CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921 — Page 360

1

At the fifth annual meeting held on February 15th, 1892, Mr. Granville Sharp, in submitting the reports and accounts for the year 1891, said :— "You will observe that no reduction has been made in the valuation of the Company's property. In some parts of the Colony a decline has taken place, in others values have increased. No transaction has taken place during the year at Pokfulum. A large amount has been written off the herd of cattle. The town office is approaching completion and advantage is ex- pected from the consolidation of the business which this building will greatly facilitate. A considerable improvement has been effected during the year on the Company's estate by cutting away the hill, by which a large level area paddock and exercise ground has been obtained. The milk from the Dairy Farm Company continues to maintain its high reputation. It is regularly tested by the Government Analyst, and the Colonial Surgeon recently stated at a meeting of the Sanitary Board that the report of that officer stated that no better milk could be obtained from the best Alderney cows."

Mr. H. W. Cotewall seconded the motion, whereupon Dr. J. W. Noble (who made his first appearance as a shareholder) said :- "I should like to say, before the motion is put, that I think the shareholders as well as the public at large are much gratified at the progress the Company is making. I think everyone understands the difficulties under which the directors have laboured; and that the directors we have at present are representative men of Hong Kong there can be no doubt. This is perhaps the best balance sheet we ever had, taking all things into consideration. We have a much larger capital to pay a dividend upon than was formerly the case, and I notice, notwithstanding the fact referred to by Mr. Sharp, that the Company's property has been revalued the place has been improved considerably and a large amount of cutting has been done which necessarily entails a large outlay. The property is therefore, quite as valuable as it was last year, even allowing for the depreciation which we all know has prevailed throughout the Colony. There is a sum of $26,000 fixed deposit at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and $8,000 cash in hand. This is not very bad, and I think we can congratulate ourselves upon it. The total amount of revenue is $35,000, which shows that the Dairy Farm products are growing in favour every year. The butter which I am sorry to say most of us can only get as a favour now and again-is certainly most excellent, and I, for one, have never eaten better in any part of the world. The milk we all know is very good. I have myself been living on it for some months, and although not very robust I have not lost much weight, a fact which shows that it must be very rich in those qualities which

sustain life. Buffalo milk, I believe, is very rich in fats, but that makes. it difficult of digestion. That is not the case with the Dairy Farm milk, which, I believe, is all the product of foreign cattle. But I should like to remark, in addition to what I have already said, that there such a good report, and we have been writing off so much year after year, for reasons which everyone understood, that I would ask the directors-I will not put as a proposition if they will not reconsider the amount written off this year the sum of $6,000. Will the directors reconsider the matter and give the shareholders 5% instead of 3%, which would consume $5,000 and enable them to write off $6,000 and carry forward $419? I do not think it is unreasonable to ask them to consider it and let the shareholders have $6,000 dividend, writing off $6,000 which is 50% of the net profits."

The Chairman:-"The fact is that we have had considerable difficulties, and with regard to the dividend which we have declared, we feel that it is very small indeed. You may depend upon it that it is not from unwilling- ness on the part of the board of directors that so small a sum as 3% has been made. The matter has been carefully discussed and exhaustively thrashed out. It was thought, by all the directors, that the herd of cattle must necessarily be very carefully revalued before a dividend was declared. That was our unanimous feeling. The value of the herd is a fluctuating value. We are always subject to the dangers of mortality among the cattle, and we feel this is a point that in the declaration of a dividend we have specially to go upon. We have lost a good many cattle and we thought it necessary to write down to what we consider a safe limit. think that the directors would not be willing to increase the dividend. We hope that better times may come during next year, but, at the present time, 3% is all we feel justified in declaring, although far short of our own desires. You will remember what I said just now with regard to the dangers to which we are exposed. We have no insurance on our cattle. We cannot get insur- ance here as we can at home, and therefore we have to bear the risk ourselves, rendering it more important that we should not distribute that which we might require. We have the money in the bank of course, and we could declare a dividend of 5%, but we might require the money that is in the bank at any time."

14

Dr. Noble: I would not like it to be thought that anything I said was within the spirit of criticism. Had I meant that, I should not have put my remarks in the form of reconsideration but as a direct motion. If I was animated by any spirit of animosity to the Board, I should not have put my words in the way I did,.

78

79

356

Page 360Page 361