Offers Received from Three Important. Interests to be Considered by Directors and Advisory Committee The present position of the Shanghai Mutual Telephone Ca., as to which there has been some comment recently, would appear to be somewhat clarified by a circular which has been sent out to-all shareholders, but which evidently has not Ihecome' known to the general public. The civeulay reads:—
"For some time past, your directors have been consulting with the Coun-oils of the International Settlement and of the French Concession as to the best means of financing the urge capital expenditure which is necessary for the improvement and development of the company's service to its subscribers. Various large telephone organizations have made proposals to the company and to the Councils for providing the neces-ary financial assistance, but. full consideration of these proposals was postponed, pending the. preparation of a report by an independent. expert engaged for this purpose by the Council of the International Settlement.
"This report has now been published and it has been agreed between the two Councils and the company that a day be fixed far the receipt of any amended financial which these organizations may wish to make, An advisory committee is being appointed in agreement with the two Councils, ce-operate with your directors' in considering the merits of these proposal "It is understood that no proposal will be accepted without the same being first put before the shareholders of the company for their decision, and, as soon as the matter} thas assumed' a concrete form, steps will be taken by your directors to, all a meeting of shareholders, at: which the proposals will be laid before them."
The above, it would seem, makes the position fairly clear, but there are some points that might be em-Dhasized, For some time past the Telephone Ca. has been in negotiation with various larger interests in th same line, Quite apart. from tmything else, the company's opera tions from time to time demand the tance of experts, who, though their work would not justify them doing engaged permanently, are essential for certain. periods—say, six months or'so. It is obvious that some difficulty and a certain amount, of avoidable expense attaches the engagement of such men in the interests of an individual company, especially one so isolated as the Shanghai company. Were the latter affiliated in some way with @ company or a group in Europe or} America, the temporary loan of such} experts would be a far easier matter to arrange. This is but one example.
However, all such negotiations necessarily came to an end when the Shanghai Municipal Council decided that it was necessary to employ an expert from Home to advise on the company's affairs in general, for, [pending his report, it-could not be said what would be the outcome, Mr, Anson came to Shanghai, inspected and made a report on the local installation, and the position arising therefrom is a matter of common knowledge.
Immediately Mr. Anson's report! was received, offers were invited [from corporations known Interested and three were sent in—from the Cable Telephone and General Trust, Ltd., of London; Eriesson's Telephones, Ltd., Sweden and London; and the International Telephone and Telegraph Corpora tion, America, These three are probably the world's leaders in their particular line and each has a large staff of experts at its disposal. One has a resident agent in Shanghai and the other two have sent special representatives here for the purpose fof negotiating with the Telephone Company, Upon ree of the proposals from these three corporations, an advisory] [committee was appointed, consisting!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.