246
Net premia received, less returns and
Interest ...... Co
Transfer fees.......................................
Amount brought forward from last ac-
count
& c. 233,638.49
re-insurances.
1,547,618.38 218,009.12 71.00
$1,999,836.97
THE DAIRY FARM CO., LD.
The eleventh ordinary yearly meeting of shareholders in the Dairy Farm Co., Ld. was held at the Company's Depôt, No, 2, Lower Albert Road, on the 14th October. Mr. F. Maitland presided, and there were also present Hon. Mr. H. Osborne, Dr. G.W.Noble, Messrs. E. H. Hinds, J. Walker (directors), Mr. Manuk (acting secretary), A. Stevenson and Chan Tong.
your
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
THE EVOLUTION OF
HONGKONG.
[Written for the Daily Press.]
(Continued from last week.)
II.
On the accession of K'ienlung, for a time under that able monarch's instructions things went on better, and had the Company only exercised a little more discretion and refused to permit its representatives to be treated
AS
inferiors, affairs would not have needed the rough handling that they subsequently required. The year 1741 witnessed a notable incident, which judiciously treated might have altered The SECRETARY read the notice calling the the whole current of affairs, and possibly ren- meeting.
dered unnecessary the occupation of Hong- The CHAIRMAN said:--- Gentlemen, the kong; this was the visit of H. M. 8. Centurion, report and accounts have been in
the first British man of war to enter a Chinese hands some days, and, with
port with the celebrated Commodore Anson, your per. mission, I will adopt the usual course and take afterwards Lord Anson in command. Anson them as read. During the period under review | had just, the first of British captains of men of we have been unfortunate in having two serious war, completed his perilous voyage from the attacks of sickness among the cattle which caused coast of South America where he had been the your Manager, Mr. Walker, and Directors terror of the Spaniards, and bad captured maoh anxiety; however we are now quite over many of their ships: he had, however lost all it and the herd is well and healthy. Every his ships but one, and his crews had been re- precaution is taken to keep out disease and our duced to a fraction of their original force by thanks are due to your Manager for his special scurvy, Captain Anson was in no mind then exertions during trying times. Notwithstand- to treat, and finding the Chinese disposed to ing this drawback, our policy of writing prevent him entering the port on the plea that down our assets and building up a reserve
"it was contrary to the law of China for a man from profits followed for many years past has of war to sater her ports" he gave the su gone a long way towards enabling us to place thorities notice that if within the twenty four before you a by no means bad account, and i am hours a permit did not arrive, he would arm his glad to tell you that all our subsidiary boats and go up without. Naturally the re- businesses are now on a paying basis and help to quired permit arrived in time. The Centurion augment our profits to an appreciable degree. was sadly in need of refitting after her long It is our desire to place before our customers voyage, and Chinese-like obstacles were thrown the purest of milk and cream and the best in the way till overcome by Anson's firmness. obtainable of butter, cheese, hams, bacon, When at Canton he announced his intention to chickens, capons, Dairy fed pork and Australian the Supracargoes of visiting officially the frozen meat. Our Secretary was granted leave T'sungtu. Unfortunately instead of support of absence for eight months and he should returning the demand they, in the manner impressed in a few weeks. Mr. Manuk has acted in his stead and has given your Directors satisfaction. I trust you will approve of the appropriations as set forth in the accounts and report. Your Directors, after careful thought, decided to discontinue Fire and Typhoon Insurance except Fire Insurance on the Town Depôt and $5,000 of the profits have been earmarked to start a Fire and Typhoon Insurance Fand. Our risks are well scattered and a saving of about $2,000 per annum in premia will be effected. It is recommended that a sum not legs than $2,000 be added to the Typhoon and Fire Fund each year out of the profits. Before moving the adoption of the report and accounts I shall be pleased to answer any questions.
There were no questions, and the CHAIRMAN | proposed the adoption of the report and account as presented.
them by the methods of the Company, begged him to desist, representing that the British trade would be put to hasard by such a step!
The Chinese were more correct when Anson
having loft Canton, returned with his prize of the Spanish galleon; they, however spoiled their case by demanding fees for the Centurion "and her prize" to which the Commodore would not agree, but went up to Canton with his boat's crew in full uniform with the intention of arranging affairs with the viceroy direct. Unfortunately he permitted himself to be again talked over by the merchants and the Supracargoes who promised him that no obstacle should be placed in the way of his obtaining what stores he required. He, however, was made to pay for every thing he had before it was put on board; even. so, finding that his stores were being delayed, he set up a letter by an officer demanding an audience, it curiously happened that the next day an extensive fire broke out in the city, to extinguish which Anson sent a number of his crew; ingeniously the Viceroy took advantage of this to send him a letter of thanks, and invite him to come and pay him a visit: the Commodore accepted the invitation, and was graciously thanked, but The CHAIRMAN-Thank you gentlemen, when he introduced the subject of the delays for your attendance. Dividend warrants are ready now on ap plication.
Mr. STEVENSON seconded the motion, which was agreed to.
The retiring directors, Messrs. F. Maitland and E. H. Hinds, were reelected on the motion of Mr. WALKER seconded by Mr. CHAN TONG, Mr. STEVENSON proposed the reelection of Mr. W. H. Potts as auditor.
Mr. WALKER seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
According to the extract of meteorological observations made at the Hongkong Observa- tory during the month of September the average maximum temperature was 85.1 and the minimum 76,6 deg. There were 19,465 inches of rain and 187.9 hours of sunshine.
His Excellency the Governor has given his aesent, in the name and on behalf of His Majesty the King, to the following Ordinances passed by the Legislative Council: -Ordinance No. 13 of 1907.-An Ordinance to limit the imposition of punishment by public exposure in the stocks; Ordinance No. 14 of 1907.—An Ordinance to
pply a sum not exceeding Four million nined hundred and ninety-two thousand nine hundred and fifty-three Dollars to the Public Service of the year 1908; Ordinance No. 15 of 1907.-An Ordinance to prevent the Publication of Se- ditions Matter.
the Viceroy turned the conversation in another direction.
Instead of seeing how much there was to gain from the occasional visit of a British man of war, and the opportunity it afforded of plac. ing their complaints directly before the higher authorities, the Court of Directors viewed these visita with jealousy.
Naturally the officers in command refused to be treated with
contamely, and alleged that as representatives of an independent sovereign they were entitled to rank on equal footing with the officers of the Chinese Empire. The Court saw the matter in different light, and directed its committee to inform the Hong Merchants,--who were now the only medium of communication with the officials, the Hoppo having refused any per. sonal interview for some years back,that the King's officers were out of their control, ane they were not in any way to be held responsiblp for their acts! The Chinese officials could
[October 14, 1907.
; hardly have been humaa, much less Chinese did they fail to see the joke of the situation, and turn it against the servants of the Company. They were not really desirous of stopping the trade, as one and all had paid heavy bribes at Peking for their posts, and the stop page even for a season would mean ruin to all.” For the rame reason they took advantage of every chance opportunity to increase the scale of their ex- actions, while continually holding over the heads of the unfortunate Supracargoes the threat of closing the port altogether, did they dare to question the propriety of any charge or command. The Supracargoes were thus between two fires, equally afraid of complaining to the Directors or officials, more especially the former who held the power of dismissal, and were not loth to exercise it.
The great opportunity was the occurrence of an accidental homicide, There never had been any difficulty about the question of extraterri- toriality; in fact, as we have seen, it was one of the regular points always agreed on at the commencement of each season.
The Chinese have never been desirous of intermeddling in the private laws of any nation with whom they have had dealings; and have rather forced on them extraterritoriality, as in the case of the Arab traders of the eig th century, than opposed it. But the death of a Chinese was always too good an opportunity for exaction to be missed. Asked as to the laws of China, they had the answer ready that they were too voluminous to transcribe, but they would be happy to supply the foreigner with as much of them as referred to murder. Accordingly the Com- mittee was duly supplied with a list of the ancient punishments for murder, and given believe that this W88 the actual to
Under cover
law as practised in China. of this the Mandarins, through their chosen mouthpieces, the Hong Merchants, without compromising themselves were able to administer all manner of insults on the Supracargoes and foreigners generally, both open and concealed, in a way perfectly comprehended by the popalace, though not immediately seen by the foreigner against whom they were directed. Suffice it here to say that the disabilities became so great, and the insults so pointed that the committee sought to escape by opening a clandestine trade at Amoy or Ningpo, the latter called Limpo in the records. Like all the other undertakings of the Company this also was mismanaged. The agents forgot to keep their own council, and every step was known beforehand by their Lioguists, and through them communicated to the local officials, who through their influence at Peking were able to frustrate every step in advance; with the result that so far from improv- ing the tyranny and espionage went from bad to
wurse.
Under these circumstances, a notable expe dient was tried, which had it been conducted with a little more discretion and knowledge would
have been a success. probabl
The King's Government which it had been the fashion of the Curt and the Committee to vilify, and hold up as the cause of the illtreatment, was appealed to; and it decided to send out a special Em- bassy from the King to the Hwangti. Lord Macartnay, a nobleman apparently well fitted for the taak, but hampered in every way by the instructions which had been drawn up after long consultation with the Directors of the Company, was appointed chief, and the expedi- tion sailed from Portsmouth, amidst high hopes on the 26th September 1792. Every care had, however, been taken by the Company under the influence of its false friends the Hong merchants to ensure beforehand the failure
of the Embassy, whose success would in the minds of both officials and merchants at Canton have been equivalent to their downfall; and money in the way of bribes, direct or indirect, was not spared at Peking or elsewhere. The bangling commenced before the arrival of the Embassy at Batavia, where it had called to explain its objects to the Dutch, who had been unfriendly in the first instance. On his arrival Lord Macartney had received despatches from the Commissioners at Canton who described the steps they had taken; these consisted in the
delivery of a letter from the Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Commissioners had applied to two of "principal Chinese morohanta to solicit an audience from the Foo-yuon in absence of the Viceroy, to deliver into
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