seconded—
That Mr. Davenport take the chair, Carried unanimously.
Mr, Low moved, and Mr. Seaway seconded—
What Mr. J. A. Pond act as Secretary to the meeting.
Carried unanimously. Mr. Hanr then moved—
Phot the annexed Rules of Procedure adopted for uso at the meeting, and remain in force until the next annual general necting, The Rules were as follows Rules of Procedure to be observed at Public Meetings of Ratepayers convened under the provisions of the Land Regulations 1870.
1.—Every Ratepayer attending a Meeting shall, before entering the meeting room, register his name and the mtunber of proxies for absent Laudowners held by him, and each voter when s tering shall receive a ticket certifying the number of votes to which he is entitled, 2,—Whon a Public Meeting of Ratepayers shall have been assembled, a Chairman of the Meeting shall be elected by the Ratepayers present.
3.—Altor the Chair has been taken, the meeting shall proceed to the election of a Secretary.
The Chairman shall then read the notice convening the meeting, and ti Meeting shall be proceeded mentioned in the noti 5.—No proposition or question shall b itted for consideration at a Meetirg unless it directly out of any subjees actually under discussion, and which has been meutioned in the notice convening the Meeting or unless a written memoranduts of such proposition or question shall have bees lodged with the Seoretary of the Council three days before the date for which the meeting has een convened. In the latter ease, a copy of such memorandum shall be published by: the Council in the North-China Daily Nace on the days before and of the Meeting 6.—Every resolution or amendment must be in writing, ned by the mover and seconder, before it can be put from the Chair and no Subject shall be considered as duly before the Meeting unless it be put from the Chair, 7.—Tho mode of procedure with regard to amendments shall be as follows:—Any num-her of amendments to a resolution may be moved and seconded, after which the Chai man shall put, the question for and against, beginning with the amendment last proposed, until some one of the anendments be carried or all Lo rejected. The rejection of any amendment shall not import the passing of any preceding one, but each amendment shall then in its turn be put to the Meeting. In the event of all the amendments being rejected, the original resolution shall then be put.
8.—Upon a division being called for, the Secretary shall read the list of Ratepayers registered at the Meeting, and each voter present shall as his name is read declare whether he votes in the affirmative or negative, and the number of votes which he casts. When the number of votes on each side are equal, the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote: The result of the division shall be declared by the Chairman, whose decision shall be final unless a scrutiny shall be at once called for.
9.—If ascrutiuy be called for, the Chairman shall appoint as scrutineers tivo Ratepayers who shall have voted on opposite sides of the question, Such scrutineers shall proceed with the scrutiny forthwith, and the result shall be declared by the Chairman before the dissolution of the Meeting.
10.—No reference shall be allowed to any subject or business already disposed of, except by consent of a majority of the Ratepayers present or represented at a Meeting. A resolution once passed can only be rescinded or modified by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the voters present or represented.
11,—All documents which come before a Ratepayers' Meeting, shall if they have been previously exhibited for three clear days (exclusive of holidays) at the Council Room, be accepted as read, unless specially requested to be read at the Meeting.
12.—Each speaker shall address himself to the Chair. As arulo, except it be in explanation of the subject under discussion, or final reply, Ratepayers shall address the Meeting but once on each subject. Any departure from this rule to be permitted only at the discretion of the Chainina 13.—On all questions of order the decision of the Chairman shall be final, unless overruled by three-fourths of the voters present or represented.
No business shall be proceeded with at any Meeting convened under the provisions of Article XV of the Land Regulations 1870, until the Chairman shall have declared that the requisite number of Ratepayers are present or represented, and that their votes have been duly registered.
Mr. Cowre seconded.
Mr. Cuazatens asked a question regarding the use of proxies. He did not seo anything in the Regulations regarding the acceptance of proxies of Ratepayers who were not absent from Shanghai, Mr. Hour said Mr. Chalmers would find an answer to. his question in Article 19 of the Land Regulations, which provided that the proxies of Ratepayers who were absent from the Consular District of Sha or who were prevented by i ending, should be admitted to vote at the meeting. As he (Mr. Hart) understood it, persons who were absent in England might be represented by proxy but persons resident in the Settlement, ud not being prevented attending the meeting by illness, were not permitted to vote by proxy.
The Cursunstay then put the resolution, and it was carried unanimously.
Mr, Haut next moved— port and Accounts for I year ended 31st December, 1877, proved and passed.
Mr. Uaxr said there was not much for him to remark upon, in proposing the ion of the acco revenue was 100, but it realised 8 chiefly owing to crease of 'I's. the year the Council were rather as to this particular item of wharfage, as it was failing lo produce anything like the usual amount; but towards the end of the year it recovered itself, and the Counci fonnd that they had a surplus of over Ts. 2,000. D the Council had experi considerable ditticulty with regard to the transhipment due: It was a tax dificult to looked upon a very vexations of Tt produced only a small amount mowat the total in come, and this fact, combined with the belief that the tax was a vexatious one, led the Council to decide that it would be well to abolish it altogether. (Cheers), As an illustration of the trouble of collecting the tax, he said three steamers might take goods in at Hongkong for transhipment to Chefoo,—the China Merchants' Ca., Butterfield and Swire, and the P. &O. Company. On arrival here, the G.M. Go. mizht put the goods on board another of their steamers in the river, and so we enuld not collect the tax, Messrs, Butterfield avd Swire might, on the other hand, use their office on the French Bund, so they could not be taxed. We might then go to the P. & O., who would say they were only agents, and would not pay the tax, The same difficulty applied to goods brought from Hankow and transhipped here, "He mentioned there points to show how difficult it was to collect this tax, and the Council therefore thought it hotier to abolish it. Further it was do-cided that Tis, 2,000 set apart for the now road from the Cemetery to Siccawai, and fis. 1,000 for widening Malay Street, Hongkew, should be credited to current account, as it had been found utterly impossible to carry out either. The accounts showed a surplus of Tis, 11,800. There had been a slight increase in the expenditure, of Tis, 918, for widening roads, Many of the pontoons, and also the garden face, needed repairs after the typhoon last summer. He did not think there was auything more in the accounts he need refer to, and he therefore begged to propose the resolution.
Mr. Low seconded.
The Ouarauan iberi submitted the resolution, and it was curried nem, con.
The Cuamuan said the time hnd now arrived to propose a vote of thanks to the retiring Council, He, therefore, begged to mor That " cordial vote of thanks be accorded to the retiring Council, for their services during their year of office.
Mr. Toxwuoxt seconded, and the motion was carried by acelamati Mr. Harr said that on behalf of his colleagues and himself, he begged to thank' them very much' for their kind expression of approval.
Mr. Baxr then moved— the Tariff of Dues leviable on Mer-imported or exported at the port of Shanghai, which came into force on the Ist June, 1871, and the rules now appended thereto, be' in force until the wext annual general meeting, With rogara to those Rules, he might mention that after the words " imported to and exported," the Council proposed to leave out the word " transhipped," which was in fact the only alteration. He then read as follow: leviable upon Merchandise ported to, and exported from the port of Shanghai; framed by the Council for the Foreign Cor vay f of Shanghai, on the basis onsed by the Land Regulations of 1870.
his scale of charges has been received and approved of, by the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce.
Lhe Tariff comes to force on and from the Ist of January, 1878.
.—The Accounts will be kept and made uj the room at th appropria Custom Hous ated by the Commissioner of Customs fur that purpose.
2.—Tho Accounts.will be rendered monthly, together with a debit note to all persons liable today the same, and the amount specified in such debit note must_be paid within fourteen days thereafter. Objections on the ground of incorrectness or otherwise must he made within seven days from the date of receipt of the debit note.
3.—Ad valorem Dues will be levied on the value declared at the Custom House upon all articles not enumerated in this ari—Goods transhipped will be subject to these Dues where particulars are given on the permits, but when particulars are not so given, A rate not exceeding one mace per packugo will be charged.
5.—Dues shall not he levied on exportation of goods that have already paid dues on importation, but goods that lave been imported and passed through the Custom House by Chinese shall pay Dues on being re-exported to foreign ports.
Mr. McLzop seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously.
Mr. Harr next moved—That this Meeting, in pursuance and execu: tion of the powers vested in it by the Shang. hai Land Regulations of 1870, imposes and authorizes the Council for the Foreign Com.
ity of Shanghai, North of the Yang-king-Pang, to levy, collect and recover upon and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.