CO882-(8-9) — Page 32

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :----

TTIC.O. 882

لسيا

8

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON:

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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ance of tugs, barges, lighters, launches, &c., the sum of $15,000 being placed to the credit of this fund.

By this time the Company had acquired 824 out of 1,000 shares in the Singa- pore Slipway and Engineering Company.

A dividend of $12 per share was declared.

In 1902 the sum available for distribution in the first half-year was $721,000, 1902, and in the second half-year $764,553.55.

The sum of $150,000 was added to the reserve for wharf extension and develop- ment at the end of the first half-year, this fund being raised thus to $750,000. $15,000 was also added to the fund for the insurance of tugs, barges, &c., and the sum of $50,000 was set apart for improvements and developments in the Prye River Dock.

In the second half-year's accounts to the 31st December, 1902, these various funds were amalgamated, and appear as a general reserve fund, "being surplus profits invested in the Company's business," the total amount being $1,700,000. A total dividend of $12 per share was paid, and a bonus of $1 per share for each half-year.

At the commencement of the year Mr. George Rutherford, from the Swansea Docks, was elected to the Board under the title of Managing Director of the Com- pany.

He died on the 10th April, 1902. After an interval of some months, he was succeeded in 1903 by Mr. J. Rumney Nicholson, the present Managing Director.

On the 28th June, 1902, occurred the death of Mr. Thomas Scott, who had been connected with the Company for many years, and while in Singapore held the post of chairman at intervals for about 15 years, and afterwards in 1899 was elected to the London Consulting Committee.

In 1903 a dividend of $12 per share was paid, and the general reserve 1903. fund was raised to $1,950,000. The debentures issued at this time stood at $1,615,500.

During the year 1903 Mr. J. R. Nicholson, the Managing Director of the Com- 1904, pany, had been engaged in preparing a report on proposed extensions and improve- ments of the Company's property. This report was signed on the 9th January, 1904. It recommended a scheme involving an expenditure of about $12,000,000. This report was issued to the.Directors, but was not circulated among the share- holders. The Directors recommended that it should be issued to each member of the Company, but the London Consulting Committee objected to this being done, "unless it could be accompanied by a statement showing how the works recom- mended could be financed without endangering a dividend of 12 per cent."

On the 23rd March, at the half-yearly meeting of the Company, Mr. John Anderson, who had a few days previously resigned his membership of the Board of Directors, severely criticised the general policy of the London Consulting Committee and their action in regard to Mr. Nicholson's report. A copy of this speech, which, Appendix it is believed, will afford valuable material in respect of the attempt to depreciate E. the Company's estimate of the value of this property, is laid herewith (Appendix E). Mr. Nicholson proceeded to England in the course of the year, and consulted with Messrs. Coode, Son, and Matthews with respect to the recommendations contained in his report. The report was revised, and a joint report was subsequently issued, dated the 14th October, 1904, recommending a scheme of extensions and improve- ments estimated at a total cost of £1,530,000.

In the meantime, not long after the completion of Mr. Nicholson's report of the 9th January, the Company had applied to the Government asking for a loan of $10,000,000 from the Federated Malay States at 3 per cent. This application came before His Excellency the Governor, Sir John Anderson, shortly after his arrival in the Colony in the early part of the year 1904. At this time a very large proportion of the capital of the Company, about two-thirds, was held not in the Colony, but in London. His Excellency, upon examining the position of the Company and re- viewing the situation generally, came to the conclusion that in the interests of the port, it was advisable that the Government should obtain more control over the property and policy of the Company and that an opportunity of doing so was pre- sented by this application for a loan. His Excellency submitted certain proposals