COMMERCIAL

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 79, 27 December 1928, Page 12

COMMERCIAL

AUCTION SALES TO-DAY. 154 Featherston Street, 2.30 p.m.—Sale of property, Nikau Street (J. H. Bethune and Co.) Raumati Beach, Paraparaumu, 2 p.m. — Sale of sites (S. G. Nathan and Co.) NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE EXHIBITION IN LIVERPOOL

One of the first duties of the new Lord Mayor of Liverpool (Aiderman Miller) was to open a fortnight’s exhibition of New Zealand dairy produce, so that Liverpool might better appreciate the qualities o£ Dominion produce. “When Sir James Parr, the New Zealand High Commissioner, was here recently, he said Liverpool was splendidly ■ suited for supplying 20,000,000 people in the Midlands,” he stated, “but I don t think the overseas people quite appreciate the advantages that would be gained by making more use of Liverpool as a distributing centre. We have the accommodation. Nor do I think the citizens realise what they are doing when they give foreign goods preference over the goods of our own kith and kin. If they would only insist on procuring Dominion goods it would not be long before a direct shipping line between here and New Zealand would prove a. paying proposition.” Mr. L. A. P. Warner, general manager of the Dock Board, also referred to the question of direct shipments. He said the board had been trying hard for the last six years to get them. The Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress were welcomed by Mr. Alexander McFettrick, president of the Liverpool Produce Exchange, who said New Zealand’s prosperity was linked up with Liverpool’s. The exhibition, which was a direct sequel to Sir James Parr’s visit, was organised by the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board. It gave the Liverpool public a chance to sample New Zealand butter and cheese and to see the hygienic manufacturing methods of New Zealand dairies. WHAT ARE NET PROFITS? The term “net profits” has received judicial consideration on several occasions, and decided cases show how it may be used in relation to the various legal categories such as contracts, statutes, partnerships, companies, etc. In nearly all of them a definition is attempted, but it has been found in the next case that general terms do not fit, and that adjustments have to be made to suit special circumstances. The “Accountant” in discussing the varied interpretations, points out that the net profits of a company were described in one case as “the sum divisible after discharging or making provision for every outgoing item chargeable against the period for which profits are to be calculated." In another case the articles of a company provided a percentage to directors on the net profit of each year, and here the term was held to mean the profits made by the company as a going concern, but did not comprise a profit made by the sale, of the whole undertaking and assets. In still another case commission on not profits of stated contracts was construed to mean such profits as arose on each contract, minus only the expenses thereon, without deducting anything for general management expenses. A recent decision of the Privy Council gave clear authority for the rule that a different meaning may be assigned to the same word or phrase even though occurring in the same deed. This was in a case where a partnership deed provided in two of its clauses for an annual salary to each of two partners and for division between them of the net profits of the business. A later clause provided that if either partner should die the surviving partner should pay to the representatives of the deceased for each of the succeeding five years one-third of the net annual profits. It was held that the net annual profits for the purposes of the latter clause should be calculated without deducting the salary provided for the surviving partner in the earlier clause. The term, it was found, had a different application in each clause. One contemplated a continuing partnership in which salaries to partners were quite appropriate,. the other a dissolved partnership carried on by the surviving partner for his sole benefit. ADJUSTMENT OF FREIGHTS British shipowners are said to be considering the question of an. adjustment of freights on Australian iirodueo because of tile high port charges in Australia, and, this is causing concern to the primary producers. Any addition to the cost of transport means a deduction from their earnings, and therefore they would be vitally concerned if any action were taken by shipowners to protect themselves against costs in Australia. In the official organ of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce it is admitted that Sydney is prob--ably one of the dearest ports in Australia for ships arriving from oversea. The charges collected by the New South Wales Government from oversea shipping companies whose vessels load at Sydney include income tax as levied by Federal and State authorities, and lighting and other port charges. Those, the chamber states, are excessive, compared with those In force in the ports of other countries. What assists in stimulating dissatisfaction among shipowners at the state of affairs in Australia is the frequency of labour troubles on the waterside. The position in this respect is so serious that owners of cargoes of wheat are receiving about lid. a bushel less than would be the case-lf charges were made on the basis of port charges in other countries which export wheat. The view of the chamber is that any port authority has to keep its rate as low as possibleany amount collected beyond what is absolutely necessary, for the maintenance of port facilities, and the provision for future extensions is a direct tax on industrv of the country?"’ “ b " r<3Cn ° n th<S