Minutes of a Committee Meeting held at the offices of the Chamber on Monday, the bth of July, 1897, at 4 pin.
Present:—Messrs. C. J. Dudgeon (Vice-Chairman, presiding), Wade Gard'ner, F.
Koch, A. Korff, W. D. Little, E. Shellim, and the Secretary.'
The Minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
Revision of Tarif':—A letter on this subject fiom the Hongkong Chamber was laid afore the meeting, together with the reply sent, and both were ordered to be published.
The Bank of China and Japan, La, and Chinese Shareholders:—A letter from the Acting Manager of the Bank was read, calling the attention of the Chamber to the position of the Bank as regards its native shareholders, in consequence of the Taotai having expressed his inability to enforce contracts between Chinese and foreigners, and his refusal to enter into the question. It was resolved to address the Senior Consul on the subject without entering into particulars of the Bank case, pointing out the gravity of the situation, in that the decision of the Taotai imperilled all transactions between Chinese and foreigners.
The River Approaches to Shanghai.—A letter from M. was laid before the meeting, enclosing a letter from M. Chollot offering to submit to the Chamber a plan for the improvement of the River Approaches Shanghai which had been prepared by him, and it was decided to reply that the Committee would be very pleased to receive same on the terms proposed by M. Chollot, After the transaction of other business, Messrs. J. L. Scott, H. Gribble and Ph. Arnhold, representing various Sectional Committees on the Taxation of Foreign Trade, were introduced, and the following Sectional Reports were tead:—On General Exports, Piece Goods, Sundry Imports.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.