Ir we were to guage the prosperity of our mercantile community by the bar-ronness of its annals, there would be much cause for congratulation in the quietness with which the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday passed off. The lull in public affairs was faithfully reflected in the yearly gathering of the merchants, who could find little to discuss beyond the details of their ordinary business. So far from regretting the absence of the sort of political excitement which characterised the deliberations of the Chiamber a few years ago, it is rather to be wished that some more attention could be devoted to those matters of immediate practical concern with which the Chamber of Commerce is so competent to deal; and if the questions of Mildew in Shirtings, the form of Steamer Bills of Lading, Telegraphic advices, and such like, could have been more thoroughly ventilated, the public interest would probably have been the gainer. If there be any fault to find with the conduct of the meeting, it is perhaps that the proceedings relapsed somewhat too much into the type of those of a by-gone time, when the custom was to pass cut-and-dry resolutions sub silent io, and to no. minate a committee. And there was a slight departure also from the whole. some rule that has been for some years observed, of excluding from discussion subjects of which no notice had been given. For, however excellent a pro. posal may be in itself, it is undesirable to put it to the vote at a moment's no. tice, since the persons present at meet. ings are for the most part unprepared to make up their minds suddenly on a question, while those who are absent are under such circumstances complete. ly unrepresented, and are thus taken at a disadvantage. A resolution may pass small meeting which in an assembly called on fair notice to consider it, would be inevitably thrown out. With regard to the action which the Chamber of Commerce proposes to take in the matter of levying Wharfage Dues on cargo passing through the port of Shanghai, there is a good deal to be said on both sides of the main question, and a good deal more on the subsidiary question—whether it falls properly within the sphere of the Chamber of Commerce. In any case the subject was of sufficient importance to warrant a little deliberation, especially as it involved some interference with the functions of another representative body—the Municipal Council.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.