Hongkong, Feb. 29.
In the course of his speech at the annual meeting of shareholders of the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank yesterday, the Chairman said: Speaking generally, 1919 was a prosperous year for China trade. The steady appreciation of silver appeared to have little effect on export trade. In the principal markets of the world, the keen demand for China's productions at advancing prices more than off-set the effect of the high exchange which on the other hand enabled the Chinese to buy foreign goods freely even at the unprecedented values they have now attained.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.