| Summary: |
Bound volume of typescript copies of letters mostly to Butterfield & Swire although a few copies of letters sent to Holt's and Scott's still included. Most non-Butterfield & Swire correspondence was filed separately by this date (see JSSI 4/8). The letters cover China Navigation Company, Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Co, Taikoo Sugar Refinery, Tientsin Lighter Company business and finance, including the increasing competition between the Dockyard and Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Company (1911) China Navigation Company financial problems and staff difficulties (1911), local affairs, particularly the effect of the political situation on trade, the Hong Kong Defence Volunteer Force and the representation of Butterfield & Swire on the Shanghai Municipal Council and the negotiation of the Yangtze Pool (June (1912). John (Jack) Swire began to handle more of the London correspondence after 1911 and took over as `The Senior' on Scott's death in 1912. The majority of the letters (1-881) cover the period Apr 1910-Oct 1912, only a few for 1913 and 1914, chiefly concerning the formation of a Limited Company were filed in this volume, and the book was apparently officially closed by John Swire in 1914, although a few letters for 1914-16 were added.
|
