The annual meeting of the Ratepayers was held on Wednesday afternoon in the Town Hall. A special meeting had been called in advance of the usual meeting, but at the time this should have started, it was found that there was no quorum. In the circumstances, was adjourned, and thereafter the ordinary meeting proceeded.
On the motion of Mr. E. C. Pearce, seconded by Mr, A. Brooke Smith, Sir Havilland de. Saus-mare was elected chairman, and Mr. E. L. Allen, secretary of the meeting. The customary rules of procedure were adopted.
In moving the first resolution of importance—No. 4 on the agenda, that the report and account he adopted—Mr. Perce said that he thought' the year 1919 had proved the most trying year of his office. The failure of the North and South to come to agreement, strikes, resistance of rates, and the boycott had made it, so. Referring to the rates, the basis of the refusal of the Chinese to pay swas merely part of a studied policy of prevarication, and he had the most conclusive proof that a large measure of the support accorded to the agitation was not willingly given, but was the result of a poli-ey of intimidation against which so very few Chinese could hold out.
Turning to traffic problems, two rail extensions were recommended
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.