The third meeting of the Pan-Pacific Association took place at the Carlton Cafe last Friday, Mr. Charles Denby, former American Consul-General, presiding over a gathering of about 100 people.
The speakers of the day were Mr. Chu Chao-hsin, former Commissioner for Foreign Affairs here and at present Chinese Consul-General in San Francisco, and Mr. George A. Fitch, secretary of the Y.M.C.A.
Mr. Chu in his address spoke of the friendly relations of the Chin. ese and American peoples. He urged mutual ce-operation and assistance.
"Let us consider the Pan-Pacific questions from the commercial point of view," said Mr. Chu. "The result of the world war har more or less shifted the commercial centre of the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The nations bordering the Pacific will naturally become more important and essential in international trade and commerce." China should be made a commercial and industrial centre in Asia. Goods may be turned out at a low cost of production and would be welcomed in neighbouring markets. Without assistance from outside, he said, it would be hard for China to realize this. A Mr. Chu proposed the organization and managing of manufacturing concerns by ce-operation of Chinese and foreign merchants. Let the foreign merchants take the part of supplying machinery and engineering experts, and the Chinese will help in capitalizing and running the factories and will be responsible for the marketing of products. Many industries may be carried out by this form of international ce-operation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.