The Annual Meeting: Congratulations over New Organ:
The Need of Funds The annual meeting of subscribers of Holy Trinity Cathoral was held in the Cathedral Boys Schoo! on Thursday Mr. Barton, H. M. Consul-General, presided, supported by the Dean, Lord Addington, Mr. Edney Page and Mr. E, L. Allen (secretary), there being also a fair number of others present.
The Chairman said the great thing over which they now all felt 80 happy was the completion of the organ war memorial. They appreciated in particular the generous nift of Mr. Henry Lester, which had prevented their enjoyment of the new organ being tinged with any et that these was a debt on it. now was in a unique with the privileges it for worship according to the tenets of the Church of Eng-Tand. "Tt was a remarkable spirit which could aim at a Cathedral of this size 60 years azo and it was for us who had succeeded those who were animated by that spirit to see that we did our part in maintain. ing worthily the building, they conceived and gave to us, and' which now was made more worthy, and called even louder for our support through the completion of an organ worthy of the building in which i¢ was housed and those whom it commemorated, 'The Trustees' Report 'The trustees' report stated that the year closed with a credit balance of Tis, 489.43. This accounted for by the fact that no repairs have been found necessary, and the absence of any charge for the upkeep of the organ, ete., which item of expenditure had been transferred to the new organ building account. Investments profited—to the extent of Tls. 125, by the redemption of Tls. 2,500' Shanghai Land Investment" Debentures 1906 and re-investment in the new issue of 1925. The rosery.. building fund account still stands at Tls. 10,000. There are indi before long extensive repairs may become necessary. There is also the question of the heating of the Cathedral. This should be seriously taken in hand, and matter. The old and unsatisfactory. congregation comes to aid, the 'Trustees fear the Reserve will have drawn upon, 'Dean Walker's Scholarship of Tls. 1,000, the interest of which is divided between the Boys' and Girls' Schools, having nothing to do with the Trustees of the Cathedral, has been handed over to the Gov-_ ernors of the Schools, The old organ was sold to the Fathers at Siccawei for $3,500, and was removed at their expense and ye-erected in their Cathedral. Owing to the generous gift of Mr. Henry. Lester of Tls. 25,000 the new memorial organ was opened free debt, but there are certain other things required before the whole memorial can be considered complete. The improvement and rearrangement of the choir stalls, being the most important, may require some two or three thousand taels more. The trustees feel confident there will be no difficulty in obtaining whatever may be required to make the whole memorial complete and worthy of Shanghai and our Cathedral. Tt is intended at a later date to give the history of both Chapel and organ, and. the details of subscriptions in such a as to be a record worthy of ing kept.
Mr. Edney Page, in moving the adoption of the report, emphasized several points in it. 'The trustees' income, he said, did not cover their expenditure and the time was when people would have to.
seriously whether they could increase the amount of their subscriptions. Thougit the organ not be considered complete, for there was work to be done in harmony with the organ and some alterations and additions must be made to the choir stalls. There was not any money left in the memorial fund, but he felt sure tha* when a scheme was put forward the extra two or three thousand taels required would be found by the congregation.
Mr. W. S. King seconded and the report was adopted.
The report of the Dean and Wardens stated that the attendances at the ordinary services throughout the year have been encouraging, and at the great festivals so large that 150 additional been called musical rendering of the services by the Choir—tadies, gentlemen and choristers has maintained its high state of excellence. This has only been, achieved by the readiness of those concerned to: give up very: considerable time to preparation and practice. The thanks of the congregation are due to them, and in particular to the fine leadership of the organist, Mr. R. C. Young, who has spared neither time or pains in carrying out his duties as Choirmaster, and has inspired all with some of his own enthusiasm.
The choristers have been under the able training of the assistant Choirmaster, Mr. E. J. Ottewell.
The one outstanding event of the year was the erection of the War Memorial Organ. In May, through' the good offices of Mr. H. M. Tibby, the Glen Line most generously brought out the organ free of freight charges, and the two builders at nominal rates, On its arrival the Messrs. Jones set to work to erect it qn the splendid platform designed by Messrs. Arts & Crafts, The interest of the Cathedral with the work of the Missions to Seamen dates back to the earliest years of Church work in Shanghai, the clergy at tiffes having been wholly responsible for carrying it on. While the appointment nf a Chaplain has always relieved the staff of the Cathedral from undertaking duties of this nature, it does not sever the old-time connexion of work ashore with that afloat. The state of efficiency, however, to which the present Chaplain has brought the work makes it more than ever ficult to carry it on in his absence. But the members of the Church of England Men's Society, and the newly formed Cathedral' Club have assisted, and with the splendid work of the Harbour Lights Guild, not only most of the departments of the work have been kept going, but, in 'a measure that would be gratifying to Mr. and Mrs. Hall, the efficiency has been maintained.' The work of the Missions to Seamen is hampered by the inadequacy of the temporary Institute. This will be rectified, on the return of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, by the erection of the proposed Memorial Institute.
The Dean, in proposing the adoption of the report, referred feelingly to the loyal support of all associated with him and said they were deserving of the most! grateful thanks. Nor could he to mention the Chinese stof, which, though small, was very hard-working and loyal. All through the great strike, their Chinese never complained and never _absented themselves. Their verger sometimes was called the super-Dean, though he only signed himself the "head coolie." He (the Dean) was absolutely proud of every one connected with the Cathedral and its work and we had in Shanghai home in the Cathedral of which Church folk well might be proud, Lord Addington seconded, mentioning a welcome increase in the number and amount of subseriptions.
The report was adopted, also the budget for 1926, showing estimated expenditure of Tls. 19,386, of which Tls. 9,530 already is guaranteed.
Mr. W.S. King, the retiring trustee, was re-elected and also appointed by Mr. Edney Page as the trustees" warden, whilst Mr. A. C. Clear was appointed Dean's warden, The other wardens are:—Lord Addington, Messrs. E. L. Allen, R. Calder Marshall, J. J. Dawe, S.C. Young, and Capt R. M. J, Martin.
The: meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.