THE KAURI TIMBER CO.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 299, 16 December 1911, Page 11

THE KAURI TIMBER CO.

AXXCAX MEETEnG LS" afELTBOTJRXK. In moving the adoption of the Te.port and bajance-sheet at the annual gene-ill meeting of the Kauri Timber Company. Ltd., held on the 7th inst. in Melbourne, the chairman said:—ln rejriewdng the business of the past year there have been no incidents of any importance for me to comment on. The demand for aj] kinds of building materials has been very brisk —our output shows a considerable advance on that of last year, and hi consequence our profits are a substantial improvement. You will notice that a slight alteration has been made in the form of the bal-ance-sheet. This has been done to comply with the new Companies Act. On the liability side thcTe has been no change and I would like you to note that the whole of out outside liabilities, Le-, sundry creditors and log contractors, have been .reduced to £50.000. which could be paid out of cash in hand and still leave a surplus. On the assets side the items formerly specified under two headings have been spKt up into seven. In comparing the total of our assets with those of last year, yon will note a decrease of £49,000; but after allowing for an item of £IO,OOO pa.id to log contractors that appeared amongst our assets last year, but has this year be«n transferred or deducted on the liability side,, the difference is only £39,000 and this is more than accounted for in a reduction of our sawn and log stocks. Bearing iu mind the reduced amount of our Inabilities (29,000) you wQJ see that our assets stand 'n stronger relative position to out liabilities than last year, especially when it is remembered that we pa d out £23,400 in an interim dividend in June last. Since the close of the financial year we have been successful in securing a fair quantity of fresh bush, which will absorb some of the cash in hand.

You will have noticed that the Federal Government, in bringing in a bill to 'to away with the anomalies of t!ie tariff, has made a considerable ebanjrc in the duties on New Zealand pine, this being practically the only alteration in timber. Whilst the bill is supposed to rio »'*ay with anomalies it only serves lo create bigger anomalies than esiste.l before. The Minister of Customs, in int.rnd'i.'inf the Bill, said that ha recognised .-i">mfr thing had to be done to assist the butter industry, and this he proposed to do by remitting the present duty, equal to 1/.1 per ton of Gutter, value £ 112. To mikl up for this, however, he propose to tax the fruit-growing industry to the extent of 4/6 a ton, value £l4. so that the fruit-growers wonld have to carry the? impost foT thf benefit of the hotter factories. As a matter of fact, however, the price of butter boxes will not be reduced by the alteration, but the elTrct ■will be to raise the prices, as in producing the hetter grades for the butter bu»iness, we are compelled to make a large quantity of sizes suitable only for fruit cases, and if our mn-rkct for this line is to be restricted or taxed so heavily, the better qualities will have to be raided in price to compensate us for the loss on the lower grades. The outlook for the current year is very encouraging, the mills being fully occupied. We ha.v* bad no difficulty in disposinpr of our output, and have good Inquiries' for forward business. Following our procedure of last year, we expect t pav a half-yearly dividend in June. We have to acknowledge the able assistance rendered by the local hoard in Au-ekland in carrying through the year's business, and the "active interest displayed by the members of our staff in New Zealand and Melbonrne.