CANTERBURY TRAMWAY COMPANY.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7517, 5 April 1890, Page 6

CANTERBURY TRAMWAY COMPANY.

half-yearlt meeting. - The half-yearly "meeting of the Canter* bory Traibway Company/ Limited, was held at the offices, Cathedral square, on Thursday, at '7.30' p.m." There were twenty-three shareholders present, and the chair was occupied by Mr O. W. Tamer, Chairman p£ Directors. Thereport (which has been published) and balance-sheet-wer* taken as read. The balance-sheet showed that Qf the subscribed capital of £50,000, £39,732 10e less calls unpaid, £477 2s 6d, had been called up. The liabilities were £31,880 18* od, and the assets £63,184 19s lid. The profit and loss account showed that the traffic' receipts for the half-year were £5103 17s Id; advertising, £&* 15* IW*. reserve fund transferred, £382 4s 2d; balance, £3001 fe Id; total, £8551 3s 2d. Expenditure—To balance3oth Juue, 1889, *1U39 7s 9d; traffic, wages, &C £*54i> 2a 2d; charges, £073 18s, 9d; interest;, £1144 5a -id; ' Stunner general account, £138 16s 2d ; mews account, £722 19s repairs, *10iS Us 3d; renewals, £yQ 12s 3d; permanent way, £45012s 3d— £bSH lvs 6d ; suspense, £70617s lid ; total, £8551 3s 2d. The Chaihmajj, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, said :— It now becomes my duty to submit to you the statement' of accounts as on 31st December last, and in so doing I can ouly express regret that they are so very unsatisfactory and disappointing. When last speaking to you I hoped that during the July-December half-year the receipts wouldnotmerelyco'ver the expenditure, but yield a surplus' towards the reduction of previous losses, the results, however, are very different., The traffic to end of October was but during' November and December the -returns were 50 per cent, beyond one previous months of the halfyear. The receipts for the period June to December Were £5103, as against the corresponding half-year of 1838, £5179, leaving Liv wood section out;. but it must also Uβ remembered that during 1839 we were receiving lower fares than in 1838. The expenditure has been £&804, or. allowing for £788 which properly belonged to earlier dates, £6016, as against £6200 for corresponding period 1838 (again having deducted cost of Linwood sectiou), and £6435 for June half - year 1889. The capital account has been added to by the payment of £3081 <pn account of calls. The Directors will continue to make farther calls every three months until the deposits and liabilities other than debentures shall haye been paid off, Tnis result, I anticipate,-will be reached before we meet to consider the balance sheet for December, 1890.' The addition to construction account was for the completion of tne Suinner line, and that Of rolliug stock account was .for the. purchase of Young's palace cars. I have now to refer to the items stated in the auditor's report, aftd in so doing 1 wish to maice it clear that there have been no defalcations nor frauds in the Suspense account.' When the late manager, Mr Kvuns, was about to leave X re quested our auditor, Mr Jameson, to make au audit to date, and also to examine the ledger balances 1 , in bourse of'his labors the suspense account came under review, when he found it necessary to trace out the transactions for" several previous half years. 'It appeared that a practice had; grown up of estimating, on the close of, each. half year, the amount due to the Company then outstanding and of placing' such amounts to the debit of the suspense account and the credit of the traffic or other proper account, but when some of the- moneys (chiefly for advertising) were paid over the counter they were credited to the traffic accountthereby chat account received credit twice for the same-thing—in place of the dispense. .Tne items referred to by the Auditor, or, rather, the balances thereof, were continued-in suspense uutil now, jsrhen they have been written off, and this large sum dealt'with now, instead of which the iivijujtnieut. entries should have been made iv r.Ue books during, previous years. The cash deficiency of £52 8s 2d occurred in the interval between Mr Evans' retire* inentaudthe time of Mr Post's leaving the service* Mr Post was absent from his duties by illness for several days aud unfortunately was unable thereafter for two or three weeks- to attend and to explain to the Auditor the Apparent deficiency, whicn appeared to jbe £99. but payments were traced: which' reduced the amount to £52, and 1 think it not unlikely that if Mr fost had, been • able .to attend when first requested h& have given some further explanations respecting this item, lief ore moving the adoption of the report, X may say that the receipts for January, February and March, iif* ve kept up very well, and that no further shriukaKe has arisen duriug these months. Instruction* have been given to the Manager that the expenditure musj; be largely curtailed and restricted within our receipts. The calls hithertQ made have been well paid, aud the capital'to be called "up will enable the Directors' to pay the deposits and ordinary liabilities. I regret that it became necessary to postpone this meeting 1 from 'its proper date, but both the Manager and : the Accountant were prostrated by very serious illness, and neither of them could therefore supply the necessary details, in time. Xam glad to report them both convalescent and able to attend to, their duties. The retiring Directors are Mr John Studholme and Mr W; H. Lane, who otter themselves tor re-election. It will be your day to elect two Directors, to-night and v jan Auditor."' I now, move the adoption of the report, and will give such information as I may be able, in reply to any questions you may put to mc. The Hon. J. T.: Pbacoqb: seconded the motion. ■ , . The Chairman invited discussion on the motion. ■ ■ ' :

Mr H. A.; Davis asked whose fault was it that there was a deficiency in the cash account of £32 8s 2d.

The Chairman said he had tried to make this clear. ' After Mr Evans had left the employ of the Company, and before another manager had been appointed, Mr Post, the accountant, was taken ill, and forafewdays. there was no one to take charge of the Office and recei- c the money. No money had been paid into the-Bank for two or three days, and the takings were put in;the safe. Mr Post continued to be ill for three weeks, aud was unable to give an explanation at that time. An apparent deficiency of £99 was first discovered, but subsequently Mr Post made an explanation which' accounted for all but the £52.

Mr DAVis-rHaving heard the explanation of the Chairman. We must take it the money has beehloafc by the Company. The Chairman said that was not so, and he Would not' allow any one to Infer that the money had been stolen. Had Mr Post been, able to give the explanation when first requested he would perhaps have shown that it had been paid away on behalf of the Company. He did not; aay anyone took the money. Mr Davis said he still wished to have a say on the question. There -was-a deficiency—whatever, way the money had gone—and he wanted ;to know who was to blame for, it. The Directors received £50 a year each, but what did they do! They might put the/little time, but not sufficient to ; see that; the money was properly taken care of. The money was gone, and they did not know who had taken it. : It showed there was some neglect some where.: The Directors out of their £50 should make up the loss, as he thought it was caused through their. neglect., . • la reply to a shareholder, The Chairman- said the Auditor of the Company had made an examination, but Mr Post Was unable at the time to assist them. ! - ■■'••i i ..-.'■: •--. Mr Davis—Mr Ppst had got better; had he ever been asked? The Chairman said Mr Post had tried to explain the matter,- hut. there was such a thing as a man losing his memory. In reply to another shareholder, The Chairman said that when he found out bow Mr Post was. he suspended hh-fi. Mr Davis said he' intended to move that the number of' Directors be reduced by two. . Mr B. R. MxjfffErv asked why it had been found necessary to have the extraordinary audit made if there had not been something lax oh the part of the officers? The Chairman explained that the audit was made on account of the change of managers, that matters might be clear Sox the hew manager.

Mr Motfett—Would the Directors aay that a correct audit had been placed before the shareholders? The auditor had been appointed by the proxy papers held by the Directors. '

After some discussion on the subject of proxies. The Chairman read ont the : nimes of shareholders for whom he held proxies. Id reply to Mr jfcrPßrr, The Chairman said the palace cars cost £400 odd, -and there was no commission paid for the purchase of them. Mr Mtjffett said that seeing Mr Evans had resigned his position under the Company how was It that be had been called in to assist them ih preparing the accounts fortheaudltt *~-.-""7~- B

The Chairman said they were only too

glad to avail themselves of Mr Evans ser ▼ices in the difficulty. , , ....... Mr Mcffett questioned the adylsaMUty of calling in a person who had left the service of the Company to help prepare the accounts. _ The Chairman said that Mr Evans was straightforward and honesty iand there was no reason whatever why he should not have given.help. Mr Mcffett expressed his dissatisfaction at the Chairman's explanation, and as he was becoming personal he wascaiied to order by the Chairman. In reply to Mr Muffett as to what they intended to do when the balance of the shares was called op, the Chairman siid a meeting would be held about the end of the year, when the shareholders would have an opportunity of considering the position. Continuing, the Chairmau said he hoped by that time they would be rid of their liabilities. The deposits were being materially reduced. As tbe calls came iv the deposits were paid off. About £2300 would be paid by next week, or as soou as the call papers were out, and that would be devoted to the lifting Of deposits and paying off liabilities. Mr J. Nkwlyn asked if the debentures were being decreased* The Chairman said no; they had been increased. While they were losing money the public would not have confidence in the Company. They had only received one or two small deposits during the last few months. They had determined to pay.off the deposits. Debentures to the amount of £14,000 or £15,000 were held by shareholders, who had an equivalent amount of shares, and the otber £3000 or £4000 worth of debentures were held by the outside public Mr Van Asch said that most of the money paid ih calls was paid by those who held debentures. The Chairman said there were five calls out of ten to be paid. Mr Geo. Coleman asked if there were any defaulters. The Chairman said there were a few, The amouut outstanding on the 31st Dec was £90. The Chairman read a list of the amounts of calls unpaid. He said no shares had been forfeited, and the Directors would not allow shares to be transferred, except to substantial men. No application for transfers had, however, been made.

Mr Coleman asked whether, in the event of shares being forfeited the bolder would he liable for tne full amount of the shares.

Mr Cowlishaw pointed out that forfeiture of shares was a penalty imposed by the Directors. A shareholder could not forfeit his shares.

A Shareholder asked if the Directors took up.any of the new issue of shares. The Chairman said that out of the new issue of 4107 shares the Directors had taken up 1300. In reply to Mr Muffett, The Chairman said the fare tickets were issued to the counter clerks by the auditor, who checked the foils and credited tbe clerks witb the unimpaired tickets. In reply to Mr Newlyu, the ChAirmAN said tbe Company had gone-back JB-iOOO in the last two years. There was not sufficient population to warrant the expenditure that was going on. They had got money enough to more than pay their liabilities. It the shrinkage was to continue chey could not do so, and so they must stop expenditure at once. ■ The receipts for the last three months were above the expenditure, and in the winter time they must cut down expenditure. Mr Yak Asch said that the shrinkage was chiefly owing to the fares being reduced on all the lines. While the coaches g»t 2s and 2s 6d return from Sumner the ompany only got Is, aud the Papanui fare Was only 6d return, if they had the same fares as ruled a few years ago their lines would pay well with the number of people now travelling. They had'had to reduce the fares on account of so much opposition. Some years ago they took a large amount of money en deposit upon which they had had to pay interest. They got less money from the same number of passengers and there was more expense in guards because they had to run more coaches. It was one of the things they could not alter. They could not legally raise the fares on the Sumner line and on the Papanui line, there was too much opposition. In reply to Mr Nbwlyn the Chairman said they would have less interest to.pay next year by some £703 or £800. •' The in reply to Mr Davis, said there had not been any applications for transfers of shares for the purpose of evading payment of calls. In reply to another shareholder, the Chairman said there had been no accidents of any consequence on any of the sections. Several had been caused by the passengers' own negligence. ' The motion for the report and balance sheet was then put and carried without dissent. •

Mr Davis wished to give notice that the number of the Directors be reduced by two, but . '- The Chairman stated that there would be no retirements at the next half-yearly meeting, and that at the meeting at the end of the year the future management Of the Company would be discussed. . ; Mr Davis said he would, therefore, drop the question for the present.' He moved the re-election of Messrs J. Studholme and W. H. Lane as Directors.

The motion was seconded and agreed to, and Mr ,W. Jameson was re-elected auditor.

The Chairman eaid.no body of Directors could have worked harder in the interests of shareholders than the present Board had done. There were a thousand and one things to trouble them that shareholders knew nothing about. In reply to Mr Coleman, the Chairman satd the management of the Company was under the consideration of -the Directors, and they were also considering what could be done on the Papanui road. He pointed out that the-concession from the Sumner Town Board in the matter of compelling a tram tostartat7 a.m. pressed hardly on the Company. •;>■... Mr C. L. Wiggins said the conditions had been imposed with a view co inducing people to reside in Strainer who required to be at their work. ia Christchurch at 8 a»n». " ...-..■■./,,• t The meeting then terminated with >ote 8 of thanks to the Chairman and