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The CHAIRMAN maid—Gentlemen,--We now present to you our report and accounts for the year ended 31st December, 1907, printed copies of which have been circulated and which I hope will be found satisfactory by shareholders. As we anticipated at the annual meeting last year, our mortgage account has been entirely wiped out, and your property known as "Watkins Buildings paid for in full. | In the accounts there is nothing I think that requires explanation Our assets, you will notice, have been written down to a very low figure and your reserves_increased. As to the present year's prospects, I can only say that so far we have no reason to feel pessi mistic. The continuation of the declared policy of your General Managers to use all profits to reduce floating liabilities, and build up working capital, has again prevented the payment of dividends which otherwise they would have been justified in dividing. If any shareholder has any questions to ask, I shall be pleased to answer them to the beat of my ability,
There being no questions, The
CHAIRMAN continued And now, Gentlemen, I have the pleasure to move the first Resolution: "That the report now presented together with the balance sheet and profit and loss accounts be approved and adopted." I shall feel obliged if any shareholder present will second the resolution now before the meeting.
Mr. CHOW HON WAH seconded, and the
resolution was carried,
This concluded the business of the meeting.
WHERE IGNORANCE IS BLISS. At the Police Court on May 20th a boy in the employ of H. Buttorjee and Scn was charged with the theft of a quantity of provisions from the shop in D'Aguilar Street and a compra- dore who owned a shop at 5 Chinese Street was also charged with receiving the fame knowing them to have been stolen.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND JAPANESE TURBINE STEAMER,
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AMERICAN GOOD WISHES.
The keynote on May 29 of the tiffin on board the "Tenyo Maru," the Toyo Kisen Kaisha's new mammoth turbine steamer for the San Francisco run, was sounded by the American Consul-General, Dr. Wilder who spoke sympathetically of Japanese anbitions, an said there was ample room for all in the Orient.
About seventy representatives of shipping firms, officials, and the Press, looked over the vessel between noon and one p.m. With a gross tonnage of 14,000, a displacement of 22,000 tons, and turbine engines (Parsons) develop. a speed of 21 knots the "Tenyo ing
is to big to take in during a brief Maru survey. All we can say is that Japanese tut is every were obvious, and the internal fittings and adornment of this new liner are beyond It is furnished in a manner that praise. would be admirable in a palace jashore.
After an excellent tiffin, Mr. SILVERSTONE called on the American Consul to speak.
Dr. WILDER worked in a lot of humorous chaff before coming to the set oration that was expected of him, and got his hearers into He a thoroughly good listening humour. then said: Representing a number of Nations, to an extent, competitors, We | and
join in congratulating our Japanese friends on this handsome ship,-this Twentieth Century, this supreme expression of nautical skill, speed and convenience. There was a day, and some of us remember it, when men in the same line of business regarded each others as natural enemies. Even their women folks looked cold. ly at each other and for their children to walk home from school together or to investigate the moonlight under romantic circumstances spell- ed disloyalty to the olan a d disrespect to the fathers. A little later the dictum " Live and Let Live" was given some recognition and the grocery man sometimes growled out "Good Morning" to his rival, and the tailor was will
It appears that on Saturday last Mr.ing to concede that his competitor down the Ruttonjee, senior, discovered in the commode in the bathroom a quantity of butter. Father and son
made arrangements to watch the culprit. Detective Inspector Hanson was called in and on the following day two pounds of butter were marked with a small R. After. wards one pound of butter and two bottles of sance were found in the commode case. Again butter, sauce and mushrooms were marked in the game manner and again they were discovered in the same way. On the 28th May Det, Sergt. O'Sullivan proceeded to the compradore's shop. There he saw the suspected thief and the com. pradora behind the counter. He searched the premises and found 13lbs of butter marked with the letter R. two bottles of sauce, and a tin of mushrooms.
The boy pleaded guilty, but the compradore pleaded not guilty, and the case was remanded.
ARRIVAL OF THE "KALGAN.”
88 the
street might possibly get to heaven, however little he might deserve it. But these days of misunderstanding and unlovely divisions have passed; and now in civilized lands men in the same occupations have come to see that not only is it good for brothers to dwall together in unity" bat that the interests of honourable competitors are identical; business breeds business, they seek the same ends and can best secure them by fair mutual recogni- Trade and Com. tion and co-operation. merce, certainly in such an undeveloped territory and expansive
Orient not a oake of is
fixed proportions, of which there are a limited number of pieces. Rather it is a field in which there is room for many workers and each growth not only yields its own fruit, but fertilizes what is near it The more trade there is, the more there will be, The more of China's 40,000,000 ars taught to enjoy the surplus of other lands, the greater the demand from new contingents of this great population who have heard the good Messrs. Butterfield & Swire despatched the news. Especially does Hongkong, which is
rather than exchange
producing 8.8. "Tean" (Capt. Outerbridge)" at 6 on the 1st inst, to search for the missing centre, profit by every new means of communica- steamer "Kalgan," and H.M.S. "Astation, linking up China with its exports and left the Harbour at seven o'clock on the imports to other nations. Commerce is not a same mission. When the cruiser was about fixed quantity; it is an education, a boundless thirty-five miles out from Hongkong she population, and the awakening wants of the received a message by wireless telegraphy Chinese nation; and he is a na row man who stating that the "Kalgan " had been reported does not know his political economy who con- from Gap Rock. The "Astımı' thereupon osives that it is a boon to anyone to circumscribe steamed after the "Tean" and reported the the trade of this Empire and who laments new intelligence. Both vessels returned to the Har- ventures to teach it to buy and sell, even to bour about 12 when the "Kalgan " also came in. remote Yunnan and Szechwan. Growth is the The "Kalgan" (Capt. Lewis) left Iloilo, for law of commerce if it is to prosper-new Hongkong on the 24th ult, at daylight. The provinces must be enrolled in trade, and wind was then 8.8.E., but it subsequently it is a benefit to all when new and vigorous shifted to South. After pasting Cabis Island at forces enter the field to provoke fresh supplies 2 p.m. on the 25th ult. the ship encountered the to be carried away and to teach new wants to be full force of the typhoon and was driven out of catered to from abroad. No one can live long her course to the vicinity of Lingayan Gulf in Hongkong, no one can look about this board where the Captain deemed it prudent to seek and see the faces of these Britons, bringing shelter and he anchored there for forty hours | cheer to this important expansion by the until the typhoon had passed away to the North | Japanese, in a harbour and in a trade-territory made possible by the Baorifices, the Fast.
bard-ships, the sufferings, and
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a.m. an
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of
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bloodshed
The Tean," it may be added, left Manila on
British fathers, without an in- the 26th ult," and ran right across the track of the typhoon. She reached Hongkong on voluntary tribute of gratitude, and admiration Saturday morning, twenty-four hours late. to the generous spirit and the broad policies of
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[June 8, 1908.
the British Empire. She has not lived to her. self alone. I never pass those silout dead in the Chinese village of Stanley, I never read of the violence, alarms and desolating loneliness of the early decades while this Colony was den- perately seeking a foothold exposed to attack by the natives and neglect and ridicule by the nations, without feeling something of the debt every American, every German, French, Italian, Scandinavian, every Japanese-who makes home or profit here owes to the British people; and without marvelling at the broad and lofty character of her State-craft. Proudly conscious of her dominance, she has gone her way as a gracious lady bountifu1, rich in her possessions and accretions and letting fall where they will the overflow of good things for others. Or rather, she early laid hold of the profound truth of the proverb, “ These is that sösttereth and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than is meet bat it tendeth to poverty." By throwing open her gates and welcom- ing men of all nations she has made herself a vital part of many activitieë otherwise denied ber, Macio throws down no gates-by seeking to save her life, she has lost it. Great Britain conquers South Africa at fearful cost and when the worldly wise look now to see a rich feas; of conquest, her people make citizens of thos› lately in arms against her and ́stifle hate by bidding the enemy return to their fields, now well ordered under a government of justion, to enjoy individual freedom and the victors. It equal opportunity with
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is the highest form of statesmanship and even of expediency, despite the carpers, for in it is goodwill, faith in man, and the confidence The in herself which commands leadership.
no anch self-control and world has gren magnanimity since Lee surrendered at Ap- pomater and the Conquerer Grant bade him keep his sword, and his men their horses, that they might resume their farms and work with their brothers for the healing of the nation. To the Japanese in this and all their efforts, rightminded men of all nations wish well. When men's minds are too closely bent to local and transient phases of a topic that engages them so intently as have the spirit and destiny of this people in thirty years, it is time to re- foot less on their failings and more on their virtues. Certainly no nation ever so quickly and with such admirable individual abnegation, let go the things of docility, and perseverance; antiquity and 1 id hold of the best things of modern civilization. This proud ship bailt in Japan-the first turbine propelled to fret the waters of a harbour where an average of 22 steamships of all nations da ly enter from the outer seas, bears no resemblance to the pitiful sampans that looked in frightened wonder on Commodore Perry's squadron half a century ago; nor does it seem possible that the modern Japanese nation with all its equipment of peace and war commanding the respect of experts, could be evolved in so short a time, Japan has her problems; she must be a burden bearer as her sister nations. We would she diverted to industry her budget from armaments
on factories and multiplied smokestacks
But advice is rather than on bit leships. meant to give, not to take; she must learn in the grim school of experience as do we all. It is enough for us to-day to rejoice that a new brother exulting in his strength joins the family of modern nations. Tonched by a spirit of brotherhood, we give Japan welcome and promise her the sympathy and co-operation of men who love their fellows. To the “Tenyo Maru,” to her captain, to beautiful Japan and her ambitious people,-God speed! [Applause.]
The new Japanese Consul, Mr. FONATSU, au estimable and scholarly gentleman who has been in the Colony only three weeks, thanked the American Consul for his friendly sentiments, and proposed success to the new steamer. He personally rejoiced at these evidences of good feeling between America and Japan. There was not and never had been any real reason for hostility, and he trusted that the “Tenyo Maru" might long serve as a link between two people who had every reason for liking and esteeming each other. [Applause. }
Mr. K. MATSDA uttered a courteous welcome! on behalf of Mr. 8. Asano, the President of the Toyo Kisen Kaisha, and Captain Going, of the Tenyo Maru," made a humorous speech. íá eulogy of the new ship.
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