July 29, 1897.]
CHINA OVERLAZRADE REPORT.
THE POLO SCANDAL,
SIXTEEN CHINE
O
ETECTIVES ARRESTED.
On the 22nd July the last batch of Chinese detectives who were arrested under banishment warrants were taken to the Canton steamer and deported. There were eleven altogether, two of them being detectives who were thought to have absconded but were arrested on the 21st. The vacancies caused by the banishment of the whole of the Chinese detective staff have been filled.
+
The trial of Inspector Witchell will com- mence before the Chief Justice and a special jury to-day at 10 a.m.
80th June, 1897..
LIABILITIES.
Amount of capital, 80,000 shares of $15 each,
fully paid-up...... Amount of refund of capital of $5 per share
on 10 shares unpaid
Amount at credit of depreciation and insur-
-Buce fund
Amount at credit of equalization of dividond
fund.
account Unclaimed dividends
Hongkong wharf special-account, amount re- ceived from Government, to be expended on new wharf..
Sundry oroditors
91.
,200,000.00
50.00
600,000.00.
9,000.00
14,148.93 6,024.00
20,604.32 21,682.71
Amount at credit of profit and loss account.. 125,074.01 $1,997,385.37
PROFIT AND Loss ACCOUNT.
Dr.
30th June, 1897.
To amount paid for repairs
To steamers To wharves To lighters.....
To directors' and auditors' fees
-8 27,945.49
611.02 130.75
To balance to be appropriated, viz. :--- $ 0, Dividend at 8 per cent. $1,200,000 90,000.00 To be carried to new account
with navigation, which in Bengal represent a capital of two thousand million francs. The population of the delta of Tonkin is more dense than that of Bengal, the On 21st Jo Chinese detective ser- native administration is superiour, and the geants anden detective constables were men make as good soldiers as the best arrested shment warrants granted on Indian troops. The products of the two count application the Captain Superintendent of tries are the same and M. Dejoux evidently be Police.believed that three other detec- lieves that with the development of Tonkin and tives, § 4st whom warrants have been issued, Amount at credit of investment fluctuation a liberal Customs regime its foreign trade have conded. These, and the previous will become as great as that of Bengal. arr and suspensions mean that practically The future prosperity of the country, he says, the hole detective force has been cleared out. depends almost entirely on the improvement no several of the arrested men were taken to of the means of communication, and he give e Canton steamer the same afternoon and particulars of the lines of railway required and reported to Chinese territory. A very large suggests the methods by which they shoul
crowd of people followed them to the boat. financed. In the section devoted to plantada M. Dejoux says: "A crop which chets special mention is that of sugar candhich is cultivat elmost everywhere in heltas of Annam and Tonkin anu which is a great future before it if the mistake is avoided of establishing large plantations and large mills, similar to those of the Antilles, which in the Far East yield but deplorable results from
What a financial point of view. should be done is to set up, as economi. cally as possible, small works in different centres, supplying to the cultivators portable mills to crush the care and purchasing the juice, thus permitting the rational and profit- able exploitation of the native plantations, which though scattered and of small importance indi- vidually are on the other hand very numerous. These works should be content to turn out sugar of the quality known at Bourbon as 'la bonne quatrieme and rum. The sugar would find an unlimited opening in the Hongkong re- fineries, where it would be able to compete with In his con- that from Java and Sumatra.” cluding note M. Dejoux says that Tonkin is the finest colony that France possesses, that private enterprise, purely French, is more vigorous there than in any other colony, and that in the not distant future Tonkin may rival Bengal, Burmah, and Java. We believe the author has not over-estimated the value and resources of the country of which he writes, and we are glad to note that he advocates a liberal Customs regime. If his views on t latter point were acted upon Tonkin would advance more rapidly than it has done hitherto. M. Dejoux, we may add, is at present recuper- ating at Mount Austin Hotel, and we wish him a speedy restoration to good health.
THE INDIAN FAMINE FUND. The following correspondence has been for warded to us for publication :- THE COLONIAL SECRETARY TO THE CHAIR- MAN OF COMMITTEE,
Hongkong, Colonial Secretary's Office,
14th July, 1897. Sir, I am directed to transmit for the informa- tion of the Indian Famine Relief Committee the enclosed copy of a despatch from the Secre- tary of State for the Colonies.-I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant. J. H. STEWArt Lockhart,
Colonial Secretary.
The Chairman, ..
Indian Famine Relief Committee. THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE
GOVERNOR.
Downing Strest,
31st May, 1897.
Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge re- ceipt of your despatch No. 84 of the 21st ultimo reporting that a sum of $50,072 has been sub-
HONGKONG, CANTON AND MACAO STEAM-BOAT CO., LIMITED.
The following fe the report of the Board of Directors to the ordinary half-yearly meeting of shareholders to be held at the office of the Com- pany, on Saturday, the 31st July:-
The Directors beg to submit to the share- holders the Report and Statement of Accounts for the half-year ending 30th June last.
.
After paying running expenses, salaries, premia of insurance, repairs and all other out- goings, there remains, including $743.76 brought forward from last account, the sum of $125,974.01 at credit of Profit and Loss Account. From this amount, the Directors recommend that a dividend for the half-year of per cent. on capital, or $96,000, be paid to shareholdors, and that the balance of $29,974.01 be carried forward to new account.
8
The gross earnings of the steamers on all the lines show a substantial improvement as com- pared with those of the corresponding six months of 1896, but owing to a heavier coal bill and exceptional expenses in connection with the inauguration of the West River trade, the net result shows only a slight increase.
:
During the half-year the Honam, Fatshan and Heungshan have been docked for the usual annual Government survey and repairs, and the steamers are now all in good running order.
The West River was opened to foreign steam traffic on the 4th June, and the Company at once occupied the line with the two small steamers Lungshan and Lungkyang. In view of probable future requirements, your Directors have acquired land with water frontage at the new Treaty Ports of Wuchow and Kongkun at a cost of about $8,000.
!
In accordance with the Articles of Associa tion the Honourable E. R. Belilios and Mr. F. A. Gomes retire from the Board of Direction by rotation, and, being eligible, offer themselves
for re-election.
31st Dec., 1896.
30th June, 1897.
Cr.
28,687.26 2,750.00
29,974.01
126,974.01
$157,411.27
0.
743.78
By amount brought forward from last account Bynot carninge of steamers By interest on investments By transfer fees,
127,889.17 28,604.34 174.00
$157,411.27
DEPRECIATION AND INSURANCE FUND. Dr.
30th June, 1897. To balance
31st Dec., 1896. By amount at credit...
CT.
EQUALIZATION OF DIVIDEND FUND. Dr.
30th June, 1897.
31st Deo., 1898. To balance
By amount at credit.
Cr.
0.
600,000.00
3 C. 600,000.00
$ C. 9,000.00
$ C. 9,000.00
THE INDO-CHINA S.Ņ. CO., LIMITED.
The following is the report of the proceedings at the sixteenth ordinary general meeting of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Co., Limited, held on 17th June at the Office of the Company, 29, Cornbill, London, E.C.
Mr. James Macandrew, Chairman of the Board of Directors, presided.
The CHAIRMAN-The Secretary will read the notice convening the meeting.
The SECRETARY (Mr. A. Cheyne) read the notice.
The CHAIRMAN-Gentlemen, I certainly did not expect so small an attendance of share- holders as we have to-day. I thought we should have had a good many present on this occasion, because I am afraid the feeling among them must be one of disappointment at the earnings of the year not admitting of a dividend being declared. That, however, is the fault of no one, and last of all of the General Managers in China, who have done everything that lay in their power to find remunerative employment for the Company's vessels. It is an example of the vicissitudes which take place in the shipping. trade, and which I think are sometimes more sud- den and pronounced than in most other trades, as you have already had some experience of The cause of the diminution in the receipts of 812,250.00 the Company is briefly summarised in the 50,000.00 report as being less freight to carry and 26,457.82
The retiring auditors, Messrs. A. O'D, Gourdin, and F. Henderson, also offer themselves
for re-election."
E. R. BELILIÉS. Chairman.
30th Juno, 1897
ABSETS. Value of 4 steamers and the of Fatshan. Value of 2 steam-launches
Value of wharves, hulks, moorings, &c.
scribed in the colony as a contribution to the Value of properties at Wuchow and Kongkun 7,177.85 greater competition for the carriage of that Indian Famine Relief Fuud.
2. I have noted with pleasure this evidence of liberality and public spirit on the part of the Hongkong community and would ask you to convey my acknowledgments to the Committee who organised the subscription, including the Honorary Treasurer, Mr. T. Jackson.-I have, eto..
J. CHAMBERLAIN. Governor Sir W. Robinson, K.O.M.G., etc.,
etc., eto.
There were 2,331 visitors to the City Hall Museum last week, of whom 199 were Euro-
Value of lighters Sun Lee and Wo Lee Value of coal, atores, and spare gear.... Value of furniture!... Value of shares in public companies Value of Chinese bonds
Property foreclosed
Loas on mortgage Fixed deposit with the Hongkong and Shang-
bai Banking Corporation... Cash with the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank-
ing Corporation on current account Premium on policies unexpired
Interest accrued to date
Amount recoverable from underwriters, ac
coyut Heungshan average claim Sundry debtors
15,500.00 freight. The consequence is that low rates 11,766.74 have prevailed throughout the year, with the
750.00 result of a large diminution in the gross earn- 295,427.23 ings, so that it has been necessary to take a 1,034.48 moderate sum from one underwriting account 28,000.00 to cover the usual depreciation upon the fleet. 045,700.00
The best consolation that can be offered to the 20,604.32 shareholders is that matters look better for the year 1897.. We are how getting fair employ- 51,186.30 ment for our vessels in Ching at rates of freight 10,750.75 better than those of last year. I, therefore,
994.07
see no particular reason why there should not be a continuance of that state of matters, and that we may have a fair average year. The accounts show that there has been a material $1,997,883.97 increase in the value of the fleet, which has
7,040.98 12,753.64
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