1
May 14, 1906.j
could live in the country for about $2 a month. She would now have to pay $5.
-Has the price of food "gone up so high?
Yes. In former times one could get 40 or 50 cattles of rice for a dollar; now one can only get 20 catties a dollar.
· Háve house rents increased in Canton ?
No, only the cost of food. Most of the Chin ese in the villages possess their own houses, but
not in the cities.
In Hongkong I have noticed houses and shops in Des Voeux Road empty.
Z
Yes. Business is very dull in Hongkong, Many shops in the central district are unoccupied. Previously a man would have to pay $100, $400, or perhaps 81,000 as a cumshaw to get a house or shop in that district, but now there are many notices" Shop to let". Two or three years ago rent collectors generally made large profits, in the way of cumshawa, by letting out flats,
Although there are many houses standing empty the landlords will not accept the offer of lower rents. Why?
I don't know. That is their custom. Many people prefer to move to the villages rather than stay here and be troubled with the stringent sanitary regulations.
What about clerks earning $40 a month? Oh, they object to live in a so-called cubicle and generally send their wives to the country. Even coolies send their wives to the country and lodge in so-called cubicles.
[Considering the language difficulty, which was a bar to the free expression of ideas on both side, this must be regarded as a very interest- ing interview. The reason that landlords pre- for empty houses here and there to a genera! lowering of rents seems plain enough.—ED.]
CORRESPONDENCE. COMPANY REPORTS IN HONGKONG.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS.'
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case
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
| Occasionally, one sees some shareholder, more plucky than his fellow-shareholders, or, per- hape, financially more independent, makes bold to ask a question or two, when, more often than not, he is met with the rejoinder that the in- formation he seeks is "not handy", or, "it would be detrimental to the interests of the company concerned to make such information publio" Indeed, in some quarters, the asking of questions at public meetings is severely tabooed, and shamholder often has to make up his mind that, to require information from the chair, he must run the gauntlet of severe looks, and would ba treated as a hostile critic. This practice of tabooing criticism is without a doubt responsible for the cut-and-dried proceedings at local meet ings, and it is a rule of general acceptance now that "silence" is strictly "a la mode”.
As an instance, I would recall an incident which occurred at a recent meeting of a wall A cart in known land and estate company. shareholder asked for information respecting an item of commission, which the company had received, the reply to which, given with some heat, was that the enquirer ought to know very well what the commission was for, having paid it himself, and the matter thereupon was allowed to drop. It will be seen that the reply was intended only for the shareholder asking the question, while the rest of those present were allowed, or rather allowed themselves, to remain absolutely uninformed on the subject, And yet, not one of those, who so readily raised their hand where a show of hands was called for could muster sufficient courage to probe the matter further. I do not, for one moment, wish it to be understood that there was anything out of the way with that item of commission.
a matter of fact, the company had earned it. I merely put it forward to show how far the fashion of silence prevails among the rank and file of shareholders at meetings.
Another remarkable instance of the prevail- t is in ing dumbness occurred quite recently. connection with the last published annual report of a leading industrial concern. The accounts Hongkong, 8th May. SIE,-In the recent case of the Tramway showed total earnings for the year of nearly Co. some of the remarks made by the Chief seventy-five per cent, on the capital, a result Justice must have been read by the average assuredly mest gratifying to the company's shareholders. There was, however, one provi- shareholder in local companies with more than
sion in the report which not only puzzled but ordinary interest, and possibly with some gratitude. In these remarks, although His frightened quite a number of the shareholders. Honour did not lay down any new rules of It was, so far as is known, an unusual provision of the whole company law, he made it quite clear to share-absorbing nearly co-thirds holders in general that they are possessed of year's earnings, and was given the title of "a reserve fund ". It was considered certain definite rights, from which neither a
an unusual provision, because the company majority nor boards of directors, nor yet already had the usual reserve fund, and it had general managers, can onst them.
been kenerally anticipated that any surplus would be added to that same fund. Of course, the management may have had very good and suficient reasons for the style of division it adopted. As is well known, however, share
an extremely holders all over the globa are sensitive class of people, and they are not an exception here. No sooner were the accounts published than all sorts of rumours were started regarding this provision of "a reserve fund". Une rumour had it that half of the sum provided in that manuer had already been lost, another, that it was all intact, while a third gave it out that it had all been lost. Whatever modicum of truth there may have been in these rumours, certain it is that by the time the meeting was drawing near, all interested were eager for information on that score. Yet, in spite of their eagerness and anxiety, not one of those who attended the meeting could find his tongue and inquire as to the truth or otherwise of the rumours, which
Speaking of the Tramway Company's and the settlement oʊma to with the dissentients, the latter receiving $235 per share, it was stated that, under
this arrange- ment, these shareholders did not receive any more value for their holdings than what they would have received under the resolutions. In other words, they did not improve their position by going to law. How this is arrived at, I do not know, for, in the one case, $200 was all that the resolutions offered, while in the other, well, $35 per share more is fairly substantial. I have spoken to some of the dissen. tients, in order to discover if they had made a mistake in their calculation, and they emphatically declare that all they understood was that they would be sold out neck and crop for $200, and no more! However, as both sides to the issue are apparently satisfied with the result, there is no more to be said.
Another important.remark made by the Chief Justice came very opportune at the time it did, in view of the annual reports being published by the various local companies then. The remark was to the effect that he did not see why honourable men of business, who had nothing to hide, should be sparing in their information to shareholders. Can it be that Sir Francis Piggott, even during the short period he has been in Hongkong, has already noticed the very meagre information contained in the annual reports and accounts? Be that as it may, it'is an undeniable fact that shareholders here are vouchsafed scant information in the reports submitted to them and, when it is also remembered that, in the majority of cases, it is but once a year that they can have an opportunity of looking into their affairs, it is certainly a matter of surprise that expressions of dissatisfaction are not more frequently heard
had put so many in a panic. If this can happen with a gentleman in the chair well known for his courtesy and readiness to furnish all legitimate information, is it any wonder that in the generality of cases shareholders keep their mouths shut when, perhaps, they realise that a question might cost them a snub ?
It is, therefore, earnestly to be hoped that in future those responsible for the publication of reports and accounts, with the advice of the Chief Justice before them, will put in thees reports as much legitimate information as would keep shareholders well in touch with their interests, and would it be too much to ask those who occasionally occupy the chair to be a little more encouraging in their attitude towards questioners !--- I am, etc,
OBSERVER.
355
THE RISE OF CHINWANGTAO.
Mr. Thomas Ferguson, Acting Commissioner of Customs at Fientsin, reports of Chinwangtao: -Jar "winter jetty” has been an interesting plaes to watch during the course of the past year and its season 1905-1906, which, for the sake of completenes, will be reviewed nå whole up to date of writing this Report. Many conflicting "bursts" and subsequent retractions from motives of immediate business expediency have had their periodically varying effects upon the outlook of the port, have nullified some expectations, raised others in unexpected quar ters, and, generally, rendered every attempt at prognostication useless and risky. The fame which was to have 'st Chinwangtao going as "house on fire "—migration—has dwindled down into a mere flicker of doubtful vitality;
on
the other hand, the port has most decidedly progressed, so that the Chinwing. tao of to-day is quite different plaos
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though not so much altered in apparance from what it was two years ago.” Il we wish to. trace the real causes of this development, it fa likely that the first impetus will be found in the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company's decision to extend the use of its wharves shipping other than its own, and a prompt move on the part of the Customs administration (started by Mr. Commissioner Detring) to arrange all that was necessary, vis-à-vis the Central Government and the many Chinese officials concerned, for the introduction of fiscal system which could be made to åt sud accommodate on favourable lines any kind of trade which might spring up in sequence, Various new branches of trade did gradually spring dp, and the new fiscal system duly found its field of application, as shown by the Revenue tables, where a collection of Hk. Tls. 290,000 is record ›d for 1905, as against Hk. Tis. 46,00 in 1902. The shipping has not altered so much in quantity as in quality, f.6., § change from more colliers and mail carriers, with a few desperate travellers, to regular cargo. liners, with a steady stream of luxuriously The part accommodated passenger traffic. season has, however, revealed one thing, vis., that Chinwangtao is not always an ice-free port. Owing to an unusually severe winter and the absence of strong northerly winds, which are to a great extent relied upon to clear the coast of drift ice, much trouble has been experienced by steamers in making the wharves, as much as two days having sometimes been spent in ramming the picks and forcing a passage. Still, this has always been possible, and if it can be done by an ordinary coasting teamer, it seems that a small ice-breaker or good-sized tag fitted up with special protections for crumbling the ice" under the forefoot can always make sure of keeping a passage open throughout the worst season likely to occur The trade of Chinwangtao presents four quite distinct and characteristic features: (a) that of 邋 mere coal outlet, which was the original conception of the port; (b) a winter jetty for Tientsin, originally for mails and gradually for cargo in steadily increasing quantities ; (c) a dis- tributer of Imports on its own account in its own neighbourhood; and (d) a port of transhipment from steamer to railway, and vice verad of extra- mural trade, i.e., trade passing by Shanhaikwan to and from any place in the direction of New- ohwang and beyond. The first characteristio in rapidly losing in importanos by comparison especially since the output of the Kaiping collieries does not show any tendency to increass. As a winter jetty for Tientmin, Chiogwantao is steadily gaining in popularity and importance, and the greater part of the statistics of the port is still dus to this function, though no longer exclusively, as used to be the In the third function, case a few years ago. Chinwangtao in doing very well, and a loosi trade, concerning principally the larger towna in the neighbourhood (Yung-ping.fa, Lan cho, Feng-jun, Ch'ang-li, Fu-ning, Bhanh was), has sprang up lately, which com throughout the year. The fourth is winter function, vix, the mediation of Laiotung and Manchuria during the season at Newchwang, which 'is" matter of the greatest importanes concerned. This bensah of the what principally necessitated Customs arrang
referred
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