P. AND 0. PROSPERITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 14, 16 January 1914, Page 7

P. AND 0. PROSPERITY.

INCREASED PAT FOB OFFICERS CONCESSIONS COST £20,000 A YEAR. (From Oar Special Correspondent.) LONDON, December 12. A year's revenue of £5,298,948, a 15 per cent, dividend, £457,918 written off as normal depreciation of its fleet, and £200,000 carried to a new contingency fund, were some of the items mentioned by Sir Thomas Sutherland at the annual general meeting of the P. and O. Company held in London last Wednesday. Another interesting fact Sir Thomas vouched for -was that the book value of the P. and 0. fleet at the end of the financial year worked out at £7 13/ per ton, but if allowance were made for the "cash reserves," the capital value of the fleet was only £3 7/3 per ton. The original cost of the ships -was about £10,000,000, and when the vessels now being built were completed the company's fleet would represent something like 600,000 tons, and twelve millions of money.

As regards the future, Sir Thomas said there was before them a drooping tendency in the freight market, but they had an "old stocking" well-lined, which enabled them to say that they had sufficient resources to 'meet all future demands upon the company, whether in connection with their public service, the carrying out of the mail contract, or in relation to their purely commercial requirements, which became more extensive every day. Sir Thomas had not a great deal to say about tlie mail contract, which the Postmaster-General has extended for a further twelve months, but he intimated that -She 20-knot service to the East and Australia which some newspapers seemed to think should be forthcoming presently, was not likely to materialise for many years. To institute such a service would mean a capital expenditure too great to be even contemplated at this juncture.

Concerning the branch service via the Cape, Sir Thomas .Sutherland said it had done exceptionally well. The company had, indeed, had a good time all round. There had been no serious insurance claims, and, in fact, the year would have been a magnificent one bat for the increased cost of coal, the bill for which was £100,000 heavier than in the preceding year. Touching the short-lived strike of the company's officers, Sir Thomas said he could not recall a single instance of an officer leaving the company to better his position in any other company. The inference was that they had been paying as good wages to these officers ns men of the same rank had received in other companies, and there were, perhaps, collateral advantages in' the P. and 0. service which we™ not general elsewhere. The compa-ny had, for instance, contributed for sixty years to a life insurance and .superannuation scheme for all their employees both ashore and afloat, which had teen an immense boon to their families for at least half v century. Credit might also be taken for the fact that no old servant with a good record had retired from the company without receiving some kind of pension to which he-had-made no contribution whatever, otherwise than that of previous good service. As some very sharp criticism was meted out to the company in respect of the strike crisis, it was only right that he should make these facts perfectly clear. When officers and gentlemen adopted trades union tactics, even to the extent of threatening their colleagues who were opposed to their action, and left their ships at the busiest period of the year, the only conclusion that could be come to was that a new age had been entered upon. The strike was indeed a painful example of autre temps autre rooeures. In one respect their officers had reason to complain, namely, that promotion had become slower than was formerly the case; but the great anxiety of most of their officers to train for the Royal Navy Reserve was largelyy responsible for this state of things. In order to give gentlemen the long- leave necessary for naval training and at the same time to keep their promotion intact, an additional staff of officers had to be maintained, thus rather seriously blocking the avenue of promotion. This obstacle, however, was now being removed by retiring commanders and chief engineers at an earlier age than hitherto, and he believed he was right in saying that there were now more Naval Reserve officers in the P. and O. service than in any other company. Of course, the main object of the strike was an increase of wages, and this claim was based on the recent prosperity in the cargo-carrying trade rather than on the profits of a company such as their own, for the P. and O. and other concerns he could name had earned larger profits during the South African war tlvan they had since. But there was no 3trike at that period, and the officers would have scouted the methods of to-day. In the Tjosition in which, the company was then placed there was only one thing to do, and he ,and his colleagues were quite united in the opinion that the strike should be dealt with in a conciliatory, and as far as possible, in a generous spirit. Further, they were unanimous that any boon granted to their officers should, in the first instance, be extended to their commanders. The settlement effected, whilst costing the company a considerable sum annually—at least £20,000 — would, he imagined, fix the wages of their service considerably above the level of other lines, in the Eastern trade at all events. But the imperative obligations thrown upon the company, in connection with hie Majesty's Mail service—which the strikers, of course, had the directors no option but to put an end to an impossible situation.