Tae meeting of the Chamber of Commerce at Hongkong, shows the general unanimity there is between the mercantile bodies there and here. The same reforms are needed, and a marked desire for common action displayed. Such topics as mildew and bills of lading may be looked upon as incident to the China trade at large, but it is satisfactory to find that the Chambers not only hold the same opinions, but are desirous of common action, Curiously the two Chambers have, in local affairs, not dissimilar grievances. Our harbour is sometimes blocked for days by the Woosung Bar, while vessels have: sometimes a difficulty in making out at night the entrances to Hongkong. It may have seemed anomalous that, while we were urging on the Chinese Government the necessity of lighting its harbours, our own should for so long atime continue without lights. There is of course a great difference between the entrance to Hongkong, well marked by headlands, and with scarcely any sunken dangers, and the approach to such ports as Foochow and Shanghai, where the greatest judgment and most intimate knowledge is required. Still, the scheme of lighting the coast was scarcely complete without some indication of the harbour at Hongkong. Naturally enough, the Chamber thinks that the cost of the erection of the lighthouses is a fair subject for the disposal of the Special Fund, and requested the Government of the Colony to lay the matter before the Secretary of State. The Colonial Government has probably had enough of snubbing for its taste, and declines the reference, whereat the Chairman of the Chamber, who is also an unofficial member of the Council, not unnaturally feels discontented. In any case, however, adds the Chamber, let us have the lighthouses; the revenue of the Colony, if only administered with an approach to economy, is amply sufficient not only for this, but for every possible call, As to the maintenance of the lights, one of the speakers very appropriately drew attention to the results of the ordinance for the registration of junks, which, at first intended only to cover office expenses, had grown into a considerable revenue. Native shipping was already burdened with this charge, the proceeds of which were thrown into the general colonial revenue, and it certainly seems fairer that they should be devoted to some work more directly useful to shipping. Incidentally, the general extravagance of the colonial expenditure came to be complained of, but we are sorry to see that, up to the present, the Colonists have not assumed that attitude with regard to public works and other matters more immediately affecting their own interests, which the circumstances of the case seem to call for. It is still a mystery to us to know what on. earth Lord Kimberly and the Attorney-General have to say to the making of' colonial ronds, or the getting up of colonial water-works. We are quite certain that the residents themselves would do all these things, at once more cheaply and more effectively than under the present roundabout system. Towards the proposition of the Shanghai Chamber with regard to the publication of the results of the Baron v. Richthoven's travels, the Chamber exhibited a friendly attitude. It was not so much for them as for us, yet still, as they were effective, the obligation was acknowledged. It is satisfactory to find proofs of a cordial desire to ce-operate proceeding from the Chamber at Hongkong; we can only hope that the good work begun will be as cordially carried out.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.