'The present fashion—due to the absence of pockets in ladies' attire—of wearing the watch on the bosom attached to a brooch served as an incentive to robbery on the 26th inst. An English lady, Mxs. Brown by name, was walking along the Bonham Road, in the direction of her residence, when two chinamen went up to her and one of them suddenly snatched her gold watch, with which the miscreants hastened off and assistance far no arrests have been got clear away before she could summon made, and it is more than probable that the thieves have lett for Canton with their valuable booty.
The eighteenth yearly meeting of the shareholders in the China Sugar Refining Ca, Ld, was held on the 27th inst. The Chairman (Mr. Bell-irving) in introducing the report, entered into a somewhat Tengthy Janation of the circumstances which to the very adverse report laid before them. A heavy fall in prices, the low rate of exchange early in the year, a strong combination against Hongkong' sugar in the United States—one of. their principal markets—and the war between China an Japan, were amongst the chief causes leading to the unsatisfactory result of the tions for the year. He also explained necessity existing for buying raw sugar forward by stating that the greater portion of the coming crop in Java had been already ought in advance. The statement was so full" that no questions were asked. Mr. Wilcox, who seconded the adoption of the report and accounts, said he was sure the shareholders were all much indebted to the General Agents for relinquishing so handsome a slice out of their commission in order to reduce the debit balance, and trusted that the necessity for such a sacrifice would not occur again, but that at the next meeting the Chairman would have the pleasing duty of again announcing a dividend.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.