The Portland daily press., 1876-01-11
BOARD OF TRADE.
ANIMAL Meeting and Election of Officers

The annual meeting of the Portland Board of
Trade was held last evening at their rooms on
Exchange street, President Woodman in the
chair.
After the usual routine business the follow
ing reports were read and accepted:
sECRETARY's REPORT.
Your Secretary would respectfully report that
there have been held during the year, eighteen
meetings; four meetings of the board and four
teen OF the managers, one OF which was adj
journed without transacting business for want
OF quorum. Twenty members have been adj
mitted during the year, and two have died, viz:
Edwin Churchill and Capt. VIM. Ross
The board now numbers 274 members, being
little increase over the numbers reported at
the last annual meeting. l have received for
annual assessments and admission fees to the
Board of Trade during the year, 1855, and have
paid the same to the treasurer.
The Merchants Exchange has at this time
226 subscribers, which is rather below the aver
age number. The receipts from subscriptions
to the Exchange the past year have been 1851,
making the aggregate receipts from subscrb-
ers to the Exchange and Board of Trade, the
past year $2406
While it has required the most rigid econo-
my to meet the necessary expenses of thu Mer-
chants Exchange with the limited receipts,
full files of papers have been kept up, and
through the liberality of the Western Union
Telegraph Co., full and elaborate Geographic
news has been bulletined from day to day,
equal to that furnished to any other news room
in the country, a fact which ought certainly to
inspire much more generous support from the
citizens of commercial metropolis of the mag
nitude and Importance of Pnrtland-the great
radiating centre for tourists in the summer sea-
son, and the most available entry port on the
Atlantic for the commerce of the Canadas and
the great North West, during the winter sea-
son. We venture the hope that the Centennial
year may revive deeper interest in the public
welfare of our goodly city, and that a more lib
eral hand be fostered towards these institutions
SO necessary to the development of her COM
merce, trade and manufacturing industries.
The trade during the year past closed, has on
the whole been good, though we have seriously
suffered from the general depression and dull
ness which has everywhere prevailed in bust
ness circles. Yet Portland has not felt SO much
the prevailing hard times, that most other Cit
les and towns have. Business failures have
been comparatively few, none of any consider
able magnitude have taken place here, while
most of the mechanics have found employment
for most of the year at renumerative prices, an
unusually large number of new dwellings have
been built, our population has increased. The
ship building interests have been prosecuted
with vigor and generally with profit. Our
coastwse trade continues to grow and the
transportation facilities. both by sea and land,
of the city, constantly increases, and notwth-
standing the prevailing cry Of ''hard times on
every hand, we are constrained to believe that
Portland is in comfortable circumstances
Respectfully, M. n. RICH,
Secretary,