חד!ןד
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
256
B. Receive the sum awarded for loss of interest and cost of re-investment,
and
C. Would pay the bank, say, 6 per cent. interest on his advance.
Dealing with Government he would:-
·
A. Draw 12 per cent. interest on his shares to date of payment.
B. Pay the sum awarded for loss of interest to Government.
C. Pay the Government 3 per cent. interest on his advance.
The proposal, of course, only becomes feasible if the Court states in the award what percentage it allows for the items under discussion. The Rand Water Board Arbitration Court did state these items separately in their awards.
8. It may be useful to state briefly some of the local circumstances and the opportunities that will exist for re-investing the compensation money apart from the inscribed stock. Some of the figures given here were not available when the suggested scheme was first proposed.
There is at present no demand for a great sum for new purposes, and the most. favourable condition for Government is that some mortgagees are anxious to call in their money for remittance to Europe, and about three millions may be considered available at the present time.
There is a proposed Singapore municipal sterling loan of £900,000, but it will not be fully issued for many years, and as it is to be in sterling will presumably pay a low rate of interest. There is also a proposed Singapore municipal loan of $1,000,000 which possibly could be issued conveniently to meet the compensation money of the Tanjong Pagar shareholders.
Messrs. Howarth, Erskine, Limited, and Messrs. Riley, Hargreaves, and Com- pany, two large engineering firms, are amalgamating, but it is not yet clear whether this amalgamation will be followed by an appeal for more capital.
The share market of Singapore is a comparatively small one, and the dealings in the best securities are not heavy. The table appended below shows the aggregate value of shares in the principal commercial undertakings in Singapore. Many of the shares are firmly held as investments, and would only be released, if at all, by a great rise in price. The total of the market value quotation was at the end of the year:-
Shares
Municipal loans and debentures
at the same date the Tanjong Pagar Company's figures were:-
Shares Debentures
$15,422,600 3,626,170
$19,048,770
$12,950,000 1,634,155
$14,584,155
257
10. Appended hereto is a statement showing the share quotations in Singapore on the 31st December, 1904.
SINGAPORE SHARE QUOTATIONS. 31st December, 1904.
Company.
Fraser & Neave, Limited
Riley, Hargreaves, Limited
No. of Shares Issued.)
Closing Quotations.
at
Aggregate Value
Closing Quotations.
4,500
Dollars. 101-sales
***
Dollars.
454,500
Howarth, Erskine, Limited
12,000
205-
11 ***
2,460,000
Maynard & Company, Limited
3,400
25-sellers
85,000
6,000
190-sales...
1,140,000
2,750
112-buyers
308,000
25,000
9-50-sellers
237,500
600
2,000
75-sales
145-sellers
45,000
290,000
Straits Steamship Company, Limited
Straits Trading Company, Limited
4,215
140-
250,000
39-25-sales
7% Preference
Singapore Cold Storage Company, Limited
Singapore Dispensary, Limited
Straits Ice Company, Limited
***
...
590,100
9,812,500
15,422,600
Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, Limited..
37,000
350-sales...
12,950,000
DEBENTURES.
Howarth, Erskine, Limited, 7%
Singapore Municipal 6%
250,000
400,000
3% prem. ...
257,500
Nominal
400,000
5%
+%
...
1,878,000
1% prem.-buyers
1,896,780
655,500
2% discount
A
642,300
Riley, Hargreaves & Company, Limited 6%
225,000
2% prem.-buyers
3,408,500
229,500
3,626,170
Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, Limited 6%
"
39
5%
250,000
1,365,500
1,615,500
2% prem.-buyers
1%
255,000
1,379,155
1,634,155
Н
"
C.O. 882
8 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
From these figures it is clear that shares and debentures cannot absorb the Tanjong Pagar compensation money.
As to mortgages, the figures for Singapore are as follows:-
1903 $13,860,000 (including liens of $2,022,000).
1904 $10,671,000 (including liens of $1,623,000).
The figures for Penang are not yet available.
9. If no scheme can be devised either for eliminating altogether or for minimising the amount of compensation likely to be awarded under this heading, then there is nothing further to be done in the matter, but the writers would be glad to get some further advice on the subject and also to be instructed as to what kind of evidence (if any) should be prepared to meet the arguments which it is conceived may be put forward by the Company in favour of a large sum being awarded for compensation under this heading.
30982
No. 254.
COLONIAL OFFICE to MESSRS. SUTTON, OMMANNEY, AND RENDALL. GENTLEMEN,
Downing Street, August 30, 1905.
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to forward, for your consideration, a copy of a despatch* from the Governor of the Straits Settlements with regard to the compensation likely to be awarded by the arbitrators in the Tanjong Pagar Dock case for loss of interest pending re-investment and for cost of re-investment.
• No. 253.
I am, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
1
258
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