and on 15th February, 1877, whilst continuing to pay the same dividend, the Bank increased its reserve fund to half a million dollars, which called forth, in favour of the Chairman of the Directors (E. Belilios) and the new Manager (Th. Jackson), votes of thanks, with acclamation by the very men who stated at the time that, 18 months previous, they had thought very hard things about the prospects of the Bank. The history of most local mercantile houses, and even of joint-stock enterprises like the H. & W. Dock Company and the H. C. & M. Steamboat Company, would be found, if examined, to run parallel with the experiences of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and to furnish the same report concerning commercial affairs during this period, viz. that a change, amounting to a complete subversion of former conditions, came over the commerce of Hongkong from 1872 down to the spring of 1876, when the general depression had passed its nadir, and commerce began to emerge out of the gloom that had enveloped it for years and to enter upon a sunny period of prosperity under altered conditions. The collapse of the Indo-Chinese Sugar Company, the failure of Norton and Lyall (August 8, 1873), the liquidation of the Distillery Company (August 3, 1873), the closing of the Pier and Godown Company (September 17, 1873), the failure of Augustine Heard & Co. (April, 1875), the winding up of the Victoria Fire Insurance Company (May 25, 1875), form the most conspicuous milestones of the period of commercial decline which commenced in 1872, but reigned particularly from 1873 to 1875. The annual amounts of liabilities set forth in Bankrupts' Schedules filed in Supreme Court tell the same tale, for in the successive years from 1873 to 1876 these amounts were respectively as follows, in 1873 $108,396, in 1874 $121,707, in 1875 $1,996,391, and in 1876 $75,676. The only puzzle is that in 1872 the respective amount was $110,743, which would indicate that the depression had already commenced in 1872.
Proceeding now to mention particular questions which agitated commercial circles during the period under review, precedence is claimed by the brokers who came largely to the
