"There are many examples of existing and some new British con struction to be seen In China, partiularly near to this city; T think we enn justly feel proud of it.
"We invite association with kindred institutions, most especially enjoy meeting Mechanical Engineers from the British Empire, have thought on this the occa~ sion of our annual dinner. we should shed some of our natural modesty }and see and state clearly that for which British Mechanical Engineer ing stands; there is no doubt pioneer work the world over can be traced without difficulty to British Mechant~ cal Engineering, and this o be realized as easily in China as elsewhere.
"tis true to say that almost without exception any textile machine can be traced to British brains and development; in steam generation, although the shell type boller is now manufactured the world over, it is Known Internationally as the' Lancashire boiler. and so on.
"We should realize and not forget that the building up of this large international centre and {ts industrial activities is in- many ways directly due {o British pioneer engineering, effort, "We should not, therefore, in pre sent disturbed circumstances allow ourselves to forget, indeed permit to. be easily forgotten what the British Mechanical Engineer has done the world over, and for our own imme-Giate interests here in particular, am convinced that in China, engineering interests have a vast field of productive effort to explore, and we should exert maximum efforts possible to promote and embrace the many opportunities. offering compatible with the conditions for in~ dustrial development obtaining.
"Gentlemen, in closing I believe T can say that we may be proud of our Profession, which is primarily devoted to the harnessing of mechanical forces for the ultimate benefit of mankind; in these sad days when the smoke of battle obscures our aims and abuses our powers, this thought may be dim cult' to discern; it will, however, cher us through these dark days when the voice of national duty. sounds solemn in our ears. but duty, please God, that shall lead the Me-' chanical Engineer on to a new world which will unreservedly place him one of the benefactors of man-
Chinese Sought for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.