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sub-manager, and from the testimonials sent out we have every reason to believe that he is very well up in all dairy and farming matters. He is expected to arrive here early next year. Your directors trust that the division of profits will meet with your approval and are sorry that the dividend has had to be reduced owing to defalcations. The policy of writing down our cattle and buildings and adding the reserve is a sound one and it must not be overlooked that our reserve is all in buildings, cattle and stock."
It is
We are now getting to comparatively recent times. The ninth annual meeting was held on November 25th, 1905. Dr. Noble, who presided, was able to disclose a more prosperous state of affairs. He said: with much pleasure we are able to meet you again after another good year. During the period under review we have added largely, and yet economically, to our herd of cattle. We have made our purchases in America, Australia and Scotland, our endeavour being to raise the standard of our herd by introducing only well-bred, good milk-producing animals, The actual value of the herd has now become so large that we recommend you to trans- fer from the year's profits, to a cattle reserve fund, the sum of $25,000. This fund we intend to keep in a liquid form, so that it can, at short notice, be applied to the purchase of stock should that, for any reason, become necessary. You will, I know, be disappointed to hear that the frozen food business has not been so profitable as we anticipated. The public, I am sorry to say, have not given us the support which we hoped and expected to receive, and which one would suppose they would have given if they had considered their own interests especially as we appeared in the field when it seemed as though the people of Hong Kong were to be completely at the mercy of the meat guilds and prices were continually rising without any good or adequate reason. Our appearance immediately checked this rise in price and later was the cause of lower prices being demanded by the Chinese. You perhaps do not realise that there is really not the difference between our rates and those ruling for Chinese meat as would at first sight appear. You can at least depend on getting full weight, besides which, it is now well recognised by those best able to judge, that one pound of our meat is equal, if not superior, in nourishment to one and a quarter pounds of the local article, this being the proportion at which the military authorities serve the garrison rations. Those of you who are particular about your meat supply should come here yourselves and make your own selections, and this we hope you will do. If your wants are not fully and well satisfied, complain about it in writing, and we will endeavour
to make such changes as will enable you to get exactly what you require, but please bear in mind that if you and your friends do not in the future support us more heartily, Hong Kong will lose what we consider to be a very important branch of the Company's business, i.e. Frozen Food."
One shareholder, Mr. J. H. Underwood, complained of the large amounts written off and asked for a larger distribution. "It seems to me it is nothing to give shareholders a smaller dividend "he remarked.
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The Chairman :-"There you are wrong."
Mr. Underwood:-"You pay a smaller dividend than in 1903. I think we should have had an even better dividend than that."
The Chairman:-"You must remember that we have capitalised. That year it only required $12,500. This year we give $30,000 and we have not asked you for a penny. If you were an old shareholder in the Company, I think you would congratulate yourself on the dividend that we give."
In the course of other remarks later in the discussion, the chairman mentioned that he had been in the Company for many years and had seen
a great many ups and downs in it. Had it not been for two members of the staff then in that room, he could tell them that they would not have had a farm at all.
The meeting of Saturday, October 6th, 1917, was a momentous one in the history of the Company, for not only did it close the most satisfactory year's working in the annals of the Company, but it inaugurated big expan- sions which had long been in contemplation. The Chairman of Directors, Mr. J. Scott Harston, in moving the adoption of the report and accounts said "The statement of accounts submitted to you is one which, in view of the abnormal circumstances created by the War, your directors believe you will consider to be most satisfactory, and also one which reflects great credit upon the Company's manager, secretary and staff. I may mention that the turnover of the Company during the year under review constitutes a new record in the Company's annals-being 60% more than last year's turnover a result which I am in a position to assure you has only been attained by the constant vigilance exercised by the management in taking advantage of every opportunity offering for expansion and develop- ment. In the foregoing relation, I would add that the Company's large turnover is due to the fact of its possessing numerous subsidiary branches of its main business as a dairy farm, and, further, that it is solely because
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