The Annual General Meeting of the members of the Shavghai General Chamber of Commerce was held on the 6th inst., at the Chamber's offices, Szechuen Road. Mr. F. B. Forbes, President of the Chamber, vccupied the chair, and there were present Messrs. E. H,'Lavers, W. Gultzow, W. Howie, H. S. Morris, R. A. Gubbay, Mendel, W. Paterson, G. Bluntscbli, D. Brand, J. A. Hawes, M. Kalb, and J.
The Sucrerany read the notice convening the meeting.
Who Ciatatas—We have now wasted so mutch time in waiting for a quorum that in order tv save time I will suggest that we ballot for the new Committee at once, and appoint a scrutineer who can be count. ing the votes while we go on with the other business. len members of the Committee have to be elected, and I would call your attention ty the fact thatas both Mr. B. G. Low and Mr, J. S, Fearon have expressed their willingness to serve on the Committee, only one of them can be elected. Mr. C, Jantzen and Mr, A. G, Michselson are in @ similar position; only one of them can be elected. I suppose it will be satisfactory to the meeting for Mr. Corner, the Secretary, to act as scrutineer.
No objection was raised, and Mr. Curner acted accordingly.
'The CuarnMaN—-Gentlemen, the report has been in your hands for a few days, and you will see that the Committee have had few burning questions to deal with during the year. As a matter of fact we have not' written a single letter
on the other hand His Excellency Sir to the diplomatic corps at Peking, and Thomas Wade, the doyen of the diplomatic Corps, has been equally silent with us. This was certainly not for any lack of questions of great importance to this comanuinity which are, or are supposed to be, under discussion at Peking, about which the Chamber would have been very g'wl to hear from His Excellency. You will swtice, for instance, from the report, that the Committee of the Chamber has had to rely entirely on unottici to what was being done with tothe Woustng and River Consecv: It is satisfactory for us to know that something has een dune, and if there was nu doubt that the work was xoing tu be proceeded with steadily, this Chai her would be the last to cavil at the Chinese Gosermment for doing the work at their own expense instead of taxing the trade of this port as we had proposed. saw Mr. Hart this mo and he was unable to vive me any information on the matter, and ths Committee of the Chamber know nothing beyond what we Have seen in the newspapers. The Committee has been at work quietly in colleeting corta motion which 1 think is not without value to the community. In answer to an application from P. Hughes, Esq., H.B.M.'s Consul, the Committee compiled an estimate of the value of property in Shanghai, which shows, we believe, for the first time the varied element of wealth and property which are gathered about Shanghai. It will certainly be of value, for whether the question be one of protection, or development or restriction, we can see just the magnitude of the various interests invested. One of the most important things, however, the Committee has had to deal with during the year is to attempt to organise a meteorological service, but as the subject will come before the mesting under a special resolution later on, I will not dwell further upon it at present but will move—That the Report of the Committee be adopted.
Mr. E H. Lavers—I beg to second the metic No remarks being offered the motion was unanimously cartied.
The Cuatraan—The next business, gentlemen, is to pass the Accounts.
Mr. Howm—I have much pleasure in proposing the next resolution, namely—That the Accounts, as presented, be passed.
Mr. Parensox—I second the motion, Carried unanimously.
The Secretary remarked that there was nothing particular in the accounts. Their most important feature was that they were a little more favourable than last ye The Cmaimrax—The next business is the election of a Committee for the ensuing year, and while the scrutineer is count ing the votes, we will pass on to the next subject, namely, to take action with respect to the meteorological service. The Committee have been at work on this subject for some time past. There is no doubt that it is a matter which is hardly within the province of the Chamber. The organisation of weather reports and weather forecasts is a work which ought to be undertaken by the Chinese Authorit themselves, but as there were no si that the Chinese Authorities were doing anything in the matter, the Committee tried tu study the question in a practical way to see if it was not possible to utili the Observatory at Siccawei under the Rev. Mare Dechevrens, who is admitted to be one of the ablest authorities on meteorvlogy in this part of the world and perhaps any where, We were able go to a certain point very successfully, but we have met with a check at the last, in having failed to obtain the active assistance, of the Customs' staff at the different Lighthouses, Lightships and Harbour-masters' stations. Everything else has gone on very satisfactorily. The owners of the steamers have assisted us a most cordial way, and uow over sixty steamers are reporting regularly to Father Dechevrens. The Great Northern ele-graph Company are prepared to messages over their lines; we be Chinese Telegraph Company are wi to do the same thing on their lines; and since the report of the Chamber has been printed a letter has been received from Mr. Tony King-sing saying that he has obtained official sanction from the Viceroys of Chihli and Nanking, to have telephonic communication between Shanghai and the Siccawei Observatory for pose of weather reports. The only ww left to do is to get a number of shore stati Mr. Hart has refused to cooperate officially, and when I saw him this morning I was unable to obtain from him any further explanation of his reasons for decil I believe, however, that it may be possible for Father Dechevrons to arrange to get the required reports, so that the refusal on the part of Mr. Hart need not necessarily stop the scheme from being carried out. Of course if the Chinese Government were to undertake this work there would be no occasion for the Chamber of Commerce to concern itself further in the matter. But I hope that our successors the new Committee will keep the subject in view, and if the Chinese authorities do not act, that they will continue the work we have begun. With these few remarks I will move the next That the Chamber appro} of the late Committee to establish a logical service for the coast of Eh instructs the new Committee to tal further ation as may to them appear ex-expedient to complete the propered orgauisa. tion, Mr. Scorr—I have much pleasure in seconding the motion.
Mr. D. Braxp—Might I ask, Mr. Chairman, whether there has been any grant applied for from the Chamber, towards
got the expenses, and how is the money to be The Cuatraax—That has been provided for in the scheme. The owners of the steamers have already consented to pay the cost of the instruments required; the Customs were to be asked to attend to the shore stations, where as a matter of fact they have now instruments; and the local insurance companies were asked to subscribe to the current expenses of the undertaking, which are principally those of publication Mr. Brano—There is no grant from the Chamber?
the Cuamay—No, and none was ever intended. The only thing it was proposed that the Chamber should do in this matter was, thatit should look after the organisation and attend to the business management. 5 The motion was then put to the meeting and carried unanimously.
The Caarexan then announced that in regard to the election of the Committee, Mr. Hague and Mr. Holliday had received equal number of votes. It would be \ecossary for a ballot to be taken for one of these two gentlemen, A ballot was then taken, and the votes ing been counted, the Cxarrwax auinounced: that the getitlemen elected the Committee for the ensuing year were follows:—Messrs. F. H. Bell, H. Do orbes, A. Gultzow, E. PB. Hague, W. Howie, E.G. Low, H. S. Morris, W.
J. M. Ringer, and W. S. Ro-concluded the ines before the meeting, unless some gentleman present had any motion to bring forward.
Mr, Lavers said it might soam strange that he, being a member of the retiring Committee, should rise to propose a vote of thanks to one of their number, but being an old member of the Chamber he hoped they would excuse him for doing so. He had worked with Mr. Forbes for a number of years on this committee, and he could testify to the great interest and untiring zeal that he had always displayed in every matter affecting the interests of the Chamber. He was sure that all. pro-sent would join in giving Mr. Forbes a cordial vote of thanks.
Mr. BRAND, as an outside member of the Chamber, or rather as a member who was not on the Committee, had much pleasure in seconding the motion, It seemed to him that in losing Mr. Forbes, the Chamber lost a member it would be most dificult to replace. He could say a good many things of Me. Forbes if that gentlemen were not present, and the least he could say was that it would be extremely difficult to replace him. It had been his intention to propose a vote of thanks to the retiring Committee, and especially for what they had done in connection with the proposed meteorological service. Opinions might differ as to whether the reports would be of any great practical utility, but there was no doubtes to the advisability of the thing being tried. It was well known that. Mr. Forbes had given great attention to the matter, and he had much pleasure in seconding the vote of thanks that had been proposed by Mr. Lavers.
The motion was carried unanimously.
Mr. Forses—I feel very grateful indeed for the very kind manner in which Mr. Lavers lias spoken of my connection with
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.