18971
Page
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT
rove again, offers
made
of the
prod
ities of the No. 1, net price
dition of the report issued last airs and additions therein essary are being pushed for possible despatch; the new are now at work, and the additions to al department of the factory will, be soon completed, two new con- aro probably by this time at work, thers are on their way out from home; rent filter has been erected for the of the boiler-feed water, and this it is pected will remove the long standing" trouble of the fouling of the boilers from bad water; minor repairs have also been taken in hand, the factory being stopped for the purpose during the greater part of January.
Buildings New quarters for the European assistants have been added during the season at cost of some Tis. 2,000, and the estate is now well provided with accommodation, both Euro- pean and native.
adres),
Irrigation. The circumstances of the Com- pany have made it impossible to take any further steps in this matter during the season; à lease, however, has just been signed with the Gov- ernment giving the Company the control of the fresh water canal running from the Kurau river to the estate, and the widening and deepening of this canal will undoubtedly be of great benefit in improving the freshwater supply
Secretary
DRUMMOND Chairman,
THE SHANGHAI CARGO BOAT -
CO. LIMITED, AF SKY
The third annual general meeting of the shareholders in this company was held at the office of the agents, Messrs. Wheelock & Co., Shanghai, on the 1st March. Mr. A. McLeod (Chairman) presided, those present being Messrs. Frank Gove, E. Ar Probst, A. Korf, A. H. Stewart (Directors), J. M. Young, H.- Sylva, P. A. W. Ottomeier, J. Tulloch, JF Seaman, E. Davis, Lewis Moore, J. Hogg, A. R. Burkill, Count Butler, and E. P. Wick ham, representing in all 618 shares, z
Mr. E. P. Wickham, having been appointed Secretary to the meeting, read the notice convening it.
fom
Awhich
exceeding
re aski
withs that there but, shall be happy to MAR B shareholders ma
whether the dir depreciation from The Chairman thất point. I ma had the fleet valued of the stock sOM valuation We the valuation to Tls 200,000 fleet was quite worth the thought to be quite a fair preciation has been written been partly from the fac large 500-ton lighters at such a could have realised them at som per cent. profit on what we pai therefore think the fleet is still it stands at, but we are quite that there must be a ce and tear, and that it is on amount should be writter
The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and secounts, said-Gentlemen, the report of the directors and the accounts for the past year have been in your hands for some little time, and I presume you will have no objection to taking them as read. It is with regret that the directors have to Estate Extensions-No additions have been point out the falling-off in the revenue of made to the cultivation by the Company itself, the company for the past year. We attribute but further land has been opened under lease this almost entirely to the falling-off in the by Chinese cane growers; there are now some export trade of the port. Our business, as you are aware, consists to a large extent in ship 350 orlongs opened in this way, and the re- mits point to a policy of an extension of the ping off the produce of the place to vessels in system, possibly in the direction of leasing the harbour, and this during the year 1896 ont some portion of the land at present being proved very much less than in the previous
The total area
year. However, notwithstanding this falling worked by the Company. now opened is 1,6681 orlongs (says 2,225 off, I trust you will consider the accounts fairly ), of which 1,833 orlongs are in the Com-satisfactory. Every effort has been made to pany's hands, the remainder being leased to keep down the expenses of the company as much Chinese, the cultivation is as much as the as possible, but it has not been within the power factory can deal with, and there will not be any of the agents to make the large reductions that one would wish on account of the falling-off in further extension of it for the present.
the business. It is utterly impossible for the boats to be laid up in slack times, as demands may suddenly arise when to engage new crews would be a great deal more expensive after laying the boats up. Taking the accounts, you will see that the expenses of running the busi ness, the working expenses of the company, are Tls. 59,000 as against Tls. 65,500 last year, a saving of some Tls. 6,000. The agents' commission naturally falls off when the revenue falls off, and this is Tls. 11,446 as against Tls. Bonus to contributors na- 14,591 last year. turally is less also, and this year is Tls. 12,515 as against Tls. 16,700 last year. The net re- sult of the working of the business for the year is that we have a balance of Tls. 81,522 to divide between the Co-operative Cargo Boat Co. and ourselves, our share of which is Tls. 56,348 as against Tls. 77,206 last year. Some exception has been taken to the manner in which we have stated our profit and loss account this year. It has been suggested that the payments we have made on account of the Fuyun and of have the four 200-ton steel lighters, and our share of the Trojan should not appeared in the profit and loss account, and I am told by experts in bookkeeping that that state- ment is correct; it would have been better had we transferred to profit and loss account the Tls. 25,403 shown as a balance, with Ils. 35,000, making a balance of Tls. 58,039 transferred to the balance sheet, and from that have made our payments for the lighters. I would, however, point out we have only followed the system adopted in the last three or four years, and in our last year's report we specially mentioned that we were transferring to the new profit and loss account Tls. 24,900, as part payment, for the new lighters which were then being con structed. Of course, gentlemen, next yea shall be able, if you wish it, to state the accounts as has been suggested, but the result shown with the balance sheet comes to exactly the same, that on to our assets the cost of the brings up that item to Tls we have on the credit side off
our capital of Tls 200,000 and Tls 107,425 The fliest has the most efficient conditio and some heavy repairs hav
Season 1897. It is proposed to make the present season a short one, and to close it on 30th September; the area under cane for crop. ping during the period is 9684 orlongs, of which 2464 orlongs are Chinese canes; the fields being out during the first three months of the season are unfortunately not free from damage, being affected by the misfortunes of last year; the manager, however, is confident of being able to quickly catch up arrears, and the report upon the younger canes is all that could be desired. The greater portion of the orop Bold at the satisfactory average price of $5.80 per pical, or, with charges deducted, at about 20 cents per pioul above the average price of
last season..
Loans.—The 10 per cent. Debentures and he Perak Government loan were paid off on 80th June last, and were replaced by an issue of TI 100,000 bearing interest at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum, which represents the entire loan issue of the Company.
Accounts. The loss on working account is Tls 24,109.57, and after payment of interest on loans the balance at debit of profit and loss account stands at Tls. 23,038,29. The expenses of the season have necessarily, under the ex ception ircumstances which had to be faced, avy, and they include way of stores, repairs, uld not have fallen on the tenot for the extension of of these items will, benefit of the current under the change of confidently expected that ffected in
direction
etires
D.
by the articles himself for real
associa
to 887
new
during the yea
We
that we
tain am
I think it is the intention to make provision for this every year We quite see the necessity of doing thi it shall be attended to in our next accounts. At the same time I think very little doubt that the value of the it stands at present is not over-rep with the amount of Tls. 252,000
and
Mr. A. R. Burkill Do I understand that the amount originally put for goodwill expunged by the amount written off two years ago?
lned
The Chairman Yes; I think that we might leave out the word "goodwill" from the next accounts, because, when we had the fleet re amount it was worth as a going conce two years ago, it was written down to the actual beg to propose that the report and ac as put before the meeting be accepte passed.
greed
the dire
Mr. Probst seconded and the resolution was carried nem con.
(Proposed by Mr. Korff, seconded by Mr. H. Stewart, it was ag authorised to appropriate the amount
A dividend of 8 per cent. disposal, namely, Tls. 25,403,2
Transfer to reserve fund Carried forward
Upon the motion of Mr. seconded by Mr. H. Sylva, and A. H. Stewart were re-el
and Mr. J. D. Thorburn was upon the propositio seconded by Mr. E. J Mr. Hogg prop Chairman, Board, adoption of whic
1895
nga
of Th: 47,182
ton
follows
00:00
R. Burkill
La vote of thanks staff of the ncluded the the repo
their anı ent of 80001