MOSGIEL WOOLLEN FACTORY COMPANY.

Evening Star, Issue 9542, 13 November 1894, Page 3

MOSGIEL WOOLLEN FACTORY COMPANY.

The twenty-first annual general meeting of this company was held this afternoon, and attended by about twenty-five shareholders, Mr John Roberts, chairman of directors, presiding. The Chairman said: I presume, gentlemen, that you will take the report as read. We meet on this occasion after having completed twentyone years of existence, and it is a very great pleasure, indeed, to be able to congratulate shareholders upon having during all these long years enjoyed all the time a very fair amount of j prosperity. Ours was one of the first mills to start in' the colony, and it is not a little pleasing to those of us who have been connected with the institution since the beginning to find that we have completed ouv twenty-one years, having enjoyed all that time an amount of prosperity which we think we can fairly say has been well deserved, as we have been endeavoring during all our existence to cater to public needs to the best of our abihtj. Proceeding, the chairman said it was satisfactory to be able to record that during the twentyone years their average dividend had been within a fraction of 8* per cent., and he could only express the hope that during subsequent yearn-possibly during the next twenty-one vears-they would enjoy an equal amount of prosperity. Last year when they met he had to point out very plainly to the shareholders that they were at that time existing under a dull state of affairs in trade, and he regretted that he was not on this occasion able to tay that that dulness and want of trade had been removed. Indeed, during the past year the struggle for < xUtence, so to speak, had been somewhat keener than it was during the previous year, and, he might say. keener than they had ever before experienced in the history of the company, with the exception of the second and thiruyears of their existence. It wa3 difficult to know whether there was going to be any immediate revival in trade. Personally, he wa< not disposed to think the revival would come in leaps and bounds. There were many causes ascribed by writers in the colony for the present state of affairs, but as far as he could see there was only one cause, and that was that the occupiers of "the soil—the grain growers and the wool growers—were obliged to produce their products at prices which were barely sufficient to pay the actual labor of production. So long as that state of affairs continued he did not think they need hope for any revival in trade in the company's line or in any other line in tho colony, and they must look for a substantial rise in the value of products before they could hope for any material improvement in the general trade of the colony. As was kDown to shareholders, the mills had been running during the past year somewhat intermittently. At Mo3giel the mill ran full time <luring the beginning of November ; after that, until early in May, it ran short hours, and since May full time had been restored. At Ashburton the mill had been working halftime for the whole year, or perhaps a little more than half - time twenty - eight hours a week. Since the beginning of October the time had been increased to forty hours a week, and they hoped to be able to continue that time. At Kaikorai, as he intimated last year, they were at that time closed. They remained closed until the end of December, and since then twenty-eight hours a week, or what was commonly known as half-time, had been run, except in July, August, and September, when the carding and spinning machines were kept working the full forty-eight hours a week. The whole miU would be put on immediately to full time, as orders were in.hand to keep it going until at least the end of the year. The Kaikorai mill, as they knew, was a new item. Although they had prior to this been the tenants of the mill, this was the first time that the mill was the property of the company. The directors felt constrained to make the purchase at the extremely low price of £1,200 rather than allow an outsider to obtain at so small a cost what might in other hands have been a serious opposition to them. Divided mills might not be the best economy, but so far the directors did not see their way to concentrate all in Mosgiel. Referring to the balance - sheet. the chairman pointed out that the capital account, the reserve fund account, and the loans payable were standing at the same sums as thev were last year. Bills payable had been reduced by £2,600, but the bank account had been increased by about a similar amount, so j that the liability of the company under these two amounts was virtually the same as it was last year. Regarding the marine insurance f and, the speaker explained that last year they carried forward a balance to the credit of the fund of £616 13s Id. The fund had been steadily increasing, owim* to the immunity the company had been having from marine losses, and the directors thought it was quite unnecessary to go ou adding to that amount and keeping ■the reserve steadily increasing. They thought ■that in future it would be advisable to have a continuous* sum of say £SOO standing between the company end marine loss, and Mr Morrison, the manager, was of opinion that that •. would be ample to cover all risks. That course had, therefore, been decided upon. On the assets side the Mosgiel and Ashburton mills remained the same as last year, and the electric light, warehouse propertv, and land account were als-> the same. No depreciation had been written off the mills, and the directors regretted that the profit and loss account would not admit of it. The allowance, however, had been pretty full, and he hoped times would soon improve and so enable them to resume their •usual writing off in this respect. The book debts were only £SOO less than last year. Goods manufactured and in process and raw material appeared on the balance-sheet at £1,500 less than last year, and in this item of .£55,029 the goods manufactured were of £5,600 le3s value than a year ago, showing that the company had not been accumulating manufactured stock; so that, although the total amount under this heading was about the same as last year, there was a larger proportion of Taw material and . goods in process than on the previous occasion. As to the valuation for all these goods, he had jjersonally gone over the lists with Mr Morrison, and could vouch that all were taken at •moderate prices, which would always leave a substantial man-in for profit as between the raw material and goods in process and the manufactured article. Turning to the profit and loss account, working exp nses showed a reduction of £1,300 as compared with last year. This was accounted for by the very careful economy exercised at the mill, by making everything last as long as possible, tims avoiding renewals wherever this could be done, and bv keeping the-machinery maintenance charges at as fine a point as was consistent with efficiency. Salaries and charges showed a small diminution as compared with last year, and bad debts -figured at a very low sum considering the turnover of the company, these amountine-, as would be seen, to only £44 13s lid. ■The goods account, it would be noticed, showed a very considerable shrinkage as compared with iast year, showing no less than £5,138 lower iwofit than was apparent this time last year, -.resulting from curtailed output and smaller profit, but he ventured to think that in vhia respect they were no exception, and fared no worse than some of their rivals. In view of the somewhat lessened profit it wab .only to be expected the directors should take into their careful consideration what steps could be instituted by which economies could be effected. The directors had carefully consid«red the question, and after a close investigation of the whole position of the company, both in the mills and outside of them, they saw their way to effect considerable economies, the result of which would, he was sure, materially assist the profit and loss account next year. It was unnecessary for him to go into details; it was perhapa, also unnecessary for him to state wha«< the amount of the economies was, but they amounted to a very substantial sum. They were in many cases secured by substituting girls for women, boys for men, by amalgamating positions, and by actual reduction of remuneration in some cases. But in making these reductions the directors were endeavoring to act fairly to the employes of the company, and to see that they did not press too hardly on the people immediately effected ; and'the directors thought that, while asking their hands to submit to a fair reduction, 4hey would receive wages quite equal to what •was the usual wage given for such services rendered. The adoption of the report earned with it the declaration of a dividend at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum for the last half year, making, with the dividend declared at the first half, a dividend of 7 per eent. for the whole year. Mr A. J. Borns, in seconding the motion, •said with regard to the chairman's indication of .retrenchment that the directors had taken the tniative by docking their own charges to a very considerable amount. Tho Chairman observed that he had intended to tnake special mention of the fact that the directors fully recognised the loyalty of the employes in regard to the reductions referred to, and gladly acknowledged the way in which those on whom the retrenchment had already fallen had accepted the position. All who had been asked to share the reduction had met the demand of the directors in a loyal and cheerful Mr H F. HARDY drew attention to the fact that the directors had not lost right of the desirability of increasing the company s income. During the past few months Mr Morrison had been traversing Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland in the hope of obtaining fresh markets for the company a products. He (the speaker) believed that Mr Morrison had been fairly successful, and with the lessened import duty in Victoria and New South Wales the directors were in hope of doing better business there than had been done lately. Mr Hardy also drew attention to the small sum

set down for transfer fees-(The Ohaibman : "One guinea.")—as showing that the shareholders were anxious to retain their interest in the company, and when shares were offered they were generally taken by other sharehol,lerß' XL 11L V Mr Robert Watson was sure that the shareholders fully appreciated the efforts of the directors in these trying tiraea. Ho would, however, like to make a suggestion to the effect that in view of the lessened purchasing power of a large proportion of the public the company might try the experiment of making a secondclass article at a second-class price, and not confine themselves to the first-class goods. The Chairman said that the suggestion was one which the directors would, ho thought, be very loth to adopt. He presumed tliat if driven to it in the interests of*the shareholders they would do so, but in the meantime he could see no necessity for taking the course suggested. The company were finding an outlet for all the goods they made. The motion was put and carried without dissent.

Mr E. B. Cargill and Mr H. F. Hardy were re-elected without opposition to the directorate, and briefly returned thanks. Mr W. Hislop and Mr A. Bartleman were reappointed auditors at the usual remuneration.

Mr W. Stewart (Peninsula) proposed and Mr W, Melville seconded a vote of thanks to the directors and officers of the company, and also to the management and the employe's. The Chairman, in returning thanks on behalf of the directors, said that they were considerably exercised to keep things moviug, but felt assured of the support of the shareholders, and he could say that the directors would continue to endeavor to secure good results for the shareholders, while acting fairly towards the employes. » Mr J. H. Morrison acknowledged the vote on behalf of the staff. It had been a hard year for the workers, considering that during part of the period they had been working only half-time, and it had also been a hard year for the company. With regard to Mr Watson's remark, he (Mr Morrison) might state that as a matter of fact the company did not make only one quality of goods. They made stuff at all prices, but of good quality all the same, and some of the products were sold at prices at which he did not think they could be produced in England.