CO129-427 - Public Offices - 1915 — Page 318

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3.

In the enclosure to Your Excellency's letter of

the 3rd May, the case of Messrs Melchers and Company's

trade is specially mentioned. I directed accordingly

a special enquiry into the books of this firm and I

enclose a report thereon by Mr. G. R. Sayer, an

Officer attached at present to the Department of the

Crown Solicitor. This report discloses nothing abnor-

mal.

It will be observed that the profit on exports

generally varies from 7/10 per cent to 1 per cent.

This may seem small but among German firms it does

not appear to have been extraordinary. The Germans

had the bulk of the export trade in their hands and

were competing against one another very keenly.

4.

Mr. Sayer could find no evidence of any trans-

action with the Calico Printers Association.

Enquiries

show that the Calico Printers Association is an associa-

tion of Calico Printers and Dyers who print and dye

calico and cloth manufactured by other firms. Import-

ers in Hongkong order the goods from either the manu-

facturers or the middle men and do not correspond with

the Calico Printers Association. The object of the

Calico Printers Association appears to be to maintain

a certain