Commercial Two representatives to be appointed by the International and the French Municipal Councils, one of each Council; Four representatives appointed by the National Chambers of Commerce of the four nations with the biggest shipping tonnage.
As regards the powers of this proposed board I will read you an extract from the letter sent to the Acting Consul-General which was as follows:
"The—Report enumerates amongst the powers of the propos-Board power to acquire land necessary " for harbour purposes also to acquire private harbour utilities by agreement or by expropriation.
"My Committee understands this clause to mean that the Board would be enabled to acquire full powers over the entire har-hour including existing wharves. If. they are correct in this interpretation they consider that such acquisition of power would be undesirable and might tend to restrict and hamper trade."
The Chairman than dealt with the question of Yangtze Conser-vane as a whole, referring to the recent invitation extended to Mr. F. Palmer, consulting engineer to the Port of London Authority, to make a survey of the river. He dealt also with the desirability of having better Customs facilities at the port of Pukow.
Rearions with Home Cuampers.
Proceeding the Chairman said; A word as to our relation with British Chambers of Commerce at home. All the most influential of them are, as you know united in an association and our association here in affiliated with it, so that besides our connexions with the Manchester and Bradford Chambers we have now a very powerful body to aid us in representing our views and helping us in our difficulties. The improvement which has taken place in cable communication with Home is to no small extent a result of this ce-operation, which, as time goes on, and more and more attention is drawn to the China market, will, I think, prove a very effective and powerful factor in the maintenance and development of British interests in this country. We have, if I am not mistaken, by no means an easy time in front of us. On the one hand, as I indicated at the beginning of my speech, we are likely to find the rights-recovery movement of the Chinese growing stronger and stronger; on the other we are pretty certain to be faced with increasing competition. Wo wish to be just to the Chinese and to help them in. the prosecution of their legitimate aims: we have no wish, on the other hand, to exclude new competition from this market. We have, however, to be just to ourselves and to look after our individual and our common interests. We shall want, therefore, all the help that home Chambers of Commerce can give us. To get the best out of such help, however, we need to close up our ranks here and accordingly I appeal to all to do their utmost to maintain and render still more compact and reliable the unity and solidarity that seven years of work have achieved. Also I would like to appeal to all members to help the Chamber when it initiates cooperative movements, such as our scheme for the support of British schools and hospitals in China. On this subject I have asked Mr, Cooper,. Chairman of the Associated Chambers Schools and Hospitals Committee, to address you - later this afternoon, Tue Prince or Wates.
I must not conclude my review of the past year without making reference to my visit to Hongkong as the Associated Chambers' representative to meet the Prince of Wales in the Crown Colony, an honour which I highly appreciated. Tt was a historic event, and the charm of the Prince's personality which has been so freely commented on in every country he has visited, was made fully manifest at every public function at which he appeared He received a right Royal welcome from both the Foreign and Chinese communities and Sir Edward Pearce and I were told by him personally to say how much he regretted being unable to visit Shanghai, about which he had heard much, and I take this first public opportunity to do so.
The Chairman then proceeded to deal with the details of the Chamber's finances and with. the activities of the Chamber's Language School, paying a tribute to the work done during the absence of Mr. Grant in England by Mr. Evan Morgan and Mr. J. M. Britto. He referred also to the decision to initiate an advanced course designed to familiarize students with documentary: Chinese, more especially
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.