Moreover the trade of the port! has been subjected to a surfeit of taxation in one way or another, and it is doubtless in this respect' that our Chinese trading friends have suffered most severely, in the of forced levies ete., apart from the spor cent, surtaxes and muck higher luxury taxes, stamp taxes, house rent taxes, dyke taxes I referred to the tyrann} Jabour a moment or two ago, Right from their start here the National-fist Government encouraged the for-motion of labour unions, and insofar the intention was to effect some going again. This letter I fear did nek meet with success, but did I Balieve lead up to the issue of the British bulletin, The Wanhsien Affair Another subject to which I wish to refer very briefly is the W:
fairs in September last. 'Two British steamers were you know held up by general Yanz Sen soldiers placed en smps, to obtain their' return failed until a naval force went to Wanstion for this purpose, when after a gallant action the foreign officers were rescued with the' loss of one life, though it cost HM. Navy the loos of several officers and men killed and wounded to effect improvement in the standard of liv. ing and working conditions of the Inbouring classes there could be no objection, but they went very much further than that, If not openly encouraged, the labour unions were at any rate allowed, to assume
cated: extortion was practised froeautograte power to any extent they ly and the functions of the police The boats were shortly after-ned to their rightful, damag-they have' been able to collect due reparation of pure piracy. then as well as. for their splendid behaviour and wgtsze in all the times since, HM.
Navy and the courts were exereized bs deserve, and I am sure have, our them. Trade cannot be carried on heartiest thanks. (Applause). under such ' conditions and the sooner this is realized by the Gov ernment and steps taken to limi the activities of the unions to their proper and legitimate sphere the nearer will be the return to more normal trade, year from Il, E. Sir Miles Lamspon, HIM. Minicior at Peking, and also early in the year from the delexation from the Advisory Committee regard ig the Return of the Boxer The reports by Fomeating Anti-Foreign Feeling My remarks up to now have been confined to various factors directly Well, gentlemen, there can be no! question that the' past 12_months have been the most dificult in the History of the Chamber.
Te has become a commonplace of recent years here to emphasize how very largely the trade of the port depends upon the political situation and upon the conditions which that situation creates, and the events of the past year must be so fresh and vivid in all your minds that it is really hardly necessary for me to refer to them at any great length except to account for, the utter stagnation in trade which obtains at the present time.
Indeed I do not think it would be possible to put anything before you ju the shape of a faithful record of the events of the past 18 months short of several hundred pages, and, I therefore only propose to deal in avery general way with the situa-fon aa it confronts us to-day. bitter activities of the Natio:
Lampson's visit found us already in difficult times, but we were able to entertain him to foreign feeling amongst all Ctine-¢ classes, for this, of course, has also played its part in leading up to the resent stagnation. On their arval here there commenced a relent campaign by means of posters and lectures agains: Great Britain, which, despite the very corcitiatory nature of the December memorandum, led up to the dis graceful occurrences of January 3/3 and the closing down of all British business until January 24. Moreover so dangerous were the general conditions right through the Yang-zo Valley considered to have bedinner, together with Admiral Cameron 2 other officers of the]? tie view of our various troubles, Trade Difticultics Wo have roecived the usual trade! reports from members dealing with] the year 1926 but as these are now much out of date I have not made the customary digest of them for Presentation to you to-day. They iit of course be published in the very short that they accentuate s under which trade cone that it was thought advisable Was cartied on during the year and to evacuate all British from up- wilh some possible-exceptions point country stations and this was|to 1926, having been a most unfollowed later by the complete! profitable year for trad, On the railways conditions were exceedingly bad. ' To all intents and purposes.the Peking-Hankow line ye for most of the year, whilst it-is the fact that the British engineers on the Canton-Hunkow Railway have nearly a year's salary due to them, "That. Such a state of affairs can exist re-fleets nothing but discredit upon the Governments concerned, whether it be the Hankow Nationalist Government or the Peking Government.
'That concludes my remarks but before proposing that this report of the committee be accepted and passed I shall be glad to answer any. questions, if any member has any' to ask.
No questions were asked.
The Chairman—I will now pro pose that the report of the committee be accepted and passed.
Mr. Dupree—t will second that.
The resolution was then put to the meeting and carried.
Deficit, Made Up The Chairman—The next item ea the agenda is to pass the accounts for 1926. These have been in youe hands for some time, You will seo that we finished the year with a deficit of just over Tls. 400, but} Tam pleased to say that the recent round" which we had was generously supported and despite the additional expenses we have had this year we hope to be able to ferry a balance forward to 1928, Our thanks are duo to Mr. W.
Reid our honorary auditor, who audited the accounts this year as he has gone for the past' several Twill nose propos that the for 1926 as circulated to' members be passed.
Bie. Peacock will second that.
The revolution was then put to ig and carried.
san—Our next busi ness is the election of a committee for 1987, Of the old Committes, Messrs. Charleton, Dupree, Peacock id are standing for re-clection, Messrs Dixon and Forbes have been duly proposed and seconded Jand have signified their willingness to serve. There being no further proposals the six gentlemen named will constitute the committee for the feoming year.
Before I close I shankd like to pay a tribute to the secretary for the manner in which the very ar-Jduous duties of the year, including 's0 much additional work, have been carried out.
Teibute to Mr, Keed harleton—Mr, Keed, our man, leaves the committee at the conclusion of this meeting as he is leaving Hankow very shortl Mx, Keed wat chairman of thir jciaamber in 123 and 1924 and he has been our chairman for the greater part of the currant year The amount of work that falls upon the chairman is very considerable:
1 do not nead to tell you thi Mr. Keed has carried it out with eorspicuous ability. Wherever he goes he will carry with him our host wishes for his success, (Applause).
Br. Dixon—It gives me very pleasure to propose a hearty vote of thanks to Bir. Keed and te thie out going committee for all they have done during the pact (Applavee)
Chairman—atleien, on behalf of the outgoing ce tee and my self I thank sou.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.