96
THE PERAK SUGAR CULTIVATION CO., LIMITED.
The report and accounts of the Perak Sugar Cultivation Co., Limited, to the 31st October last have been published. The balance of working account is Tls. 17.976, and the net balance of profit, after payment of interest on debentures and commission to the manager is Tls. 10.866, about 4.35 per cent. on the capital, as against 24.06 per cent. in the previous term. Including the balance from the previous year there is an amount of Tls. 38,917 available for distribution, which the directors propose to
distribute as follows:-A dividend of 4 per cent, to shareholders, Tls, 10,000; depreciation 10 per cent. on plant, buildings, and furniture Tls. 15,167; to write off estate cost Tls.. 5.478, and to carry forward Tls. 8,271.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
mine.
ton.
THE FUTURE OF RAUB.
outturn
African
is an out-
[January 30, 1896.
a share. That is how the matter stands, and may be a little while before things are adjusted It would, of course, be exceedingly desirable. for Pahang that the calls should be made and that the results should be as we have sketched. The Pahang Government takes five per cent. of all the gold raised, which means that Raub alone might yield a substan tia! revenue. Further, a mine that was paying steadily fifty per cent. per annum on a not uninflated capital would no doubt attract other mining adventurers into a field where it ap pears that a profit of £100,000 a year is to be had so easily. A hundred thousand pounds & year is worth taking; and the Malay Peninsula Prospecting Company has much auriferous land to offer at a nominal price in the district of Raub. Who will be first in the new rush to
Straits Times.
THE KEBAO COAL MINES.
The Raub mine in Pahang is a low grade If it had been surmised that it were a low grade mine, it never would have been opened. The enterprise was started on the basis of grossly untruthful reports. These persuaded the public that at Raub, in Pahang, there could be established a high grade mine yielding perhaps three ounces to the ton. The mine, in fact, yields less than half an ounce to the
That is low outturn; an
a less than that of the South mines, but nevertheless, lit tara that might yield a gigantic profit if only there be enough quartz and if the mine be worked, as the manager desires, ор a gigantic scale. The great advantage possessed by the Raub mine is cheap labour. Pahang the land where golden apples grow. !--- The labour employed is Chinese, which is paid at the rate of some six or seven shillings a week as against one pound sterling a week that the Kaffirs receive, and the Chinaman is probably a better worker than the Kaffir Transport, again, although at first it offered great difficul-
French financial journals have recently been ties, is now being and will be so comparatively simplified that it also is much more economical discussing the affairs of the Kebao Coal Mining that at the South African mines. Broadly Co. The Indo-Chine Francaise (Hanoi), after speaking. the case is that the quartz from the mentioning a report that the Company had Raub ming yields per ton gold worth about 358. suddenly stopped payment at Paris, reproduces an article from one of the journals referred to, in and that it is worked, even at the present small scale, at au expense of about 20s. per ton, which which the prospects of the Company are re- includes a comparatively great proportion of presented as most unfavourable. The ordinary administration charges. Probably, if the work-shares, which in February, 1891, reached a value of 1.550 francs, had fallen to 60 francs, and the founders' shares had fallen from 1.325 francs to 20 francs. It was stated that at a meeting held on the 23rd November the shareholders had appointed a committee of three to consult with the directors on the measures to be taken to protect the interests of the shareholders and the existence of the Company, A circular was afterwards published which, though unsigned, seemed to reflect the ideas of the directors.
The following passages in the account explain the reasous, for the less favourable result of the working as compared with the previous year
The crop bearing area for the season has been 1,241 orlongs, producing piculs 39,979.53 of sugar, or an average production per orlong of piculs 32.2; the qualities of the sugars made have been in the proportion of 75.2 per cent. No. 1 to 24.8 per cent. No. 2; the average price realised has been 8535 net per picul. The harvesting of this crop has occupied a period of fifteen mouths, or two months longer than was anticipated the cause of this prolongation of the season lies in the very unfavourable weather which was experienced throughout the greatering were on a much larger scale, it might part of 1894, the absence of rain necessitating, he worked at a cost of about 10s. a ton, and in several cases more than once, the replanting | certain calculations put the cost at very much of the fields of young canes; as a consequence, the maturing of such canes was proportionately delayed, with the result that the factory was necessarily idle for three full months during the season, and during other months it could only be kept supplied with canes to an extent much under its working power. It hardly requires to be stated that the extension of the season has adversely affected the results of the campaign.
The directors have also to report another untoward circumstance which has further militated against the success of the season. March of the present year the estate was struck by a severe circular storm, which, while it fortunately did little damage to the canes, completely wrecked the distillery and the mw hospital, and did damage to other minor build- ings: the damage done, which is now all repaired. has cost the Company between Tls. 7,000 and Tls. 8,000, in addition to the indirect loss caused by the cessation of the working of the distillery for seven to eight months.
In
The realisation of sugar in stock at the close of last season turned out most unfortunately the sugar was in part sold and in part shipped on consignment to Japan, and the valuation was based on the actual sales; in consequence, how- ever, of the general upset of trade in Japan caused by the war, the Japanese simply re- pudiated their contracts altogether, the result being the loss shown in the accounts.
The prospects for the present season are stated as follows
The Directors are able to report favourable prospects for the seasou now entered upon. The extended period of the season just closed will hare its compensation in shortening the present campaign, which it is expected will be closed by 30th September at latest, or possibly a mouth earlier. The area planted for cutting is 1,114 orlongs, and the condition of the growing canes is everything that could be desired; the rainfall during the whole of 1895 has been exceptionally favourable, and there is full promise of the heaviest crop with which the Company has yet had to deal.
We regret to hear that a couple of fatal casualties occurred on board the U.S.S. Balti more between Yokohama and Honolulu. Heavy weather was met with, during which several of the boats were smashed and the wheel and binnacle carried away. Mr. Cooper, the carpen- ter, was dashed on the deck and fractured his skull, while Mr. Jessen, the captain of the fore- castle, was washed overboard and lost. Several others of the crew were injured to a greater or ses extent.-Rising Sun.
less. There is, therefore, a large margin for profit, but there is no substantial profit to be made unless the working be on a great scale. That is seen by Mr. Bibby, the manager, and he asks to be allowed to put in a hundred head of stamps and an electric power plant.
The more sanguine calculation is that, with a hundred head of stamps, an electric plant, and a railway, Raub could yield 36,000 ounces of gold yearly. That would be worth 140,000 pounds a year. The working expenses are at present about 120,000 dollars a year, and need not, it is said, rise beyond $200,000 a year-or say 20,000 pounds. The margin of profit by that sanguine calculation is therefore to be £120,000 a year, allowing a dividend of about 128. a year on each of the 190,000 shares. To attain that remarkable result the 140,000 contribut ing shares are to be asked to submit to calls to pay for the cost of the new plant, which is estimated at £30,000. The projected call is to be at least four shillings a share on each of the shares at present marked 13s. 10d. paid, raising liable for 2s. 2d. more. their nominal value to 17s. 10d., and leaving them The call, by the articles of association. which are of Australian manu- facture. cannot exceed sixpence a morth, and therefore an intention to call four shillings per share would mean, at least, an actual call of six- pence a month over eight separate months.
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INTENDED RECONSTRUCTION OF THE COMΡΑΝΤ.
$
This circular states that in 1895 the Com- pany hardly sold more than thirty or forty thousand tons of coal, but there is every reason to believe that it will sell at least 80,000 tons in 1896. While recognising that the quality of Kebao coal is not of the first order it is said that it is appreciated by the navy and by certain industries. But timè is required to create new markets, and the time is now exhausted and the capital also. The enterprise has already cost nearly ten million franes. In order that this sum should not be lost for ever in a compulsory liquidation the Board propose that the Company should be reconstituted on a new basis. It is proposed that a Company should be formed with a capital of 2,000,000 francs in twenty thousand shares of 100 francs cach, Fifteen thousand of the shares would be offered to the holders of the fifteen thousand ordinary shares in the old Company and the remaining five thousand to the holders of the five thousand founders' shares in the old Company.
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It is to be noted now that there are two di-
Such, continues the Paris journal, is the vergent interests to be consulted. There are the holders of fully paid-up shares which at pre- substance of the circular, which, in the persons, represents opinion of competent sent command a price of $74 each, and there are
illusions, always illusions, nothing the holders of contributing shares who are liable only for 6s. 2d. a share of call. These shares command but illusions. It is asked how it can be a sale at 4.10. The holders of the fully paid claimed that there is no mistake this time shares are naturally an xious that the mine should when the whole past has been a series of errors.
The following postscript was appended be developed by a substantial call for the purpose
Since writing the above we learn that of putting in new machinery. Holders of contri- butory shares may not be so eager. At one time, an extraordinary general meeting of the share- they said in substance. “We don't very much be-holders has been convened for the 24th Decem- lieve in this mine; it is rather a miserable low-ber, the order of the day being-Dissolution .
of the Company; transfer of the assets to a grade thing as compared with what we were
new Company." induced to expect, but if you can develop it out And, of your profits of course you may do so." as the contributory shares are in the porportion of nearly three contributory shares to one fully paid-up share, they have the command of the situation in their hands. The position is further complicated by the fact that, although the management of the mine is in Singapore and Malaya, the directing body and the place of voting are in Australia. The ultimate result of such a call would, on the calculations supplied to us, be exceedingly good for the contribu tory shareholders, and it would be still better for the fully paid-up shareholders; but, in the meantime, one does not know how the contribu- itory shareholders will take calls of four shillings
The Indo-Chine Francaise interviewed M. Jean Dupuis with reference to the above, M. Dupuis is the well-known explorer and the original concessionaire of Kebao, who is a member of the Board of Directors and is at one of his periodical present in Tonkin on visits.
"It is undeniable," said M. Dupuis, "that the situation is grave. The Paris market is passing through a crisis, and financial syndicates, as a general rule, are much less concerned with the real character of an enterprise than with the speculation to which it may give rise. I do not conceal my uneasiness, for it is to be feared that our Company may be ruined by unscrupu-
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