12
COMPANIES.
:0:
"SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST,'
LIMITED.
Hitherto the meetings of this Company have. not been open to the press. Te following report was sent to us for publication by the management.]
The fifth annual ordinary general meeting of the South China Morning Post," Limited, was held in the Offles of the National Bank of China, on Monday when there were present : Dr. J. W. Noble (chairman), Messrs. G. C. Moxon, H. Pinckney, G. Scatt Hurston, A. R. Lowe, and otheis.
The Chairman said : Gentlemeu,—The repor and accounts having boou in your hands for some days,
will with your We
por- mission tako them as read. The dirotors
the
of disappointing nature regret
the balance sheets placed before you for ap. proval. These accounts, however, represent the trae position of the company up to the 31st of August last. During the period under review, more especially during the latter portion thereof, a close and ea nest investigation was made by the board and many changes effected in nearly every brach of your business, necessitating the most drastic museums, entail-
]] ing ardn us the
Labour
11
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
|
Mr. T. PETRIE seconded.
The motion was carried unanimously. The CHAI MAN: It is now in order to elect the directors for the ensuing year.
Mr. PETKIE: I big to move the re-election of Dr. J. W. Noble, Messrs. G. C. Moxon, J. S. Harston, and H. Pinckney as directors for the year onding August 31, 1998,
Mr. G. T. LLOYD s canded.
The motion was carried unanimously, The CHAIRMAN: That is all the business, gentleman. I am sorry that I cannot say "The dividend wa rants will be ready to morrow."
The meatic then terminated.
Following was the report :
Gentl- muru,
18th D-e-inber,
#07.
|
[January 6, 1908.
increase the cost of production while the heavy stocks and poor deliveries throughout the year have materi lly affected on interest account The net result of these adverse circumstane-s is shown in a loss on the twelve months' working of about Tls, 18,700, but in consideration of the substantial sum carried forward from the previous year, your Consult. ing Committee recommend the payment of a dividend of five per cent, which can be affected without touching the sum of Tle 150,000 placed to equalization of divident account last year. The stock of yarn at October 31 was heavy, but has since been considerably reduced, and deliveries aro at present well maintained. The present outlook cannot be called brilliant, but the are indications that the trade is assuming a more normal course.
Before pro- posing the adoption of the report and accounts, I wish to refor to one item in the latter, viz:— repairs and renowals. You may recollect that in 1905 the sum of Tls. 45,939,90 was transfered to this account to provide for extra renewals 5 00169 | necessitated by the age of the mill. Of this Amount Tls. 22,663.30 has this
been year Tofal
two-thirds of the $ 99,0039,58 | expended in renewing The loss to the year ending February 28th, rings in the ing frames, ro-clothing twenty of 197 includes the :-
the carding engines, relaying the floors of the Les on Halftone blocks and Ling
spinning room and engine house with wood and Mo'al, Fixtures and Fittings ...
ro covering the whole of the steam piping and on black, chiefly Speculaire
boilers with asbestos. The preparation in the wa.k which had ben carcilas
card room has also been increased by six Stuck,"
12,751 43 | additional roving frame, which will make for T'he mill Hegersa to cover sundry losseS 24450 17 ivcreased economy and efficiency.
The reserve of $20,4 6.17 is to cover payments | buildings and michinery are, therefore, in a I shall be for removal expeusos, late general manager's Choroughly satisfactory condition. passage money and salary to completion of { pleased to reply to any questions that may be agreement, estimated losges on leases of Daddell | ask d.
There were Sur-et and Connaught Road Contral promises,
no questious and the following resolutions were put to the meeting and carried unannously:
This Directors leg to submit their report for the year ending February 28th, 1997, and the half yearending August 31 4 1907, The Iss as per the last Balanco
Sheet was
...8 41,90489 The loss for the year ending Fe.
bruary 18, 19 7 14
Ls.
air.
"1
The profit for the half year ending
August 31st, 1907 is
15.632.00
$4,702 14 The Dir etors, Dr. J. W. Noble, Messrs. (! C. Moxon, J. S. Harst and H. Puckues, retire acco ding to Claus: 83 of the Articles of Association but offer thoms-drog for re-alection.
GEO. T. LLOYD,
J. W. NOBLE,
Chairman. General Manager,
J. S. HARSTO
Directors
G.. MexON, H. PINCKNEY, Hongkong, December 24 h, 1967
EWO COTTON SPINNING AND WEAVING CO., LD.
There
In reformation. Changes
tats staf were of course inevitable, altered methods of conducting the business adopted, Irge sums as set forth in the balance sheet written off,, (e. The stocktaking has been very thorough and complete, useless
maforial weeded out, the remaining portion revalued. Completed work was found which had beea executed with the hope that it might some da, be called for; this Ead been carried as "stock. As delivery could not be forced, legally or otherwise, a large portion of it was worthless nud was con- signed to the flimes and "written off." Your metal: Lare bwo weighed aud credit taken only for that which was wo think you actually in stock; a system will ad mit yields truthful results, if
For mouths past unwelcome figures. work bas been executed unless on the written order of a firm or individual; former laxity and neglect of this precaution acronuts for a loss of some thousands of dollars. Our prescut pre- mises are more suitable for our purposes than any w have heretofore occupied, the rigid supervision which can now be exercised over thes
The twelfth onlinary me ting of s'areholders employees in all departments, situated ou and
in the Ewo Cotton Spinuing and Weaving floor, warrants us in assuming that the output Company, Limited, was hold at the offers of the should be considerably enhanced and greater General Managers on December 27th. satisfaction given owing to personal supervision
ware present: -Mr David Landale (chairman), by the General Manager under whose eye the
Messrs. A. McLoud, E E. Clark and Yee Kuay work is now carried on. Your late General ying (directors, Mugurs. J. M. Young, Ja Manager, Mr. A. Cunningham, has presented Kerfot, P. Crighton, I.J. Chrk (. F. Anton, a claim amounting to $14,10 for siltry a
R. H. Haut and W. N. [Fleming (shareholders.{ as (foueral editor, in addition to his pay
The unmber of shares represe ited was 4,8 8. Manager, This claim wa absolutely refused to
The Secretary (Mr. W. N. Fleming) read the recognise, and scorred a compromise. A writ
notice convening the meeting. The Chairman is now outstanding and the case will in due
said : -The report and accounts for the year end- course come before the court for trial. Young October 11, 1907, having been in your hands have struggled on patiently, supported by hops and borrowed money, for more than four years and we trust you will be patient yt a little longer and not abandou your hope, su long deferred. The future prospects are really not so gloomy as would appear from the accounts before you.
We hope in the ensuing year to reap the benefit of the reforms inaugurated and economies effected, and to lay before you a balance-sheet better than any yon bare bad in the past, and one that will prove more to your satisfaction. Your auditor for some months past has spent much time and labour diligently unravelling the accounts that we might know our exact position. These accounts we now ask you to approve, Before however, proposing the adoption of the report and accounts I would like to say that we have come here prepared with all the data necesary to enable us to answer fully and freely any and all questions you wish to ask, which can be answered in public without detriment to the company's business. Before proposing these secounts I would be very glad to answer any questions.
No questions were pat, and
Dr. NOBLE said: There being no questions, I propose that the report and accounts, as set forth, be adopted.
for some days, well will with your permission, follow the usual procedure and accipt them as read. We regret that we have to report to you a very disappointing year, both as regards the high price of cotton and the lack of demandi in the yarn market. At our last annual general meeting, your Chairman-then pointed out that the prospects for the faturo contrasted unfavourably with the immediately ceding period of good { a{g experienced in 1905 and 1996, aud
the
pre-
result of the
year's working unfortunately confirms the correctness of his forecast. The depress c condition of the cotton industry throughout the year must be a matter of common knowledge to you all. The Yangtze markets were influenced by scarcity of food supplies and partial famine, consequent on the bad harvests of the previous season, and the northern outlets were depressed by heavy stocks of imported yarn and restriction
of financial facilities, Sales, therefors, were made on a hand-to-mouth base, and as the year developed, demand became so slack that it was found necessary to restrict the outpu: by working on short time; the being stopped on this account for about sixty extra days throughout the year, in addition to ordinary stoppages. This naturally
mill
Propese by the Chairman, seconded by Mr. A. McLeod :—That a dividend of Tls. 2,50 per share on 15,900 shares be paid.
Proposed by Mr. H. J. Clark, seconded by Mr. P. Crighton:-That the Consulting Com. mittee be re-elected.
Proposed by Mr. J. M. Young, seconded by 31. J. Kerfoot :-That Mr. G. E. Wingrove be re-elected auditor of the Company for the ensuing year.
!
EVOLUTION OF HONGKONG.
Written for the Hongkong Daily Press.]
(Coat anel from last week.)
XIV.
It is no intention of ours to write a history of the calouy, so we shall pass over Sir Geo. Bonham's term, merely remarking that as au old colonial administrator he endeavoured to { restore its financial equilibrium, and introduced hina he had little to do, many reforms; with Ous object of his was, however, to encourage the Chinese settlers to become true residents. With this object and acting on colonial precedent, he granted British registry and British Higs to old residents of standing irrespective of former nationality Under his immediale successor, zir John Bowring, widely known as a philosophic radical and as such committed to a thorough peace policy, this action formed the basis of the second Chinese
War.
"
A new Viceroy and Imperial Commissioner had been sent to Canton, as self-opinionated and as ignorant as Lin who brought on the His name was Yeh first war with England. Mingshen, and bis particular duty was to "exterminate the Taiping rebels, then at the summit of their power in the Kwang provinces. on the Much of the fighting took place mainland immediately opposite Hongkong, Kowlang having been several times taken ant retaken by оде or other. and the rebi's, who in concert with the coast pirates had managed to collect a fet, even attempted to make the harbour their battle ground. Sir John Bowring's orders
to preservO A strict neutrality, a ròle perfectly in accord with his own predilections as a former president of the Peace society; and this naturally did not please either side, and more especially Yeb, whose heart was bent on placing the Foreigner in his proper position as an hamble servitor.
were
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