The first meeting the Session was [held at No. 1 Yuen Ming Yuen Road on Thursday evening. After the wual business kad been *ransacted Mr. EA. P. Wood read his Presidential address, which was as follow:
My first duty is a very pleasant one, and that is to return my sincere thanks the members for having elected me President for the ensuing year. I can only assure thera, that I shall endeavour to the best of my ability to carry out the work of the Society, and further its objects in every possible way. As we are sion, I trust a great deal of the uphill entering upon our second complete se. work always connected with the formation of a new institution has now passed away, and in shortly reviewing our past session it is very satisfactory to find on the roll 95 members and 2 students; Sut, considering our membership and the very interesting papers which have been read, I much regret that so few have attended the meetings. I take this opportunity on behalf of the members to thank the gentlemen who spent so much time and thought in preparing their papers, and if only other members will follow their good example, also enter into the di cussions, and do all they can to assist the Council, it will soon be found that the society is doing a great deal of good, fully maintaining its position and proving'a benefit to its members. The visits to Messrs. Farnham, Boyd & Ca. Ltd. and the Kiangnan Arsenal were well attended and proved very pleasant and instructive outings. It is the hope of the Council to be able to arrange several Visits to works of interest during the present session, and it will give me much pleasure to see rou at the Waterworks.
Sixty Years' Progress.
I find it very difficult to prepare an address that will interest you to the same extent as the one delivered by my predecesser Mr. J. G. Morrison, and I must therefore ask your kind indulgence. But this being -tho coronation year of His Majesty King Edward the Seventh, appeals to me as an appropriate occasion for attempting a brief retrospect of the advances made in engineering and archifectural works in Shanghai since the {coronation of our late Queen and much beloved and revered Sovereign, G4 years ago. It is first necessary to compare very briefly the journey out to China 60 years ago with the present date. In the early days the journey occupied about 125 dars, and was accompanied with many dangers {and discomforts: and only undertaken by people who had special business in China, say connected with tea or silk. It is quite unnecessary for me to follow year by year the wonderful progress rai way and ocean transit has made, unt" now, when a person leaves home for the Far East, it is taken as quite a raatter of course, and looked upon as an every day occurrence. Not only are these jour-noys made for business purposes, but hundreds of people are constantly circling harmless to the most delicate the world simply for pleasure. Owing to skin. It prevents and removes Freckles, Tar si the mag ficent stemers that Sunburn, Redness, Rowzhuess, healsCutanvous traverse the ocean, the great advance-Eruptions, Irritation, Stings of Insects. ment in seamanship assisted by nautical Eczema, Burns, imparts a luxuriant beauty © instruments now made to such perfection, to tie complexion, awl arrays the nek". the time and care spent in surveying the hanile'nnd. sind. at matehicns biteness.
Ask Stores deep and the light-houses that now light and Chemists for Rownasn's obtainable by any other means. he most dangerous points, ry avoid-poisonous imitations. i which except for unforeseen circumstances 3a) alt 28my-02 384 29th May, 1901 travel li ty men isi oer against, early ap safe on land. I must not forget the main cause not only of shortening the route to China but to all other countries in the East, and considered at the time one of oer atest tr nmaphs of the we. the contion of the Suez Canal. Then we have had the opening of the railways across Canada and the Arerican Continent, whilst the Trans-Siberian route is now quite practicable. With regard to the eat change in ship life as compared to the olden days, then we had sailing vessels and slow steamers with oil lamps, all meat killed as required. little or no comfort in the saloons or cabins, with a tent rigged up in some out of the way corner ax a smoke roo ship is fitted with very powerful triple expansion engines, twin screws, with a specd of 10 to 20 knots; cloctti pplies all the light and cases the fan. cold storage for provisions. splendid <aloons and cabins, that now enable us to travel in every luxury, All this is due to the rapid strides made in engineering in all its nels ack you to torsive me for having rather wandered from suhicet. but T hoped a short review would be of interest. reminding us of the groatly changed condition under which we now travel as compared with the voyages matertcken by the pioneers who opened up China.
The Pioneer Industry, Docks.—1 belie Tam correct in sayins the first wring Works of any ken in Shanghai date on of the Old Dock in Hongkew, about the year 1850, At th after a ship was in the dock, a was thrown up ut the entrance, but in 1862 this arrangement. way found to be quite unsuitable for the require ments of the shipping then trading with Shar i, and the old mud dam was supe by properly constricted piled entrance and wood caisson including the introduction of a proper pump-plant. This <ame slock is now in daily and marks as a record the skill and of the engineers who designed and the construction. impossible to estimate the difficulties they must have had to overcome, considering the quality of the labour available and the machinery at their As the trade of the port extended so have four Aditional docks been built all under very difficult conditions owing to the nature of the ground, The largest ix 532 feet long with 24 fect depth of water on the sill. The workshops in connections are now very extensive and, being fitted with the newest machinery. "are quite on a. par with mang of the ship-building yards at home.
Gas.—As the Settlement extended so aid the requirements of people, and the next important undertaking was the Gas Works, which started in 1863 and, doubtless had very many difficulties to overcome before commencing to supply yas in 1 and attaining their present very satis: factory position. Under the " present management, I am quite sare the latest improvements in the manufacture of as, and all inventions for improving the light are introduced into Shanghai as quick! as to any part of the world. It ix very interesting to trace the figures kindly iven me by the Compans's Engineer, and to find that in 1866 the consumption ras 5,318,000 cubic feet whereas last year it reached 173,000,000 cubic feet.
Wharres—T have been told that in 1862 it was not an uncommon sight to see 200 sailing vessels in the Whangpoo iver at the same time, and all discharging their cargoes into at that time with the exception of one or two small wharres owned by the local steamer companies no public wharves existed. is only necessary to take a trin from the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.