P. & 0. COMPANY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18927, 16 February 1927, Page 10

P. & 0. COMPANY.

"STAGGERING BILLS." FURTHER CONVERSIONS TO OIL FUEL. IPRDH Ofa OWX CORIISFONDEKT.) LONDON", December as. Lord hiclicape presided at the eighty-sixth ordinary general meeting of the Peninsular aid Orinntol Steam Navigation Company, on December 6th. As ia his custom, he touched on many point* of interest. Lord lncbeape regTetted that tbs Board wa» unablj to place before stockholders a more satisfactory statement. Like other shipowners, they had encountered difficulties in the past year, but fortunately they had, during the. boom'time, refrained from writing up their investments in allied concerns, which stood or. their books at cost, and, with their assets, were worth to-day a Rood deal more. The Board had made a careful survey of the costs of all supplies required by the ships, and of maintenance and repairs, and it was found that they were paying on an average alxrat 73 oer cent, more than before the war. He had lately been scrutinising bills which were staggoring, and unless prices came down, latea of passage money, ho was afraid, would havs to go up, for they must endeavour to have, at least, an rquilibrxum in their operations. Ho would greatly regret euch a step. Many of their voyage*, owing to shortage of cargo both ways, had been disastrous. Bills payable for new ships which stood a year ago at £6,779,000, stood at September 30th last at £3,906,341, a reduction of £3,872,739, while they had cash deposits from allied companies of about £5,311,000, which were treated in the accounts as a liability, although they were really the P. and O. Company's own property. Eawept a tender which would cost, delivered, £30,U00, they had no commitments for new vessels, although they had it in contemplation, when things became normal, to replace tome of their older tonnage. Binco the year's accounts were closed they had paid off £150,000 of bills for new ships, and the sum outstanding was now £3,756,341. The shipbuilders and discount market-had not pressed them, but the Board's determination was to discbarge the outstanding bills for new ships as speedily as possible.

Ths Insurance Pond. The insurance Mount had increased during the year by £40,018, bringing the amount at credit to £3,828,223, from which nothing had been credited to profit and low, the whole sum being, treated M a liability. The/ could insure their outstanding risks to-day for a very much lesser sum. The Board bod under consideration the /question of treating this fund as a reserve, and a'year hence he might hare more to aay on the subject. Expansion of FasMngtr Trafoe. The company's passenger thsnjn» to the efficiency, of their commanders and ships' companies, continued, to expand in a remarkablo degree. No effort, was spared to make the table attractive, and the change to the a' la carte system of meals had been appreciated by passengers. While they received an ocaeional growl, they welcomed suggestions for the improvement of the ships' arrangements. Recently ho received a vehement expostulation against mixed bathing in the steamers. (Laughter.) On the other hand, they received every week a largo number of appreciative letters. The cabin and public room equipment, decoration and lighting of recent ships,- had been very carefully supervised; the passenger arrangements of many of their older vessels had been remodelled,.and at the same time economy in. every direction had been rigidly kept in view. Value of the Assets. A rocent statement of their accountants showed that the P. and o.' Company, if broken up to-mono*, would-b* able'to discharge it*.entire obligations and give the deferred stockholders a good deal mora than to-day's market value of their holdings. Bnt the P. and 0. Company. would notoe broken up. It was a national institution, and . their intention was. to go on through bad times giving good service to the publio in the conviction that good limes would come sgain. Strikes. Tho general strike, although it lasted only eleven days, involved the company in. serious loss; The Kaisar-I-Hind left for Bombay without an ounce of cargo, and had to. embark hei nails . and specie at Plymouth. Many of the homeward passengers had to be landed at Plymouth and brought to town by rail. In this they were.immonsely assisted by the Great Western Railway. The ooal strike had cost the company over £300,000; coal prices had risen, and the inferior quality of foreign coal had greatly increased consumption. Fortunately, nine of their steamers were oil-burners, and they proposed shortly to convert the Narkunda and the Naldera to bum oil. While liners had suffered, tramp eteamera had benefited by 'carrying ooal to Newcastle.' Forty-nine tramp steamers owned by the P..end O. were, under these unnatural conditions, for tho moment paying their way. Peace In the Shipping Industry. During the year the shipping, industry itsolf had run free.from strikes. The leader of ' the Seamen's and Firemen's Union—Mr J. Havelock Wilson-had ireoently-he believed with the Prime Minister's blessinginitiated a campaign of working »«*» in favour of industrial peace and conciliation, a' movement which, if it expanded,. might well prove the eountr/s economic ' salvation. During' the crisis last May, Mr although dangerously ill, had spared kinweli no risk-or'effort to prevent his union-from being drawn into the gensral strike, in which he Bod been Buocesfnl. There were other men—men such an Mr Brownhe, Mr J. H. Thomas, and Mr F. Hodgea--who stood out prominently and sanely in Labour disputes... If the workmen of the country would be guided by such leaders there would be a prospect of peace in industry forjnany years. A few hare-brained, roisguidecl beings were out to destroy the fabrio of society. They would igndminiouely fail. I* was prophesied that the P. and O. Company would be badly hit in a few years' time by aeroplanes and airships. Ho did not believe ft; even if Empire airways" became a commercial proposition, which he greatly doubted, the P. and O. would hold its own for many a long day.

A. Sanguine Mori. Lord Inchcape .said he noticed thai aomeone Wno, ao far as be knew,.had no experience of dripping, proposed to atariii company -with a capital of eleven millions to run seven 32-knot ships.to India, Ceylon, and Australia. The promoter.waa a, sanguine man. Steamers had a way of going out of commission; accidents happened; overhauls involving a lay-up of weeks or months were essential, and in * regular mail service stand-by ships were necessary. To provide 5 per cant, for depreciation and 5 pet cent, interest .on capital would demand a revenue of £1,100,000 a- year. Ho had better put his money into War Loan, which would give him an assured £560,000 a. year; his shareholders would never get as much out of the proposed venture. The P. and O. Co., with 400 ships, and a capital of less than seven millions, found it dimcult to provide £500,000 a year to pay its dividends. If the P. and O. and Orient companies, with their experience of the trade, had seen their way to cover expenses and a decent margin they would have gone in for a 22-knot service long ago. The Buss Canal. Speaking for the P. and O. group, the largeet contributors to the revenue of the Sues Canal Company, Lord Inchcape paid tribute fo the courtesy and ready assistance extended by the Oanal Company's capable officials to the owners and masters of all vessels passing through that great waterway. The transit of the Canal had been shortened, its depth increased; the pilot service was excellent, accidents negligible, and everything done to give vessels expedition. Their mail steamers bad run with fair punctuality throughout the year. One late arrival was due to a breakdown of the mail train in' France and to inferior foreign coal. The Tear's Work. Together with their allies, they bad had 433 steamers in. commission. lhiring the year these ships hsd traversed 17,000,000 miles of ocean, made 80,000 port entries, carried 16,000.000 tons of cargo, 350,000 smmsU and over 2,250,000 passengers. The average daily number.of their ships' companies was about 40,000, and the daily expenditure for wages and victualling of their crews was £15,000. It would be difficult to estimate the number of outside men to whom also these_ ships gave employment. To ■ earn sufficient to cover, the vast expenditure and to provide for depreciation and dividend wis an anxious task in these times. They had, moreover, to meet the competition of foreign vessels, manned at 'ower wages tosn those in British ships. So far as he vu aware, the allied fleets had carried their 2250,000 passengers without the loss of a. single life, yet certain official* were pressing new and costly regulations, which it was considered by the Chamber of Shipping would be of no practical utility. The cost of compliance with these regulations would eventually have to b» borne by the public, ani, in m» opinion,