Settlement Arrived At: Action in French Mixed Court Withdrawn: Plaintiffs Generosity A settlement has been reached as a result of the dispute at the annual meeting of shareholders of the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Ca., held at the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce on May 28, which ended in an uproar.
New directors were appointed by part of those present, and there was a proposal to alter the regulations of the company to admit of the appointment of a general manager. When it came to voting on the subject a violent scramble took place round the ballot boxes into which the votes were being cast. Police interfered in order to save the boxes, and before the end of the meeting it is alleged Sung Teh-chu, a compradore on one of the company's steamers, and certain members of the Sheng Kung-pao family, accused Mr. Fu Siao-en, manager of the Commercial Bank of China and one of the old directors of the company, of having engaged coolies to steal the boxes. This allegation. Mr. Fu vigorously denied.
Several legal actions arose from the trouble—Mr, Fu sued his acensers in the French Mixed Court for slander; one of Mr, Sheng Kung-pao's sons-and a grandson brought suit against Madame Sheng and other members of the family, also in the French Mixed Court; and Mr. Chen Yung-ling, another shareholder, applied for an injunetion (which was subsequently granted) in the International Mixed Court, restraining the new directors from taking over the affairs of the company.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.