80
The CHAIRMAN-That concludes the business. Dividend warrants will be ready to-morrow.
HUMPHREY'S
ESTATE AND FINANCE CO., LD.
The report of the directors for the year euding 31st December, 1904, for presentation to the shareholders at the nineteenth ordinary annual general meeting of the Company, to be held at the Registered Offices of the Company, Alexandra Buildings, Des Voeux Road, at noon on Friday, the 10th February, 1905.
Gentlemen,-The directors now beg to submit to you their report and statement of accounts for the year ending 31st December, 1904. be net profit for that period amounts to
To which has to be added the balance brought forward from last
account...
..$135,757.48
9,177.04
$144,934 52
And from this have to be deducted— Remuneration to directors
Remuneration to general managers commission on net profits
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
| 1st Jan., 1904.
Cr.
}
By amount carried forward from 1903 ...... 31st Dec., 1904.
By rents...
By interest
By exchange
By transfer fees
By commission....
By profits on sales of properties
[February 6, 1905, $0. yamen for a debt of a few thousand dollars. 9,177.04 Palm oil reached the mandarin Chas; and the plaintiff not only lost his case, but had to pay 67,626,61
the defendant $1,500. He went home in- 55,744.01
7.152.59 furiated, determined not to pay. What did the de- fendants do ? They hired and sent about a dozen 242.46 women, old and young, to his shop to eat and 26,848.25 sleep there, of course at the expense of the $167,083.96 Flaintiff, and to make as much noise as they could. After standing this for a day or two the plaintiff quietly hired six or seven lepers to stay in his shop. The women cleared off then,
293.00
THE HONGKONG ICE COMPANY, LIMITED.
TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT,
The general managers have pleasure in sub- mitting a statement of the company's accounts for the year 1904.
Including $5,844.57 brought forward from the previous year, and after deducting $20,000 paid as an interim dividend of $4 per share, the balance at credit of profit and loss account is $103,356.77 which it is recommended should be appropriated as follows:-
LOST HIS HEAD.
A native by name Wong Ngah Chew for falsely pretending to be a Japanese and a Roman Catholic, thereby committing fraud, in- terfering in matter of law, and complaining against the mandarins, was arrested in Sam Sui, tried before the Nam Hoi Magistrate, and sentenced to capital punishment. A few days ago he was tied hand and foo, and carried to the execution ground and decipitated.
CHINESE JUSTICE.
A woman, Li Mak She, of middle age, short and thin, has undergone the most ornel and barbarous punishment of lingtsz, by being tied 25,000.00 to a cross and out into slices, for having killed 8,000.00 her husband and mother-in-law by rat-poison. 5,356.77
A final dividend of $13 per share, $65,000.00 Provision for contingencies, To write off property A/c., To carry forward,
5 per cent, commission on
net profits
..$6,787.87
6,787.87
13,575.74
The accounts are as follows:-
ASSETS.
Leaving available for appropriation $131,358.78 The directors recommend that a dividend of 90 cents per share on the fully paid-up shares and 22 cents per share on the $2.50 paid-up shares or nine per cent. on the paid-up capital be paid to the shareholders, absorbing $119,400.75 and that the balance of $.1,958.03 b, carried to new profit and loss account.
DIRECTORS.
Mr. C. Ewens having resigned, J. Scott Harston was invited to fill the the vacancy and accepted a seat on the Board. In accordance with rule 76 of the articles of association, Messrs. J. S. Van Buren, J. Scott Harston, H. W. Slade, A. G. Wood and Ho Tung retiro, but being eligible offer themselves for re-election.
AUDITORS.
The accounts have been audited by Messrs. W. H. Gaskell and W. Hutton Potts, who offer themselves for re-election.
HENRY HUMPHREYS,
Chairman,
Hongkong, 27th January, 1905.
The accounts are as follows:-
BALANCE SHEET.
For the year ending 31st December, 1904.
Capital account:-
LIABILITIES.
126,890 shares at $10 each 23,110 shares at $2.50 each...
Insurance reserve fund ...
Fund for equalisation of dividends
Sundry creditors
Unclaimed dividends
Profit and loss account :-
Amount carried forward from
1903
For the year 1904
C. $
Property account.. Extension account Invested in :---
$103,356.77
JARDINE, Matheson & Co.,
General Managers.
Hongkong Fire Insurance Co.'s share China Fire Insurance Co.'s sharo Canton Insurance Office's share Cash on hand...
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank on current
LeCount
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank on deposit Outstanding accounts. Accounts receivable Ice in stock
Coal in stock.
Fire insurance, uexpired promium
Capital
LIABILITIES.
Accounts payable. Ammonia reserve account Provision for contingencies Profit and loss account
C.
108,000.00 46,367.98
225.00 85.00
now.
A PANIC.
Canton is experiencing severe cold just It is snowing, and mendicants are dying of cold and hunger. On account of the rumour that a number of firms in Hongkong are on the brink of insolvency, commercial credit here has been considerably" shaken. Indeed, the mer chants were in something like a panic, until a few leading merchants came up from Hong- kong and assured them that they would be responsible in necessary cases.
120.00 HONGKONG COLLEGE of medi-
CINE FOR CHINESE.
313.98
180.00 496.00 128.61
29,825.82
At the Legislative Council Chambers on 70,000.00
7,092,20 the 27th Jan. H.E. the Governor presented 719.60 diplomas to successful students of this college. Among those present were: Dr. Francis Clark (Dean), Hon. Mr. F. H. May, C.M.G. (Rector), Dr. J. C. Thomson (Sec. and Treasurer), Hon $283,554.22 Dr. Ho Kai (Rector's Assessor), Drs. Pearos, Gimlett, Atkinson, Hunter, Barnett, and Bate. son Wright, Hon. Mr. Brewin, Rev. C. H Hickling, Hon, Mr. Wei Yuk, and Messrs. 9,421.10 David Wood (Auditor), J. Dyer Ball, G. Pieroy, 35,000.00 A. Rumjahn, Young Hee, Tsoi Kwai Ng, Tong 103,356.77 Lai Chum and Woo Ai Chan.
$ C. 125,000.00 10,776.35
$293,554.22
PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT. To salaries, wages, and general raue ex-
penses
To General Managers' commission
To auditor's fee
To interim dividend of 10 per cent. | aid on
2nd August, 191....
By balance brought forward from last year By receipts for ice and cold storage
By rents received (less Crown rent and
taxes paid)
$ 0. $1,268,900 57,775
-1,326,675.00 203,994.24
To balanco
50,000.00
91,498.63 3,079.00
$ 9,177.04 135,757.48
144,934.52
$1,820,181.39
By interest
ASSETS.
3 ..1,053,285.05 674,421.90 85,241.32
528,00
127.08
6,578.04
$1,520,181.39
Amount invested in property..
Amount invested on mortgage
Accounts receivable.
Office furniture
Fire insurance premia unexpired
Cash in Hongkong and Shanghai Ban
and in hand..
PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT.
To allowance to General Managers to cover
31st Dec., 1904.
Dr.
1
To fire insurance premia
To Crown rent.
To general charges
office rent and salaries of secretary
and olerks
To repairs
To auditors' fees
To balance
0.
$ 0. 4,801.02 3,263.28 2,976.54
By transfer fees
CANTON.
C.
Dr. CLARK, in calling upon His Excellency to present the diplomas, said:
Your Excellency, I have the honour to present
you
$
to four students of the Hongkong College of 35,361.35 Medicine for Chinese, who have, after five years 2,000.00 of real hard work, earned the proud distinction 150.00 of becoming Licentiates of that College. The profession of Medicine is one that calls for many 37,514.35
high qualities on the part of its votaries, and it 20,000.00 is our earnest hope that these gentlemen will 103,356.77 worthily maintain the honour and dignity of their calling; that they will be exemplary in
$160,871.12 the discharge of their civil duties; that they
$
0.
5,844.57 150,855.72
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
2,318.76 1,839.07 13.00
will not look upon their admission to our ranks solely as a means of earning a livelihood- though truly the labourer is worthy of his hire in this as in all other earnest work-but rather that they will remember that it is to extend relief their especial privilege and consolation to their fellow creatures in the $169,871.12 hour of their affliction; and, lastly that they will assist in spreading the light of learning among their countrymen, whose eyes have yet to be opened to many of the marvellous truths of modern science. We have much to learn from that ancient nation whose vast Empire lies beside us, for are they not models of patience and industry for all the world to imitate ? But in the matter of the relief of human suffering the East has lagged sadly behind the West, and though the Asian pharmacopeia contained many of the most potent drugs now known to Western Science for long years before their names even were known to na, yet their use has been hampered and impeded by all that overgrowth of mysticism, astrology, and superstition from which the more robust thought of our own nation has long since shaken itself free. Yot we must not think that China's leaders are altogether indifferent to the onward progress of science, for did not one of the
1st February, 1905.
A GOOD BTORY.
Just about the end of the year, creditors expect their debtors to settle all accounts, so as to begin "square" in the new year. When the debtors will not, or cannot pay, the creditors, in order to enforce the quicker settlement of their accounts, will sometimes go themselves or send their poor relatives to the debtor's house 2,858.60 to sleep and eat until the debt is paid. Here
250.00
is the story of how one debtor defeated the 144,934.52
plan of his creditors. A man named Chan, $167,089.96 who keeps a shop in Ho Pan Street, sued his debtors Chow and others at the mandarin
8,000.00