Hongkong General; Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong, 9th July, 1897 Sir, I beg leave to acknowledge receipt of your letter No 1054, of the 5th inst., forward- ing copy of a letter from Commodore Holland relative to the proposed extension of the Naval Yard seawards.
门
My Committee note with satisfaction the as- surances given under reserve by the Com modore, and trust that in the event of remedial measures becoming necessary in consequence of any silting up of the foreshore the Admiralty will give full effect to those assurances. I have the honour to be, sir, your mo obedient servant,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX, Secretary. Hon. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, Colonial Secretary.
THE SHANGHAI GENERAL CHAM- BER OF COMMERCE.
Minutes of a Committe Meeting held at the offices of the Chamber on Monday, the 5th of July, 1897, at 4 p.m.
[July 15, 1897.
CO., LIMITED.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Committees, and when completed I shall be | INDO-UHINA STEAM NAVIGATION pleased to forward you the results of their labours.-I am, dear sir, yours faithfully,
DRUMMOND HAY, Secretary. R. Chatterton Wilcox, Esq., Secretary, General
Chamber of Commerce, Hongkong.
THE BANK OF CHINA AND JAPAN, LD., AND CHINESE SHAREHOLDERS.
Shanghai, 24th June, 1897. Sir-I desire to bring to the notice of your Chamber the recent decisions of the Chinese Courts in the matter of calls due from native shareholders of the Bank of China and Japan, Ld., and especially to invite attention to the bearing of those decisions upon the general interests of the foreign community of Shanghai. Proceedings were recently instituted in the Shanghai Mited Court against two Chinese for the recovery of calls made in the liquidation of the Bank. The persons proceeded against had signed the usual forms of transfer, the names had been duly entered on the register, and not only had all the conditions of legal liaiblity been
The following is the fifteenth annual report of the board of directors of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Co., Limited, presented to the shareholders at the sixteenth ordinary general meeting, held at the offices of the Com. pany, on 17th June :---
The Board of Directors submit herewith their Report and Statement of Accounts for the year 1896.
+
The results of the year's working unfor tunately compare very unfavourably with the ference to the accounts will show how materially earnings of the two previous years, and re-
the receipts have been reduced. freights, ruling, owing to the competition to This shrinkage is attributable to the low
which the local Companies were subjected by ing on the Coast Lines, and to the number of an unusual influx of tonnage from Europe work-
vessels in Japan waters released from the re- General trade was quirements of the late war. diminution in the movement of Rice and other also dull, and in particular there was a great
Present:--Messrs. C. J. Dudgeon (Vice. fully satisfied, but the defendants had, in ad-grain from the Yangtsze valley both to northern
Chairman, presiding), Wade Gardner, F. W Koch, A. Korff, W. D. Little, E. Shellim, and the Secrtary.
The Minutes of the lasting meeting were read and confirmed.
Revision of Tariff-A letter on this sub ject from the Hongkong Chaaber was laid before the meeting, together with the reply. sent, and both were ordered to be published.
The Bank of China and Japan, Ld., and Chinese Shareholders.-A letter from the Act ing Manager of the Bank was read, calling the attention of the Chamber to the position of the Bank as regards its native shareholders, in con- sequence of the Taotai having expressed his inability to enforce contracts between Chinese and foreigners, and his refusal to enter into the question. It was resolved to address the Senior Consul on the subject without entering into particulars of the Bank case, pointing out the gravity of the situation, in that the decision of the Taotai imperilled all transactions between Chinese and foreigners.
The River Approaches to Shanghai.-A letter from M. Bard was laid before the meeting, enclosing a letter from M. Chollot offering to submit to the Chamber a plan for the improve- ment of the River Approaches to Shanghai which had been prepared by him, and it was decided to reply that the Committee would be very pleased to receive same on the terms pro- posed by M. Chollot.
dition, signed special agreements undertaking to pay calls on their shares and also agreeing that all questions between them and the Bank should be decided. in accordance with the law of England. Nevertheless, both the Magistrate of the Mixed Court and the Taotai of Shanghai declined to hear the cases, and the Bank has been obliged to have recourse to H.B.M. Minister. I may add that Sir Claude Macdonald has satisfied himself of the justice of the Bank's claims and has mised that he will do what he can to obtain their enforcement. The enclosed memoranda (2) show clearly the history and present position
of the matter.
pro-
and southern ports.
The Directors are glad to say that the cur- rent year, 1897, has opened with brighter pros- pects, and it is hoped the improvement will be maintained.
In the Balance Sheet the China Assets are
year. Since calculated as before at 28. 1d. per dollar, a rate under the average exchange of the December, however, a decline has taken place, and provision has accordingly been made for a probable reduction in the average of 1897 by transferring the gain in Exchange Account will be chargeable with any difference in the rate. £3,919 48. Ild. to an Exchange Reserve, which
ever, the earnings do not admit of any dividend being paid on the present occasion, and the balance of profit, £1,380 16s. 3d., is therefore carried forward to next year.
In connection with the On Wo disaster,
From the accretions of Underwriting Ac- I have already mentioned that each of the count £16,318 178.3d. has been transferred to Re- Chinese against whom suits have been dom- menced, has signed one or more special agree-fleet to be provided for. Unfortunately, how. venue, thus enabling full depreciation on the ments with regard to his shares, and it has not, therefore, been necessary for the Bank in these two cases to insist upon the undoubtedly binding character of the ordinary instruments of trans- fer. It would seem, however, that if special agreements, such as those above referred to, are not enforceable, little if any weight is to be attached to the provisions contained in ordinary application or transfer forms, so far as they purport to bind native applicants or trans- ferees, and the conclusion apparently follows that Foreign Companies have no security for the performance by Chinese shareholders of the obligations incident to their position. Under these circumstances it can hardly be
noticed in the last report, litigation has been going on, and a final settlement has not yet been arrived at. This is the only total loss of the year, and after allowing for the transfer above referred to and meeting all claims upon it, the underwriting Account is left with a satisfactory balance of £90,000.
accident, the steamer Yik Sang having ran For the year 1897 we have had one serious
-After the transaction of other business, necessary for me to urge upon your Chamber ashore on the coast of Japan. She was got off
L. Scott, H. Gribble and Ph. Arn Messrs. hold, representing various Sectional Committees on the Taxation of Foreign Trade, were intro- duced, and the following sectional reports were read:-
On general exports, On piece goods,
On sundry imports.
(Correspondence.)
REVISION OF TARIFF.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong, 8th June, 1897. Dear Sir, I understand that your Cham- ber has been requested by the Foreign Office to report on the question of the increase in the Chinese Tariff.. Will you kindly favour this Chamber with a copy of the despatch in which such request was made?—I am, dear sir, yours faithfully,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX,
Secretary. Drummond Hay, Esq., Secretary, Shanghai
Chamber of Commerce.
: Shanghai, 17th June, 1897. Dear Sir,In reply to your favour of 8th inst. I have to inform you that this Chamber has never been requested by the Foreign Office to report upon the question of the increase of the Chinese Tariff, but, with the approval of the Foreign Representatives at Peking, en- quiries have been made into trade questions generally, and exhaustive reports have been made or are in course of being made-on the principal sections of foreign trade and the incidence of taxation by specially appointed
the adoption of measures calculated to protect the interests which are so seriously menaced.
The decision of the Taotai, based upon the construction of the Treaty between Great Britain and China, stands at present unreversed, and, if my view is correct, can be used as a precedent for relieving Chinese of their liability. not only to the numerous Foreign Companies of which they are registered Share- holders, but to private individuals under transactions relating to purchases of shares, such transactions being presumably tainted with the illegality which attaches to actual membership.
The same decision viewed broadly as a refusal to enforce a written agreement is capable of even a wider application, and it is hardly too much to say that it throws a doubt on the validity of all written agreements between Foreigners and Chinese, with the possible ex- ception of those which relate to matters specifically mentioned in Treaties.
The position taken up by the Taotai of Shanghai (vide his despatch-Appendix E. of memorandum No 2) is clearly untenable, and I venture to hope that your Chamber, regarding the possible effect of his decision upon com- mercial interests generally, will protest against, it in the proper quarter.
I beg to enclose 8 additional copies each of the two memoranda above referred to for the information of your committee in case of need, and remain, sir, your obedient servant,
where a considerable amount will have to be with difficulty and brought into Nagasaki, expended in repairs.
All the efforts of the Directors to press for a settlement of the Kow Shing claim have as yet failed to obtain the desired result, principally on account of the prolonged illness of the late Chinese Minister in London. The case is now before the new Minister, who was already acquainted with its circumstances, and every- thing possible will be done to bring about a Batisfactory settlement.
The additions to the fleet in 1896 are the Fau Sang, Chun Sang, and Sui Wo, all mentioned The Sui Wo is the in the Board's last report. boat built for the Yangtsze, on which line she is now plying.
Mr. Thomas Reid and Mr. William Paterson are the directors who retire at this meeting, and being eligible, they offer themselves for re-
election.
The auditors, Messra: Turquand, Youngs & Co., will likewise be proposed for re-election.
By Order of the Board,
J. MACANDBEW, Chairman. London, 9th June, 1897
BALANCE SHEET at 31st DECEMBER, 1896. LIABILITIES.
To share capital:--Authorized £1,200,000, first issue 80,000 each £10, whereof 49,589 subscribed and fully paid-up
To balance of underwriting account To sundry creditors in London and China...
To loans
To bills payable..
8. L. DARBY, Acting Manager. The Chairman of the Shanghai General Cham-To
ber of Commerce.
To exchange reserve account
balance from revenue account
£ 8. d.
495,890 0 0 90,000 0 0 8,969 0 0
65,770 0 0
85,312 10 0
3,919 4 11
1,380 16 3
£781,241 11
ས་ མན་ཡ་བད་་ ་
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