COMPANY RESULTS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 37, 7 November 1933, Page 12

COMPANY RESULTS

Henry Jones Co-operative, Ltd. LOWER DIVIDEND At a meeting of the directors of Henry Jones Co-operative, Limited, held at. Melbourne on October 26, it was resolved, subject to audit, to recommend to the shareholders at the annual meeting of the company, to be held on November 22, the payment of a dividend at the rate of 3d per share on the paid-up capital of the company out of the current year’s income earned in Australia, and Gd per share out of income earned outside of Australia. The dividend will be payable on December 1. The transfer books of the company will be closed from November 13 to 21, both dates inclusive. The above dividend, together with the interim dividend of 6d per share paid in June last, makes a total dividend of 6J per cent, for the year, compared with Si per cent, last year. Rotoiti Timber Co. The annual meeting of shareholders of the Rotoiti Timber Company was held at Wellington yesterday morning, Mr. C. G. White presiding. The annual report and balance-sheet (already published) were adopted. A resolution was passed expressing regret at the death of Mr. J. Martin Hume, who had been a director of the company for a number of years, and appreciation of his services was recorded. Regret was also expressed at the resignation of Mr. Gerald Fitzgerald, who had been chairman of the company since its inception, and the meeting resolved to record its appreciation of his services. Mr. R. A. Wilson was re-elected a director, and Messrs. 11. Mainland and W Wackrow directors. The auditors. Messrs. Clarke, Menzies, Griffin, and Ross, were re-elected. Smith, Wylie (Austr.), Ltd. A petition which was received at the annual meeting of shareholders of Smith, Wylie (Australia), Ltd., held in Sydney on October 23, according to the “Sun,” requested the directors to declare a dividend. The chairman (Mr. H. L. Smith) stated, however, that the directors believed it to be in the best, interests of all concerned that no dividend be declared in respect of the year ended June 30 last. Accounts for that period showed net profit of £18,373, of which £6OOO was transferred to reserves, the balance, less a loss of £35 brought in, being carried forward.' ” The petition, the chairman said, was signed by seven New Zealand shareholders, who had asked that a dividend of at least 5 per cent, per annum be paid in January next. The year had been a difficult one for tlie company, he added. The character of the business had changed, and an-' other company, in which theirs was in* terested, was the centre of very keen competition. Notwithstanding the. difficulties which had had to be faced, he said, they had all been overcome. The board was confident that the outcome of the current year would be satisfactory for all. In the meantime the directors regretted that it was not possible to comply with the request of the petitioners, aiid make a cash distribution to shareholders. ' Tallow, Hemp, Eggs, etc. The Department of Agriculture has received the following cablegram, dated November 4, from the High Commissioner for New Zealand, London: —■ Tallow: Market firm. Spot quotations nominally unchanged. Hemp: Manila —Market quiet but steady, closing with sellers of “K” grade for November-January shipment £l4 10/-. Sisal —Market easier. No. 1 grade for January-March shipment sold down to £l6/7/6; and for March-May shipment £l6/17/6. Closing values for No-vember-January shipment £l6/5/.. New Zealand—Market unchanged. No firsthand sales reported. • Peas: Maples—Spot trade very quiet, hut forward position firmer. No. 1 New Zealand for November-December shipment valued at 43/-, Tasmanian 43/6. New crops: Tasmanian, for January-Feb-ruary shipment, 44/-. Blues, neglected. Beans: New Zealand —Value for No-vember-December shipment about 31/- to 32/-. Eggs: English, national pack, 20/- to 25/-; English, ordinary pack, 21/- to 23/-; Danish, 13/6 to 17/6; Australian, 11/6 to 13/3; New Zealand, 11/- to 13/-. BRITISH MERCHANT MARINE f' Menace of Foreign Subsidies Dealing with the menace to the British Empire of foreign subsidised shipping, Commander Rolleston, in a speech at a military parade at the Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Memorial Church at Clovelly, New South Wales, said that at the present time a war. which the navy could do nothing to influence, was being waged with money, by means of which a far too successful attack was being made on our merchant service. It took the form of heavy Government subsidies and cheap loans to foreign steamship lines. He did not propose to quote figures beyond saying that those subsidies were on a colossal scale, and even involved loans for shipbuilding purposes at a rate of interest as low as 5/per cent.—not 5 per cent., but a quarter of 1 per cent. Naturally, our rivals were able to launch better equipped ships and to spend huge sums on advertising, which, in the last analysis, was merely antiBritish propaganda. _ The steamship companies themselves did not have to earn the money to do that with; it was given to them. That form of war was regarded as perfectly legitimate, but that was no reason why Btitish people—he used the word “British” in its proper sense as covering nil citizens of the Empire—should assist this war against the Empire by patronising foreign shinping services. The result of that cbuld only be that the Red Ensign would gradually disappear; it was gradually disappearing, and when it had gone the British Empire would have gone, too. . , . Every British citizen who shipped his goods or travelled personally in a uonBritish ship was helping to sell the British Empire. He had been told that certain luxury liners that traded across the Pacific had hot and cold water laid ou to all cabins, aud that people therefore chose these ships even for the fourthly trip to New Zealand. To such people he said: “Are you going to sell the British Empire for a hot-water tap? Fourteen ‘thousand of the British merchant service lost their lives during the war. Are you going to sell their memories, too, for a hot-water tap—a luxury that many of you do not have in your own homes ashore.” He could not believe it.