field in Greece for the sale of textiles, 
the value of the imports being from 16,000,000 to 18,000,000 
francs per annum. The chief demand is for the cheaper kinds 
of shirting and madapolants, the imports of which exceed 
2,000,000 francs. Most of the demand is met by England, 
Austria - Hungary following with about one - fifth of the 
amount of England’s total trade. Recently attempts have 
been made to place Dutch shirting, but without success. A 
considerable trade is also done in all-white handkerchiefs, or 
white wfith coloured borders. The trade is exclusively in 
English hands. 

Cleveland Iron Output.— It is believed that in the year 
1901 there will have been produced about 2,800,000 tons of pig 
iron in what is inadequately named the "Cleveland” district— 
the district that stretches from Skinningrove in Cleveland to 
Jarrow and Consett, in Durham, This vast production is less 
than that of the preceding year by some 6,000 tons weekly, 
or thereabouts. Naturally, the effect of this reduction has been 
felt in the Northern industries. It represents some loss of work 
at the iron mines (part of the iron that would have been used is 
imported) ; it indicates a much reduced use of coke ; and there 
is also an effect on the railway traffic, so that the diminution in 
the production points to a considerable falling-off in the employ- 
ment of labour. Nor is there any early likelihood of recovery, 
for at the present time, the iron manufacture cannot be said to 
be a very profitable one, the cost of some of the raw materials 
being so high. It is quite possible that we may see a further 
reduction of the production of pig iron in the north-east of 
England in the course of the next few months — unless it should 
be kept off by a lower range of prices for raw materials for the 
feeding of the blast furnaces. —Newcastle Chronicle . 
