being slaughtered. We would like you to understand clearly that our grievance is against the principle adopted, and not against the individuals by whom it was enforced. (Hear, hear). Our losses have been great, and in our opinion, the best thing to do will be to pass the resolutions which Mr. Potts has just read to you; sell the property of the Company to a new concern, by adopting an agreement which has been prepared, and which provides that the capital of the new concern shall be $75,000, $50,000 of which is to be considered as paid-up and $25,000 to remain on call; the calls not to exceed $1, and that one month's notice of such call shall be given. That is to say, the present shareholders will receive for each share they now hold one share in the new Company, on which $5 will be considered as having been paid up, and $2.50 shall remain on call, the capital to be $75,000 divided into 10,000 shares of $7.50 each."
The Chairman proposed the following resolution: That it is desir- able to reconstruct the Company, and accordingly that the Company be wound up voluntarily, and that Mr. William Hutton Potts be and he is hereby appointed liquidator for the purpose of such winding up."
The motion was seconded by Mr. Granville Sharp and carried.
Mr. Sharp's speech shows the pain with which he contemplated the unhappy course which events had taken. He said :- "It is with a great deal of self-humiliation that I address you to-day. We are indeed grievously oppressed and in deep sorrow at the result of our long continued efforts. It has been said before that this Company was started not to make money but to make milk; and Dr. Manson, who in March 1886, succeeded in getting up the Company amongst a few well-wishers of the Colony, was regarded at the time, and I believe he has been regarded ever since, as a benefactor. He had the sympathy of the whole Colony, although the supporters of the Company were but few. He was very much struck about the risk the Company ran in having its large herd of cattle without any means of insurance, and influence was brought to bear on the Government, the results of which were that in the following year the Ordinance No. 17 of 1887 was passed, having especial reference to cattle diseases and empowering the Governor- in-Council to make orders, in case of epidemic, for the immediate out-and-out slaughter of cattle. That Ordinance was passed in June, 1887, a few months after the Dairy Farm Company was established. There is no doubt what- ever that the intention of the legislature was to bring Hong Kong into line with modern European, American and British civilisation. That Ordinance was passed, I say, gentlemen, for the protection of the Colony, for the protection of the Colony's milk supply and for the protection of
those who undertook to provide the supply. The consequences of the action I was going to say rather the inaction of the Government have been, that we have been subjected to the penalties of that Ordinance without participating in any measure in the protection of the Ordinance. Now I cannot believe that was the intention of the legislature. Cow-keeping in Hong Kong has been proved for many years past to be a very difficult affair. Mr. Kennedy told me with his own lips he wished heartily he had never seen a cow, and I believe the major number of cattle in the Colony have been subjected to mortgage from time to time from the commencement of the dairy farm up to the present day, excepting our own. Ever since the days of the prophet Samuel and King Saul, there has been manifested a great indisposition to slaughter healthy cattle--they slaughtered the Amalakites' seedy, weakly and miserable stock, but saved the best - and in order to meet that disposition on the part of the owners, this benevolent legislation was provided to take the responsibility of dealing with such a terrible infliction as rinderpest off their shoulders. We felt, as trustees for you, that we had no right whatever to slaughter these cattle; we dare not slaughter them; they were perfectly healthy. Our manager thought, we thought, some medical men in the Colony thought, that it was simply an attack of influenza which would soon pass away. If we had slaughtered $6,000 worth of cattle some morning, and it turned out that we had done so without sufficient grounds, we should have had to answer to you for it. The Government were in the same position. We had no veterinary surgeon to appeal to, and they had no veterinary to appeal to, and in this dilemma, not knowing what to do, they did nothing, except as the chairman said, lock us up. We received from the Government a few dollars for coolies' clothing and mat-sheds which had been destroyed by the Sanitary Board, but they have not offered us any compensation for cattle which have been destroyed, and that is our reason for calling you together. We hoped all along that the Government would come to our aid by putting in force the Ordinance provided for their action, but they did not do so, and in giving us money for the coolies' clothing and the mat-sheds they strained at the gnat and swallowed the camel. They gave us a few dollars for the coolies' clothing but they declined to give us a few hundred dollars for the diseased cows. I can only hope that it is possible that some new light may be thrown upon the subject and that they may take a different view of the matter. Again I say that we are very sorry at the way in which the thing was carried out, and we hope even now against hope that there may be something brighter in store."
36
86
87
360