A special meeting of the shareholders of this Club was held on Tuesday evening, Mr. W. R. Carles in the chair, for the of considering the new rales, and the following resolution submitted by the That the Committee be empowered to arrange for thie lease or sale of the land lying to the East of the Court, or for building thereon.
There were present—Messrs. J. Cooper, H. R. Hearn, Douglas Jones, W. Lamond, Rev. H. C. Hodges, F, A. de St, Croix, J. A. Taylor, E. Rice, F. Anderson, W. D. Graham, ©.'M. Dyce, J. L. Scott, F. J. Abbott," H. Adams, and J. Maitland—representing in all 46 votes.
The Cuarnaay having briefly referred to the objects for which the meeting had been called and which fad been advertised in the daily papers for the required time, proposed fast the minutes of the last meeting be taken as read, but at the Tequest of Mr. Taylor, the Chairman read the minutes which were then signed.
The Cuatkway referring to the business then before the meeting said the circular, which had been addressed to the shareholders, contained almost all the information which the Committee had to give. With reference to the previous rules they had been found incomplete, contradictory in places, and the Commitiee consider that havi ard to the few copies re-waining and the alterations that would have to be made, that it would be necessar to have anew revised set of rules printed. As an instance of the inconsistency of the old rules, he mentioned that though they had now a sufficient quorum to sell the Club out, yet they had not enough shares represented to pass the new rules, though he hoped that a quorum would be' present when the wiotion was subnritted to the vote of the meeting. He then proposed subject of course to whatever amendments wore approved of That the Rules received in the form submitted to the meeting be passed and that the Agreement of 1883, which was signed by all shareholders, and all Rules of the Club and resolutions affecting these Rules of earlier date thatthe present meeting be null and void.
Mr, Tayion said that to be consistent with his action at the previous meeting, he had to object to Rule XVI which had reference to the amount of the subscription from honorary members, which he thought should be returned to them, 'A discussion: followed "between Mr. Taylor, the Chairman, and Mr. Hearn, as to the legality of the notice which the former gentleman had given of his former resolution, Mr. Hearn and the Chairman pointing ut that the present meeting tad specially called to remedy the grievances of honorary members, and if Mr. Taylor was not satisfied with that, he could move an amendment.
Mr. Taytox said that in view of the dissatisfaction which had been expressed the members might perhaps consider whether it was worth carrying on, After some further discussion the matter dropped, and the Chairman suggested that as there was not a sufficient quorum to receive the rules, they might discuss the next motion which they had power to deal with and later on some other shareholders anight come, when they could discuss the Mr. Dyce and Mr. Tavtor opposed dealing with any of the rules till they had a sufficient quorum to discuss the rules together, and the latter gentleman moved That the meeting be adjourned till this day month that a quorum may be obtained to vote on all the resolutions at one time.
Mr. Rice seconded the motion, Dir. Joxes asked would it be in order now to deal with the question as to the Gisposal of the land, and whether it would be necessary to hold a second meeting.
The Cuataatay said it would be quite in order.
Mr. Joxes thought that as they were there they might as well get through with some business, and though he agreed with part of what Mr. Taylor said, he was opposed to adjourning now without doing anything.
Mr. Tavzox pointed out that the second resolution bore very strongly on the first, and said they were going to pass a resolu tion which bore on another with which they had no power to deal.
The CusmMan pointed out that Mr. Tyler was apparently under o misspprehension. The next resolution related to the making use of the land lying to the East of the Court; they had a sufficient quorum to discuss the second resolution and he thought it would be a pity if they allowed the occasion to pass by without discussing it.
Mr. Tavtor thought that Mr, McLeod who was one of the Trustees ought to have an opportunity of hearing the subject discussed, but the hour was an inconvenient one for him to attend.
Mr. Heaxy said that Mr. McLeod, as a Trustee, only had to conform to the wishes of the shareholders, but if he had a personal interest as a shareholder he should attend. The Committee expected to have along meeting, and that was the reason they had not called the meeting an hour later, He (Mr. Hearn) had great pleasure in seconding the proposition of the Chair-wan that the disposal of the land be now considered.
A vote was taken on Mr. Taylor's amendment, which was seconded by Mr. Rice; Messrs. Taylor, Cooper, Rice and Dyce voting for and all the other members \inst the amendment which was declared lost by 25 to 18 votes.
The Cuarnaay then read the second resolution which was as follows That the Committee be empowered to arrange for the lease or sale of the land lying to the East of the Club, or for building thereon, and that the trustees of the Club be hereby authorised to make such sale or lease as the Committee may arrange.
He said that the Committee had been doing their best to reduce the monthly expenditure of the Club, and their wish was to place its finances on a more satisfactory footing, by increasing the revenue of the Club, To do this the Committee proposed to utilise the narrow strip of land, about 160feet Jong by 37 fect wide which now lay idle and yielding no revenue, on the East of the Court, "and they had thought of several "sum of Tis, 3,000 at present lying in the ways of getting something font, There was Hongkong and Shanghai Bank on deposit which the Committee thought if properly utilised would bring in an income of Tls. 450 per aunum, and part of this money could be set aside to form a sinking fund to meet damage and depreciation to the buildings, and the Committee hoped with the remainder to pay some interest: on shares. He then proposed That the Committee be empowered to ar-to the Enst ofthe Court and that the Trustees range for the lease or sale of the land lying he hereby authorised to make such sale or lease as the Committee may arrange.
Mr. Joxes seconded the Chairman's motion.
The Cuatnaan said that if they approved of the resolution it would be left to the shareholders to decide in what way they should carry it out. The sale of the land was a thing which was not favourably regarded. by the majority of the "memrs of the Committee. He thought he! was right in saying that the land was! worth 4,000 taels a mow if it were sold, and the strip of land to the East of the Court contained a little less than a mow. The piece of land at the back of the Court which they had already sold pearly double now. brought Tls. 1,750 a mow, and it was worth Mr. Joxzs said that one of the objections to selling the land was that the Committee could hardly make any proviso with the purchaser as to the style of the buildings to erected upon it, and they might also get very undesirable tenants next to the Club, which would interfere with the sale of the entire property, if they ever thought of selling it, which however he hoped they would not have todo. They had now ascertained that they could get a class of tenants who were willing to submit the style of buildings to the Committee, and which wontd not take more than Tls. 3,000, which would bring in a yearly revenue of about Tie. 450 "and he thought that these tenants would remain ten years at least. It was not desirable then to mention their names Dut he felt sure that they were people of whom all the shareholders would approve although they were Chinese.. It would be four years probably, befure any repairs were necessary and they would get 400 or 475 taels a year te do what they liked with, He thought it was a pity that they ever sold the piece behind the Court and that they would be making a mess of it again if ey sold the strip now under discussion, After some further conversation Mr, Hovoes proposed as an amendment That the Committee be empowered to build at.a sum not exceeding Ts. 3,000 on the land lying to the East of the Club, and that the trustees of the Club be hereby authorised to make such lease of the buildings as the Com: mittee may arrange at a minimum rental of Tis, 450.
L. Scorr seconded.
ANIER proposed as a further amendment:
That the committee be asked to delay dealing with the land to the east of the Racquet Court until after a meeting to pass the altered rules, Mr. Heaxs poitited out to Mr. Taylor that there were only two or three shares holders away, and if the matter was postponed there would be again the same dif+ ficulty in getting a quorum.
Mr. JoNes supported Mr. Hearn's views Mr. Tayion urged that as the matter was one of great importance to the met bers, time ought to be given to communi+ cate with absent members. It struck hin that some people would devote the money which they had in the bank to carry on the work of the Club, which did not appear to
desirable that they should have some figures be self-supporting He thought it was very
This matter of disposing of the land had to show that the game was sel supporting come suddenly upon them and the Committee asked them to dispose of this piece of land, which was worth Tls. 4,000, although there was no doubt that it would detract from the value of the whole Property.
Mr. Heany quoted some figures to show that without including subscriptions of absent and honorary members the expenditure was only some $50 more than the receipts.
A vote was taken after some further discussion on Mr. Taylor's amendment. which was lost by 25to 11. A conversation, followed on the wording of Mr. Hodges' amendment which was finally adopted by 28 to 11 votes in the form above given, Messrs, Dyce, Taylor, Maitland and Rice voting against it.
Another proxy having by this time arrived, The meeting proceeded to consider the new rules, the chairman proposing that they should be taken altogether and the members could propose any amendments they liked to any of the rules, He proposed That the revised rules in the form submit ted to this meeting be passed with the amend: ments now voted, and that the agreement of 1883 which was signed by the Shareholders, and all rules of the Club and all resolutions affecting those rules of earlier date than the present meeting be null and void.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.