DOMINION RUBBER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 12

DOMINION RUBBER

"VERY DIFFICULT YEAR"

(By Telegraph.) (Special to the "Evening Post.") DUNEDIN, This Day,

"The year has been a very difficult one, for in addition to drastic reduction in exportable quota fixed by the* Rubber Restriction Committee, the price of rubber underwent severe fluctuations," said the chairman of directors of the Dominion Rubber Company at the 31st annual meeting of the company.

The fall" in net profit from £5691 to £524 was due to a variety of causes, the principal being the substantial reduction on the realised value of rubber produced, accounting for" something over £8000 in the gross revenue for the first quarter of the current year.

The Restriction Committee fixed the release at 50 per cent., but in view of the fact that the Malayan quota was exceeded by some 20,000 tons last year, the actual permissible export for the estate in Malaya was only 47£ per cent. "Until a substantial increase in the consumption of rubber takes place," said the chairman, "it is unlikely that any great increase in the quota will be allowed, and until that comes, with a corresponding increase in the value of the commodity, there is not much prospect of decent returns being obtained for shareholders. "No remittances were received from the estate during the year, as a result of which no credit was received for exchange. i "In spite of a substantial reduction J in the rubber account, the estate charges were reduced by only £ 1700,: largely due to the fact that the estate must be kept in first-class order, and cultivation costs are more or less fixed." The directors felt that, in view of the uncertain position of the rubber i industry, the whole of the balance in the appropriation account should be carried forward. #