The third annual general meeting] of the Shanghai International Greyhounds, Ltd., was held on March 2 in the offices of the secretaries, Messrs. Lowe, Bingham & Mat~ thews, 2 Peking Road. Mr. A. Welch presided and he was support-Jed Messrs. V. S. Chow, Chang Nich-yun and E. F, Hardman, directors, and Mr. H. R. Cleland, who represented the secretaries.
Tu the course of his speech, the chairman sai Gentlemen, the report __and accounts having been in your hands for the requisite period I propose, with your permission, to follow the usual custom and to take them as read.
The profit for the year, before deducting depreciation, was $236,- 501,02 as compared with $180,493.12 last year and the net profit transferred to the balance sheet was $79,263.68 as against $60,625.05.
During the two years that the company has been functioning, we have set aside $182,760,20 for depreciation of our fixed assets and have written $94,339.21 off the cost) of our live stock, This may appear to some of you to he unnecessarily drastic but, as 1 explained to you last iascains ws ts donno) oe beice that they wi the books! Jat practically no cost at all, when the period of our lease terminates, The same principle applies to. the mount written off the cost of our log The result of so doing is that we are gradually accumulating a reserve of cash, which at the end of 1929 amounted to $187,615.29, but will be reduced to just over $125,000 if you pass the dividend now' re-
In this connection, I must warn you that it is extremely unlikely} that we shall be able to earn again such a satisfactory profit, as we did during 1929, for the reason that since last June we, in common with) our friends at Lena Park, have been. restricted by the authorities to racing on only one night in each week, This will mean that, during] 1930, we only be able, under the] ed. most favourable circumstances, to hold 46 meetings as compared know that, at the present time, we have 172 dogs available for racing, which, we hope, will sce us through until our own puppies reach an age! when they can race.
We have recently engaged a Mr. Whybrow and his wife to superintend our breeding Kennels, of which wwe have lately erected 42, and we already have 50 puppies aged from 12 weeks downwards and are ex-ceting 20° further' litters very shortly.
During the year under review, we had several very. successful interclub "meetings. with our friendly rivals, the Canidrome, some at on track' and some at theirs; we also had series of races, a" different! distance being: competed for at each track, in which dogs from all three! ereyhiound clubs were entered, That Wonderful dog Ruby, from Luna Park won two out of the three events, but they. were really sporting races and I, for one, hope that a similar series will be possible this season.
Whilst on this subject of dogs and racing, I would like to correct. a misapprehension that may arise from reading a letter which appear-fed in yesterday's paper. and was} signed by "A Horrified Spectator." Noel's Hope's death was not due to breaking a blood-vessel in trying to follow instructions" to lower the record for the 325 yards, but he was the victim of a most unfortunate! ud unusual accident. Tt occurred fu. rounding a bend when "Noel's Hope" "was bumped and thrown! against one of the uprights supporting the netting and killed.
During the few weeks that the course was dozed, the opportunity twas taken to renovate the premises and to make certain alterations to the, lay-out which it is hoped will be Jeonducive to the greater comfort of our patrons, The boxes have been lowered, the stands have been redecorated and last, bat by no means least, a Wonderful transformation has taken place in the dining room which now, venture to say, has been converted Into as cosy a little room as either lof our competitors can boast of.
The credit for these improvements, or perhaps I should more appropriately say refinements, belongs to Mr. Evans, the secretary of the Shanghai Greyhound Club, who is coreying out the onerous duties of general manager during the absence of Mr. W. L. Gerrard, whose health unfortunately broke down J. some months ago, and necessitated is taking a tri to Europe, but who, we hope, shortly be physically fit_once more, To anyone who has seen the dining room, it is obvious that mere male could have produced such results, 80, before I leave this subject, T would like to express, on behalf of my fellow directors and myself, our very hearty thanks to Mrs, Evans, who voluntarily gave invaluable help in arranging the reconstruction There is very little more that 1 can say to you, gentlemen, except, to reiterate what I said last year, and to emphasize that our relations with the two other greyhound clubs Shanghai are of the most friendly nature and to express the hope that, it will be found possible to arrange another series of tripartite contests between us this season, In conclusion, I would like to express our very best thanks to all those whether in the office or at lite! course, to the judges, steward fanndicappers and trainers for the hard work that they have put in on four behalf and to whom the successfal result of the year's working i That is all that T have to say, gentlemen, but, before I formally} repose the adoption of the report and accounts, I shall be pleased to answer any questions that you may]
ish to ask, to the best of my Mr. R. Grimshaw asked when the lease was expected to expire and; the chairman replied that it had a other two years, There Seing no further questions, the following resolutions, having formally been proposed and seconded, were put to the meeting and eat ried without dissent:—That the report and accounts, presented, be and hereby are adopt and passed and that the appropriation of the balance of profit and loss account as set forth therein bbe and hereby is approved and pass-—Proposed by Mr. A. J. Welch and seconded by Mr. V. 8. Chow.
That Mr, V. S. Chow be and hereby is re-elected a director of the company—Proposed by Mr. A. J. Welch and seconded by Mr. Chang] Nieh-yun, That the appointment of Messrs Chang Nieh-yun and E. F. Hardman as directors be and hereby is. con-Srmed—Proposed by Mr. H: Peck and seconded by Afr. R. Grim shaw.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.