WESTPORT COAL COMPANY.

Evening Star, Issue 7843, 26 February 1889, Page 2

WESTPORT COAL COMPANY.

The annual meeting held at three o'clock this afternoon was attended by upwards of thirty shareholders. The Hon H. J. Miller (chairman of directors) presided. The annual report has already been published in our columns. THE CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS. The Chairman said: Before moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, I will go briefly through the accounts, and make a* few necessary explanations. Preferring to the balance-sheet, you will see that, setting aside the debentures which are specially allocated to certain purchases, as I fully explained to you at the last meeting, the liabilities on loans and current accounts are L 28.495 Bs. Against these there are floating assets on open accounts, bills receivable, and calls due L 22.876 4s lOd, which are quite good, and a considerable portion of these has since been paid. The asset of works, leases, and plant has been considerably increased since last year, for we have practically opened out a new colliery in the Coalbrookdale field, across the south branch of the Waimangaroa River, We have duplicated some of our plant in case of accident, and have erected a new su.ithy with steam hammer and all the latest appliances, by which the cost of our work will be considerably reduced. The profit and loss account, I am glad to say, shows a decided improvement on that of last year. There is a saving in the cost of management. Kates and taxes are very heavy, but this item is unfortunately not under our control. If you refer' for a moment to the 1887 accounts, you will see that, disregarding the balance from the previous year and calls paid on forfeited shares—an exceptional item—the actual profit on the year's work was only L 4.105 4s 2d, while the profit for the present year is L 17,008 3s Bd—a substantial increase. This result would have been still better but for the difficulties which arose in completing the new haulage system, and which prevented us from making any profit during the first three months of the year. We propose to pay a dividend this time of 5 per cent, for the year, which will absorb L 10.395 18s, to write off L 3.562 153 7d as depreciation on plant, etc., and to | carry forward the balance of L 6.538 Os Id to next year's account. This depreciation is on the Westport property alone—the Grey Valley Company's property having been depreciated before a division of profits was made, and our share of the net profit only is included in our profit and loss account. The report explains the arrangement made with the Grey Valley Company. We hold half interest in that company, and I am glad to be able to report that the expectations of the directors of improving the position of your Greymouth property by this step have been realised. The output at Westport for 1888 was 130,000 tons, an increase of 14,000 tons on that of the previous year. This can scarcely be looked upon as a fair year's work, for, although the demand during the Neweastle strike was large, it did not make up to us for the loss of trade which we suffered during the early part of the year while the alteration? to the haulage were being made. I am happy to say the haulage system is now in excellent order, and fully answers the expectations of our engineer. For the present year we hope to do a larger trade, as we have had a good start, the January output being 14,600 tons. The improvement in the Westport Harbor is most satisfactory. During the year the increase in the depth of water on the bar has been fully 7ft, and the mean average depth is now upwards of 19ft. If the improvement continues, we may soon hope to see the beginning of a foreign export trade. The two China steamers coming here last season took return cargoes of oar coal, and there is reason to believe that a regular line between the two countries is in contemplation so soon as we can load the steamers at Westport. We have coaled Her Majesty's warships I while they have been in New Zealand waters, and the authorities are so well pleased with the quality of the coal that inquiries are now being made with a view to its use on the China station. You will have seen from the papers recently that Admiral Fairfax has visited Westport, and considers that some of the ships of the fleet could already load there. I think I may fairly congratulate you on the improvement of the past year, and I hope that next year we may be able to meet you with still better results. I now move the adoption of the report and balance-sheet. I might mention, by the way, that it is the intention of the directors to endeavor to have the annual meeting at an earlier date next year. I believe that will be arranged. The Hon. Captain Fraser seconded the motion. Mr W. D. Stewart, M.H.R., said that, considering the history of the company, the past year's operations were very satisfactory, and he thought the management would give satisfaction to the shareholders, especially as the prospects were somewhat better than they were twelve months ago. The motion was agreed to. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. The Chairman : The next matter that I have to bring before the meeting is the election of directors. Messrs E. B. Cavgill and Maurice Joel retire, and they otTer themselves for reelection. On the motion of Mr Fish, M.H.R., seconded by Mr Hislop, it was resolved that Messrs Cargill and Joel be re-elected directors. The re-election of the retiring auditors— Messrs Brodrick and Hislop—was also assented to. Mr Fish would like to say one word before the meeting dispersed, and it was this : while the directors were to be congratulated on the result of their labors and on the satisfactory balance-sheet that bad been presented, it struck him as being somewhat singular that the publication of the directors' report had been followed by a gradual fall on the market in the price of the company's shares. He wanted to know whether there was any fact known to the directors and undisclosed that had occasioned such a result: whether, in short, the balance-sheet contained a real and honest statement of the affairs of the company, or whether there was anything in the knowledge of the directors which would justify the extraordinary state of affairs to which he had alluded. The Chairman : In answer to that question I beg to say that there is nothing whatever within my knowledge, and I believe I may say within the knowledge of any one af the directors to account for this depreciation in the value of our shares.—(Mr Fish : "Hear.,,) It is one of those extraordinary results which occasionally occur with respect So the share market probably some inancial operations which are unknown to is. Mr James Smith inquired whether the lirectors contemplated paying a half-yearly lividend. The Chairman : The directors will use svery effort to pay an interim dividend if ihe circumstances justify their so doing. Jut Mr Smith, of course, will understand hat nobody can make any distinct promise m a matter of that kind. The Hon. R. Oliver said, with respect to ] chat had fallen from Mr Fish, that he and lis co-directors had no duty cast on them i o watch the fluctuations of the price ' f shares on the market, but simply to •

return as good dividends as possible. He had been connected with the Westport Coal Company for eighteen years, and during the whole of that time he had never sold any shares, but had added to the number, and he believed that the same thing could be said for the other directors. He could only attribute the fact mentioned to some effort on the part of a share speculator to rig the market. There was nothing to warrant any depreciation, but rather an appreciation. There was every reason why shareholders should take a hopeful view of the company's property, and, in his opinion, at the end of another twelve months—unless some extraordinary or unforeseen circumstance intervened to interfere with the working of the mine—the directors would be in even a better position to face the shareholders than they were that day. AN UNFOUNDED REPORT. Mr Munro wanted to know whether there was any truth in the report flying about lately as to the property being about to be sold to a foreign syndicate. Was the report true, or was it a " get-up " by the man in the street ? The Chairman : I have never heard the report here. It came from Greymouth, I understand ; but 1 have no knowledge whatever of any sale to a foreign syndicate. There is nothing that I know of that could justify even the rumor. WESTPORT HARBOR WORKS. Mr Smith said that he wished to know, if it was wit!) in the chairman's province to give the information, what probable time could be assigned for the completion of the harbor works now in progress. The Chairman replied that the western wall had been carried out 3,454 ft, and there were now 726 ft of the wall to complete. Of course, he did not know how long it was likely to take to finish that wall. Of the eastern wall 1,882 ft had been completed, leaving 3,937 ft to finish. He presumed that the remaining 726 ft of the western wall—the more important wall of the two—would take a very considerable time to finish, as they were sow getting into very deep water. Great expedition had been shown with the construction of both walls, and, so far as the work had gone, it could be pronounced a complete success. complimentary. Mr Fish did not think that the meeting should separate without passing a vote of thanks to the directors, and especially to the managing director, the engineer, and the officers of the company. The results attained during the year had been such that every shareholder had a right to congratulate himself upon.—(Hear.) The Chairman said that it devolved upon him to reply to the motion, and he wished, on behalf of the directors, to say that the officers of the company were deserving of the thanks of the shareholders. He would go further, and say that the company was extremely fortunate in its officers. Mr Fish was quite right in his remarks, especially with respect to the secretary, the engineer, and the other officers of the, company. Everyone knew that Mr Joachim had an arduous duty to perform, and that his field of operations was very extensive and entailed a great deal of hard work. The engineer, during the first three months of the year, had had to solve a problem, and had succeeded where & great many men of less perseverance and less ingenuity would have failed. Mr Waters had succeeded in overcoming nil difficulties. So far as the question of the clip was concerned, the directors had had an anxious time for three months, but Mr Waters had come out of his task triumphant. With regard to the other officers the company has in its service, he believed that they were some of the best men that could possibly be found in the colony. Mr Joachim, manager, replied on behalf of the staff, and thanked the meeting for the kind expressions that had been given utterance to. He wished to say that every member of the staff took as much interest in the affairs of the company as if they had been his own. The chief management had been at Westport, and the thanks were more due to Mr Waters, mine manager, and to the staff round there.