CEMENT
COMPANY'S
(Continued from Page 6.)
more are strengthening their post- tion to enable them to
export. We have depreciated currencies all round us. Higher sterling rates will stop all possible. exports. Singapore will have its own plant Gentlemen, apart from the un- rellable assurances of our direc- tors, what have we had in the past and what can we expect in the future? The directors have also told you that they have not yet lost faith. Quite true, as long as there are still $2,000,000 of our money to support their faith,
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, JANUARY 1 19
1935.
AFFAIRS
that has occurred but whether you recognise it or not, the fact is there..
Mr.
Another Point of Vlow'
Taggart. speaking 23 £
of Japanese cement must have in-, don't want our goods and, further-We ask you to recognise the löss creased by leaps and bounds dur- ing the years 1928 to 1930, the time when we were being urged to ex- tend our operations. Japanese ability to organize, Japanese mass production, their labour problems. the possible Industrialization of China-aur neighbours, our
Own raw materials were possibly never subjects taken into consideration when we were told to expand. They could not have been or we should have sold out. long ago. Here is what we have been doing for the past nine years in spite of all the beautiful words I have just read to you; 1925-eighty cents; 1928-no dividend; 1927-no alvidend; 1928-no dividend: 1929- thirty cents; 1930-thirty cents:↑ 1931-forty-five cents; 1932-no dividend; 1933-no dividend.
A Poor Performance Gentlemen, this performance is indeed poor and you can have nothing to look forward to parti- cularly when we are told to-day that the four million dollars we were advised to spend, two years ago are gone. Yes, Mr. Harston himself on the 25th of April, this year, told you that the directors were negotiating for the sale of our plant one year and a half after its erection. Yes Mr. Harston also told you 00 Apri
]
The Amendment
ANDREW AND URSULA
H. K. Hotel Tea Dance To-day
competition to be held under the In conjunction with the Dancing auspices of the Hong Kong Hotel, Andrew and Wrapla Preston will
SANDAKAN LIGHT CO.
Annual Meeting Held
The twelfth Ordinary Annual Meeting of
the Sandakan Light held yesterday at the National and Power Co. (1932), Ltd. was
Bank Building,
shareholder and not as a member of the Board of Directors, asked permission to touch upon one or two small matters raised by Mr.be giving an Odell He sud
exhibition of "bali that when the
The following were present at purchase of the new plant was to the public the basic
room dancing and will demonstrate
the meeting: Mr. A. L. Shields under contemplation. Messrs.
pointa Lowe Bingham and Matthews were
connected with the contest that Mr. C. A. da Roza, Mr. S. M. Churn (chairman), Hon. Mr. J. P. Braga. will go to make up credit for the asked to go into the matter very
(directors), Mesira. D. W, Munton competition.
The demonstrations (Consulting Engineer) Mr. Noel the carefully and
report
was will be given before, and durics Brago (Secretary) and the follow- placed before shareholders at a the week of the competition starting shareholders: Messrs. I W. general meeting. He wanted to emphasize
that the Arst
sx
Shewin F. J. Tavares, A. d. Botel- months of the existence of the new
ho and J. Toppin plant resulted in handsome pro- fits and the circumstances at a later date could not have been contemplated in the preceding
Summing up I cannot honestly see how by writing down assets which our balance sheet of nine months ago told us were still in- tact the position of the company can be altered. We have been losing money, we are losing money to-day and we will continue to lose money until our entire capitalferred. is wiped out.
years to which Mr. Odell has re-
In connection with the amend- ment before shareholders, he
Let us move on, gentlemen, from our fairyland of feverish specula-wanted tion, to a world of realities.
to remind the meeting plead with you to support me iniquidation the marketable value that should the company go into the folowing amendment to the" of their produce would suffer as resolution before you "that the reconstruction scheme be held in
It was likely that buyers would like to make their purchases from abeyance.
That an investigation firms where they could look for- committee be formed, independent ward for further supplies.. of the management of the com-
25th, 1933 that Japanese dumping pany, for the purpose of ascertain
was ruining us but he falled to mention that even before our new plant was handed
over to UF, during the year 1931, two and a half million piculs of Japanese cement were imported into this colony, a quantity never exceeded before or since 1931.
en-
ing in as short. a time as possible and in as thorough a manner as possible whether we should con- tinue in business or not." Gentle- men I thank you for you attention. The Chairman: It is not easy to answer a lengthy speech like You may that which obviously has been very call it dumping but when it takes carefully prepared. I will a management of a company deavour to deal with some of the thirty years to discover a mistake
points raised. First of all, so far that costs, the company 'a
half
as this Board is concerned I think million dollars when it takes the
it is fair to ask you to sever such management about ten years and
arguments as has been put forward four millions of our dollars to find
so far as they concern the Gen- out that there is no room for the
eral Managers as distinct from the company's existence,
the when
Board of Directors, who only came management admits for once that into existence in 1930. Prior to it's statement regarding a two
that time the business was million dollar stock might have
managed by the General Managers been too optimistic, then. gentle-with the help of a Consulting Com-- mittee and I think it is hardly right at this stage with regard to the
resolution before answer the point that has been! raised on the position of the Gen- eral Managers.
med. I say it must be more than
dumping, Leaders of Industry must be wise, fär-seeing and ex- perienced. "It is possible that the "absence of these virtues has
placed our company in this de- plorable condition and no juggling of figures will convince me that the situation can be saved.
In-
dustries are ordinarily promoted for the benefit of countries, com- munities and shareholders. Our country derives no benefits from our company.
you, to
The next point concerns the question of new plant. We were very careful, before putting the proposition of the installation of the new plant, before the share- holders, to obtain the advice of Messrs. Lowe Bingham and Mat- thews. The matter was gone into taken, and the question of whether very carefully, their advice was
plant was put before shareholders or not we should start this new
and the proposition was approved.
After The Event
wise after the event, but gentie- Of course it is very easy to be
men, I put it to you that it re-
seconded, and put to the meeting, Mr. Odell's amendment was not
was defeated. The original re- solution was carried.
Second Resolution The Chairman:-I now beg to formally propose the following Re- solution (No. 1 in the Notice con-
vening this Meeting) as an Or dinary Resolution:—
going reduction becoming effective 2. That immediately on the fore-
the said 781,976 shares of the Com- pany reduced to $2.50 per share shall be consolidated in such man- ner that every four shall stitute or $10.00 share and that-
(a) On such consolidation as aforesaid the Directors shall full power to make such-provi- sions by sale or otherwise as they think expedient for the case of fractions but so that no fractional certificates shall be Issued
ing to-day.
Andrew and Ursula Preston. It will be recalled, were here, with us some twelve months ago and· have recently returned to us from London fresh
there.
from
Successes
Their exhibition of modern ball- room dancing thrilled local dance goers. In October last year ́and with the perfected improvement, since then, lovers of the terpsi-
ed when they turn up to-day at chorean art will not be disappoint
the tea dance at the Hong Kong Hotel.
castons at which they have
Their turns on the last few oc-
peared
ballroom dancing can be brought showed to what a agh standard before the pube here
to by experts. Their deportment, movement and rhythm left noth- ing to be desired
The Chairman's Speech The Chairman: The Accounts having been in your hands for the necessary period, I propose to take them, as read.
*
The balance at the credit of Working Account for the year under review 15 $10.541.77 as against $1.342.52 for last year which, under the circumstances. your Board consider satisfactory. aiderably, operating expenses have Although revenue decreased con-
Resident Engineer in Sandakan. been correspondingly reduced and refect credit on our Manager and
stores has been provided for on Depreciation on our plant and
the usual basis and as recommend- ed by our technical staff,
We have provided the sum of $33,349.50 for depreciation in market value of our investments at the end of the financial year.
Our Manager and Resident En-
Silver cups will be presented to the first, second and third prize winners of the 1935 Hong Kong Dancing Competition which is begineer reports that the plant, ing held at the Hong Kong Hotel from January 7 to 13.
buildings and distribution system are in a good state of repair and Andrew and Ursula Preston will be two of the nve judges.
'efficiency...
The loss for the year under re- view is $18,606.75, which after tak-
It goes without saying that the tea dances to-day and subsequent- con-ly will be very much patronised ing in the small credit balance with the inclusion of the exhibi-brought forward from last year than by these two talented experts, will leave a debit balance in Pro of ballroom dancing and those in fit and Loss account of $17,281.80. tending to be present are advised
Higher exchange
rates have again operated against us in con- to book their tables early.
verting our surplus revenue into Hong Kong dollars.
(b). On such consolidation as aforesaid the existing certificate of shares shall be called in by the Directors and cancelled änd that new certificates shall be lagued subject to the provisions contained in the Company's Ar- ticles of Association. And I shall be much obliged some shareholder will kindly sec- ond
that proposal, whereupon questions thereon may be raised. solution which was carried.
Mr. Croucher seconded the re-
PALPABLY WRONG
Would Not Suffer Our community would not suffer through the cessation of opera- tions of our company. The plea for the afteen hundred unemploy ed Chinese so eloquently made by Mr. Harston In one of the speeches I quoted. has apparently
(Special Air Mail Service) fallen on deaf ears. Is it possible that the Government realizes that
London, Dec. 12. aires "a very far-seeing person to we might have relieved the sufior-
One of the American papers. have foreseen what would take made the remarkable statement ings of these fifteen hundred un- ̈
place with regard to Japanese that the Archbishop of Canterbury employed by making, drastic' re-
competition. That this is so is received a fee of $1,000 for his ductions in other departments of our highly expensive and luxuri-shown by the position in Great part in the Royal wedding. ous organization. It is also quite Britain. There you have heard of that the hard-headed business men-men of possible, gentlemen, government itself, in preference experience who had not foreseen
THE SHIPPING
STRIKE
More Dismissals
officers of as. Yuet on dismissal Following the dismissal of the
orders have been served on the deck officers and engineers of Lee Hong and Chuen Chow by the respective companies
Otherwise, Gentlemen, there is little to put before you.
I now propose the adoption of the Report and Accounts as pre- sented and when that has been seconded I shall be glad to answer any questions Shareholders may wish to. asic
Seconded by Mr. S. M. Chum the Report and Accounts were adopted Churn and
The re-election of Mr. & M. the Hon. Mr. J. P. Braga to the Board of Directors was confirmed. Messrs. Lowe, Bing- ham and Matthews and Messrs. Percy Smith. Seth and Fleming were re-elected auditors
་་
Because of the refusal of the officers and.men to accept a one, two or three years agreement to pay arbitration award scale of
Vessels. Tied Up wages, and to take the ship to
Vessels which have stopped run- Macao on Saturday, they were dening at present are the Tai Lee, missed.
Lee Hong, and Chuen Chow, whilst the On Lee and San Nam Hol,: which were due to sail yesterday remained in port.
Yuct On Salled " The Yuet On salled on Sunday, for Kongmoon. The Ching Coast Officers' and Marine Engineers' Guilds have written to the owners He did not, in fact, receive a of the vessel yesterday demanding penny. It is true that the Duke the reinstatement of the British of Kent procured the Archbishop's. 1 micers, giving, noon to-day as the to subsidising us, will give the
it. The gentleman who spoke special licence for his wedding in time for compliance with the de- rather gave necessary help to these unemploy-
me the impression Westminster Abbey, That cost mand. that he did and referred to cer- ed by using their services on 'in-
him exactly what it would cost creased building projects made tain aspects of it. He gave us cer- anybody else-£25. possible through the Government'staln figures, but I rather think ability to buy cement from others that he got those figures from in- at about one third of our price. vestigations of what had happen- Also I must emphatically refute ed and not in anticipation of what the contention from certain quar- would happen. ters that if our company went out
He had referred to my "too op. of existence our community would timistic" remarks at earlier meet- have to pay more for Ita cement. ings of your Company. I can only In this age of plenty, of keen and
say that what was stated ther was intensive competition, of highly stated in the honest belief that industrialized countries, we can they were true and I think what hear cries from the four corners I had then said, was justified by of the earth and they are be- the course of events. The com- coming more distinct every day-pany's position and the difficulties for cheaper and still cheaper pro- with which it has to deal is shown ducts. Is it possible to visualize in the speech I have just read, any danger for our community when our company closes down?
The Shareholder
The San Nam Hol, it is under- stood endeavoured to sail yester- day afternoon, but owing to ger- tain hitches, they were unable to obtain a clearance. It is under- stood that the hitch is in regard to the composition of the new new. The Guilds have also written to Unless the owners, of the Yuet the Norwegian and German Con-On reinstate the dismissed officers As the whole of that paymentsulates protesting against their and engineers, there is danger of benents the legal officials, the nationals having accepted a scale the strike spreading to other ves- Archbishop's financial interest in of wages lower than that of the sels, but the Culid is endeavouring special ucenices is nil
arbitration award.
to prevent such a development.
No "Juggling".
I noticed that the proposer of the amendment used one
·word which I did not like. I don't sup- pose he meant to be offensive when he used the word "juggling" This Board is not trying to "jug- gle." We are endeavouring to deal, to the best of our ability, in a straightforward way, with the position that has arisen,
The Exact Position
And now for the shareholder the man who has made our com- pany possible, For the years: 1 have reviewed his return has been on an average of about two and a half per cent per annum bat during that time gentlemen about 66 per cent of his capital has been Trittered away. Gentlemen, if you belleve as I do, that the benefits If you get down to bedrock, the of any industry must be in the position really comes to this: direction I have just outlined, Placed as the company is at pre- and in no other direction, sent, we must take steps to turn then I say there is absolutely no our large stock of raw material reason for us to remain in busi- into cement. If the Company is mesa. I have, statistics before we placed in liquidation, the first to prove that Japanese compett thing the Liquidator would do. tion is only in its infancy, Re would be to go into the position gardless of why, wherefor and end I suppose he would guilt Te When, I can get Japanese cement commend that the raw material by to-day at 95 cents a-bagʻng against (turned into marketable cement. two and a half dollars, per bag That is practically what we are for our product. Our neighbours asking you to do in this resolution.
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11