and competition was still lively and inapprehensive of the approaching commercial depression. The formation of the Union Dock Company, the first that was registered (July 31, 1865) under the new Companies' Ordinance, with a capital of $500,000, consisting of 500 shares of $1,000 each, was speedily followed up (October 11, 1866) by the formation of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company, which purchased the dock properties of Messrs. Douglas Lapraik and Th. Sutherland, with a capital of $750,000 in 1,500 shares of $500 each, the Hon. J. Whittall noting as chairman of the directors and Mr. J. Lapraik as secretary. The new dock at Aberdeen, named after Admiral Hope, was opened on June 15th, 1867. A third new enterprise was started by the formation (October 19, 1865) of the Hongkong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company, with a capital of $750,000 divided into 7,500 shares of $100 each. The principal promoter of this association, which purchased the popular American river-steamers Kinshan, White Cloud and Fire Dart, was Mr. Douglas Lapraik by his attorney J. Lapraik. The other directors of the new Company were Messrs. J. J. dos Remedios, A. E. Vaucher, A. Sassoon, R. Solomon, D. Ruttunjee, and Bapoorjee Pallunjee Ranjee. The new Company met indeed with competitors but succeeded (August, 1866) in buying them out, and as the river-steamers had been allowed (since April, 1866) by the Chinese Authorities to land and take in cargo and passengers at Chuenpi (below Whampoa), it was thought that a new important outlet for trade had been secured. The shareholders of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank felt confident of coming prosperity when they resolved (February, 1866) to convert the new Bank into a corporation by charter. The new Royal Mint of Hongkong was also opened with some hope of success (May 1, 1866). Trade with Japan received a real and permanent stimulus by the establishment in Japan of bonded warehouses and a liberal tariff (July, 1866). The old Californian trade likewise expanded through arrangements made about this time by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in San Francisco to connect that port with Hongkong by a regular line of large
