'N consideration of the fact that a ball is not considered to be an appropriate manner of celebrating St. George's Day this year, it was decided at the annual meeting of the St. George's Society held jon Feb. 24 to hold an evening gathering of members at one of the clubs in Shanghai, Mr. T. G. Drakeford was elected president of the ensuing year, in place of Mr. E. S. Wilkinson, while the five members elected' to the committee to replace those retiring by rotation were Messrs. W. P. Lambe, Herbert Phillips, R. E. Stuart ison, Dean A. C. S. Trivett and W. J. Ward.
In his speech, the president. said:—
Referring to the entertainment account, you will notice this deals mainly with the coronation ball held on Friday, May 7 and you will see that in spite of the very high cost of running such an exceptional ball we were able to transfer $1200 to the charity fund." In connection with this ball T would like to mention the fact that, in addition to the attend ance of Such distinguished guests as those mentioned in the printed report, we were especially honoured by the St. Andrew's Society, many members of which attended in their national costume os a compliment our society on this very special occasion. There is no doubt in my mind that the ball was a great success from every point of view and Was justified by the financial results attained for the benefit of charity, The education fund continues to be special matter of interest to the Society which has always made a articular point of assisting in the education of children of English birth. yereased Charity Commitments 'Turning to the income and expenditure account, you will notice that the heaviest' item consists of charitable disbursements and the ola! figure mentioned ($19,249.32) does not really givea true view of the commitments of this society for the reason' that, owing to the recent hostilities in "China, "expenditure this heading will probably be increased during the current Year. You will see from the income Side of the account that.the biggest item "results from the Christmas Appeal, 1937, and 1 am glad to say. that the total sum received now exceeds $7,000, and is a record for the Society, which shows that our members are still very willing to take their share of the general hardship under such conditions as now exist Our thanks are particularly due to the British Chamber of. Commerce and the British Fund for Relief in China who are handing us funds col Jected from various sources, including the Lord Mayor's Fund in London so that we may dispose of these for the benefit of Englishmen who have suffered under recent It Is intended to send out a circular very shortly, asking members to bring forward any cases which might Detter be dealt with before the wolf tually knocks at the door. This matter is having the urgent attention of your charity committee. Referring back for a moment to the remarks Of your president at the last meeting Tam glad to note that the subseriptions from members has been creased to $1,900" and, although this Is slightly tess than the sum received in the year 1935, your committee feel that' they have the support of members behind them and can look forward to an income in proportion {e, the number of Englishmen remaining in Shanghai.
As regards the balance sheet think you. will consider this to be Quite satisfactory with the. one exception that the market value of our Investments has fallen below the book value based on cost. Such a state Of affairs is inevitable under present conditions and your committee has token every possible precaution to avoid the sale of investments at depreciated rates in order to conserve the general financial position of the sincerely hoping that market conditions may improve within the next few years. In this connection Tthink T should point out that, while UCH, Photos up to greet Sir Alexander El Kerr on his in the grounds of HM, the. year 1936 we were forced to transfer a total sum of $12,477 from our charity reserve fund in' order to make both ends meet, during the Gimcult year of 1937 we only trans ferred the sum of $315, thus proving. that all our exceptional calls were met by voluntary contributions.
An Eventful Yes This past year has indeed been an eventful one. In spite of local busi ness depression it began in the most cheerful spirit with the celebration of the Coronation of H. M. King George Vi, to which 1 have referred above and it ended in the general state of depression brought about the Sino-Japanese hostilities. It has boon a year of very Areat anxiety to your committee and I can only say that to my certain knowledge. they have been considerably encouraged by the continuous support given to them by members under all condltions. We have at least always kept our fag fying.
'The usual scholarship examination was held on April 2 with the results stated in the report now before you. Your committee can only repeat their thanks to all' those' who kindly assisted as examiners, invigi tors and with other forms of assist ance as stated in the report It was only possible to huid one golf match this last year on April 18 which resulted in a win for'
George's Society with sonable margin, We stil with the utmost confident shall still be able to retain, 4 trophy on' sur table. are due to Mr. H. E. Reynell Mr. E, A. P. Wood who were respon sible for all the arrangements made at the Ist meeting and our best thanks are also due to the committee of the Hungjao Golf Club who enabled us to carry out this most enjoyable function, T must next refer to our very sincere appreciation of the services of Mr. E, E. Parsons. who continues to aet as nur honorary secretary and Mr. C. S Speyer who doubles the parts of honorary treasure and honorary almoner. In making this slate ment I must point out that it is no idle one. My impression is that these indefatigable officers carry out more ork than all the rest of us and are jue our very heartiest thanks.
Finally, T must offer our grateful thanks 16 Mr. B, 0. Blaker for hi kind services as our honorary audi-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.