A meeting of Shareholders in the Shanghai General Hospital was held on the 20th inst,, to consider and decide upon a proposal to liquidate the institution. The chair waa veeupied by Geo. F, SewaRD, Euq, U.S. Ao he SeoRETARY having ad the notice calling the meeting, The Omatmatan proposed the following resolution That ti Shanghai General Hospital be Tiguidated, and that the property and pro-coeds, reniaining thereafter be vested in following. person as Trustees:—The Count do Chappedel W. H. Medhurat, Annecke, E, Iveson, L. Ewald, W. 8."
W. Siegfried, A! Voisin, J.G. Purdon, W. V. Drummond and George F. Seward, who shall carry ona Hospital at Shangh with power to transfer the same to anew Board of Trustees, to be constituted as ular Body, delegated by the whole body of on sale 5, four Ratepayers, delegated by the general Municipality; two Ratepayers, dele-Ghted by the French Municipality.
'Mr, Ewatp seconded the resolution, 'The Ouamsax then snid—It will be well for me to dup to proposition, 'The original' scheme the establishment of a Hospital in Shanghai, contemplated the tion: of a share or arock concern, It wan propered to issue 500 shares at Tis, 100 ench, This was in the year 1863, Actually; as shown by the first report issued by the Trustees, 318 shares wer taken, and Is: 31,800 were paid in upon jo result of the working the Hospital for the first three four yenrs, dil not show a good result pee and for this reason, and probably for other reasons, 0 long ago us early in the year 1869, the Trustees report for 1868, in this connec-are as -follows:—'*It would seem tution of the ty at large. may be dene 8 to cancel weir scrip, as several have already so generously done; and by vesting the property in a permanent Board of ex-officio elective Trustees, A proposal to this effect will be brought forward at the annual meeting."—The proposal was actually brought forward at the meeting, and favourably entertained by it. All the reports, forming a connected series since, udo "to this subject. The last report, at the beginning of this year, shows feat all but about forty shares had been surrendered. Since this report was issued, the Trustees have continued to seek to induce the shareholders to surren-dor their scrip, and now only 17 shares remain unsurrendered. The greater part of these belong to persons who have disappeared from Shanghai, and whos whereabouts are unknown, The resolu.
n now proposes that the property and assets of the institution shall be liquidated; that a sum meet these unsurrendered be set aside; and that what remains shall be turned over to certain persons named, who will constitute " Board of Trustees, In order that the proposal of the Trustees at the present juncture may be more fully understood, it is desirable to state also what has occurred between the Trustees and the Municipal Council for the Northern Settlements. It will be remembered that, after the publication of the correspondence after the late Rate-meeting, which had to do with 2, the Trustees submitted to proposal for the reconstitution of the Hospital, in which they asked that the Council should advance a less sum of than was originally asked for, in m with the French Municipal that the proposal was rejected by the Council. The Trustees, earnestly anxious to harmonise matters, at a later date proposed to the Council the appointment of conference committees of the was favour-com result of the conference was embodied in a minute, which [hela in my hand, and which the Secretary will please read.
The Szoretary accordingly read as follow "The Conference Committees named by the Trustees of the Shanghai General Hospital and by the ral Council, to arrive ata basis of settlement of Hospital matters, agree port to their respective bodies as follows:
The Board of Trustees to be reconstitute: to as to comprise: Thee Consuls, gated annually by the Consular body: Four Ratepayers to be chosen annually by the general Municiy lig Two Ratepayers to be chosen annually by the electors, French Settlement.
tion to be liquidated, and the property.
"The atr ofthe present Hospital associ proceeds remaining to be made over to the new Board.
"The new Board to have sole control and management of the Hospital, and to make annually, on or before the Ist December, a public statement of the working and accounts of the Hospital.
"The Ratepayers of the General Municipality to donate to the new Board Tls. 5,000.
"Phe Council to ask' the Ratepayers to approve the above arrangements and to appropriate the sum named, The Cuarmaan resumed by saying—The minute has been submitted on one side to the Trustees, and has received their approval; and: it has been submitted on the ide to the Council, and has, I been approved by them. More lately, acting by direction of the Trustees of the Hospital, I, as Chairman, have submitted this scheme to the Chairman of the French Municipal Council, asking the approval of the French Council to aleo asking whether they would ble to donate the Hospital an y, Tls. 2,500. No answer received yet from them but judg-ery liberal support which has always been shown towards the Hospital by the French side, there seems little reason to doubt that the request will be granted. It is hoped, then, that the new Board as contemplated, may be consi tuted as early as the middle of February. The new Trustees will then receive from ti Trustees who are being constituted to-day, th i property of the Ho ital which and which ce: medicines of the present Hospital; and of s cash balance which will amount to about Tls. 2,000. In this connection; it may be stated that the Trustees have lately procured a valuation by two experts, of the aite known as Endicutt's Garden, The experts differ somewhat between themselves, but the valuation put by them upon the amounts to about its Tls. 12,000, The new Irustees, from the site and the stock of medicines and stores, will have in we hope, Ti, of balance of working of Hospital; Tis, 5,000, as we hope, from the English Municipal Council, and Ts, 2,500, as we hope, from the French Municipal Council making total cash sum of Tis, 9,500. During the discussion which has taken place in regard to Hospital matters, the Trustees have been endeavouring to procure plans for a Hospital which would admit of a reduced expenditure for building. No plans have been decided upon, and manifestly as things now stand, it would not have been appropriate for the Trustees to decide upon the believe, howe: that @ ssu ing can be erected at Ts. 15,000 to tis. 17,000, 'This will call for a sum, say, of 6,000 or Tis, 7,000 beyond the assets' which have been mentioned above, The Trustees believe that there will be no trouble i g this amount tion "of "the ould be lo outlay ave been met, leaving a debt of not more th 8,000. ight per cent, upon ti '640, should represent the ai expenditure in place of the rent whi now paid, The annual cost of the prosont building is about Tis, 2,400, the, cilculation thus showing a saving for the'Hospital of more chan Tis, 1,700 per year, Speaking for myself on the matter, and not for the Trustees, my inspection of the accounts of the Hospital leads..mo that, with a continual as during the last two your he receipts of the Hospital, however, fluctuated a good deal for several ud I may bemiataken in my anticipat tions by reason of continued fulling off in the receipts. There is of course a.question as to whether the present site ought to be used. The Trustees have desired to leave the new Board of Trustees entirely free to decide this matter for themselves. [t hasn't been an easy matter, sites for a appears that one, upon the Soochow Oreck, was offered aten early date; then, land was obtained near the Ningpo jo ta cost.of over Tis 23,000. was held. to.bé unsuitable for the erection of a Hospital, and the land was sold. Since then' an¢ until the recent effort of the Trustees to procure a site, the Hospital has not been in a position to build, and no effort was made to obtain one. If the present site should be used, the Hospital will be in the condition I have stated. If, however, it should be considered desirable.to choose another location, it may be hoped that the land which the new: Board of Trustees will then have at their disposal, will realise something near what was paid for it. In such case, the new Board may be able to procure another site without the outlay of more money, or, ab any rate, of very much more money. The outlay which, in such. case, they, may
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.