COLONIAL SUGAR COMPANY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 31, 31 October 1929, Page 11

COLONIAL SUGAR COMPANY

REPORT FOR HALF-YEAR

LOSS OF PREFERENCE A SERIOUS THING (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Rec. October 30, 11 p.m.) Sydney, October 30. The half-yearly report of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, Limited, Issued to-day, revealed that the sum earned from trading and Investments during the last half-year amounted to £465,493, of which the sum of £265,747 was made from the Australian mills and refineries, and the remainder £199,746, from New Zealand and Fiji. The latter sum is not subject to Federal income tax. The board proposes to pay a dividend of twenty shillings and a bonus of five shillings per share, which will absorb £365,625. The amount left to credit of profit and loss account is £410,776. The report states that there has been no increase in the consumption of sugar, either in Australia or New Zealand. The total output of sugar for the six months is about 600,000 tons. The prospects for the 1930 crop are not so far favourable. The report adds: “Presumably no action will be taken in England concerning the proposed abolition of sugar duties until the whole question is fully considered, but the loss of preference allowance would be a serious thing for the sugar-producers of Australia, while any alteration in Canada similar to that suggested in Britain would be sorely felt in Fiji.”