To the Editor of the antu-Caixa Datty New Sin,—Will you kindly find a corner in your valuable payer for the following There has been a gond deal of comment regarding a stateme.it made by the chai S.C. Farnham, B yd & Ca. 1 in his speech at the first annual meeting on Friday last.
for to the stock account of the late D. Ca., when the chai hat the amount of Tis, 354,123 for stock ut Pootung and Shanghai they idoled a huge mistake, and after aking off the initial figure they st It failed find the material equal to that value, Aslate Acing General Minager of the Youog Duck this statement is most unpleasant tome, and it must be equally so to the late directors and stuff of the Young Dock. should like to draw neties ta the fact, which possibly has been overlooked by the Chairman, that the figures, is, 354,123, were taken from the last report of the Snancial year or April the 30th. At that time there were 13. steel vessels on the stocks in various stages of construction for which all the material had arrived. Now it must be very appar rent to every one that xs all" work was being pushed forward most rapidly, S. C. Farnham & Ca. cauld not expect to find the same material four months after the stock was taken—hundreds of tons of plates and angles b. ing transformed into "work on hand," an item that was always kept entirely separate from stock." That material to the value of Tls. 354,123 was in the Company's possession on April the 30: h, I am prepared to vouch for. 'The stock was taken by four smart young foreigners assisted. by Chinese and supervised by the secretary and myself, who signed the stock sheets as correct after about six weeks' work, and it was as accurate as in human power to make it.
Chairman in other words states that at the time of taking over the Youny Dock there was not Ts. 54,010 worth of stock:
the premises, and' this I venture to think is "huge mistake and a matter that would not even now be difficult to ascertain approximately. To state a large sum of Tls. 300,000 was represented is a very" serious tater, and one which the shareholders should' insist on investigating whitout Gelay. I should suggest that they engage the scrivers of two entirely un-Viassed auditors and have the matter thoroughly thrashed out, which would be Sutisfactory alike to the Directors of the newly amalgamated companies and the shareholders, especially to your humble servant, Tam, ete, Pays ye T. Evans, Late Acting General Manager of the S. E.S. € D.Co., L'.
The '*Glorious Fourth" passed off on Thursday with handshakes, congratulations, refreshments, and in the sweet odour.of international amity. The day began with a reception at the U. S. Consulate, where the Consul-General, Mr. John Goodnow, received the large number of callers. There came members of Consular Services, the Customs, representatives of the Army, the Navy, Commerce, Journslism—ind so on, ad infinitum, On the verandah the Town Band under Signor Valenza playa sweetly and patriotically, while inside was the clinking of glasses and the voice of friendship. One occurrence marred the complete pleasure of the occasion. H. E. the Taotai set out to call at the U. S. Consulate officially, and was attended as usual by a number of Chinese soldiers as outriders. Now, it is the rule that the presence of Chinese soldiers in our Settlement shall only take place after formal reference to the Senior Consul. This reference must have been omitted, for the Tuotai had got but lite way when he was stopped by the po ice and ordered back. Surely on such an occasion the police might have relaxed somewhat their unbending sternness!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.