ROSLYN AND KAIKORAI TRAMWAY COMPANY.

Evening Star, Issue 12763, 16 March 1906, Page 7

ROSLYN AND KAIKORAI TRAMWAY COMPANY.

■ Thd annual meeting of the above comply was hold at. the Council Chambers,. Roslyn, last evening. About fifty share - holders attended, and Air H. V. Haddock, chairman, of directors, presided; i ■ ; ; . The Cldurman, in moving tho adoption the report (-already published), saidi this Ayas the eleventh year of -their working, Wild he had to congratulate them on the ; maimer in which they had:been working, «Dd the excellent amount-of business that had been dona. There was no necessity for him to comment on the balance-sheet and report, the adoption of which he moved as read. Mr H. Jeromson seconded the motion, Mr B. Calverley, who had already shown signs of a desire to precipitate matters, rose to address the chair, but' Mr Alexander Sligo intercepted. He said the success, of the company justified the Chairman’s^remarks concerning it. The increase in the returns had not been great this year, but there bad! been an increase, add until there was an advance in the population, they could hardly expect a monetary increase by leaps and bounds. On the whole, however, there was good reason to say tho progress had been very satisfactory. • Ho felt sure that eliareholder3 generally would feel that. From Air Calverley’s eagerness ho judged that he had a grievance to ventilate. Well, he would have an opportunity of doing so. Ho himself was perfectly satisfied that the management had. ns in yeans past, given sjitisfnctloa generally.—(Applause.) At all events, the progross made warranted tho paying of the usual dividend. The two parties to be satisfied were the hill dwellers and the shareholders. The interests of these two did not exactly coincide, but tho directors of the company had to consider both sides. Tho company must bo kept on a solid basis, in the shareholders’ interests, and tho directorate had to sec that, cheap carriage was secured to tho residents who made uso of tho trams.—(Applause.) Air Calverley said he was sorry to find fault, being the oldest member of tho company, bait persons got up to talk who didn’t know what they were talking about The Chairman: Keep to tire question. Mr Calverley ; Ob. of course, if you don’t want it to come outThe Chairman: Keep to tire question Air Calverley said that tho management was not conducted as it ought to bo conducted. The work had been neglected. Besides, the management had carried people up and down on the. trams who did not pay anything. The Chairman; That is a q wot ion for tire directors in settle- If shareholders knew of such an arrangement, they should report it. Air Calver'ev; I siy Air Sligo has an 1 axe to grind. Air Sligo said he had merely spoken to tho question of the seconding of the motion for the adoption of the report. It was not tor him to go into details of people evading payment. For his own part, he did not ] think there had bren any Mich casern(Hear, hear.) If Air Calverley knew anything of tho hind he should not have waited fill the annual me ting to bring the matter up, hut should hare reported dt to tho directors immediately. and lot them investigate the matter."— (Hear, hear.) Air Calverley said he did report it. Ho knew of nine people who travelled on the trams and never pud any tiling.—(“ Oh!”) He was not going to bo mad© out a liar. Other people had seen persons travelling for nothing, if Air Sligo had not. Air Fea could bear out the speaker’s statement. Air W. E. AI. Fea said Air Sligo had mentioned Air Calverley's name an his remarks on the adoption, of the report, and he bad no right to have done so. Air Sligo had had no right to assume that Air Colvorlev bad a grievance. With regard to people travelling without paying, he would only say that Mr Calverley was quite right. Air Jeromson asked if it were nob a fact that the employees’ families had the privilege of travelling free. Tho Chairman ; Certainly not. Mr Jeromson said he knew that some members of Mr Hunters family bad travelled without paying. He called attention to thi? matter, and Mr Hunter and one of his sons came to his bouse and used strong language towards him. Conductors worked for the company, and got paid for their -work. Thev bad no right to travel free. The Chairman, thought this should all have been reported to the directors, and not held over till the annual meeting. Mr Hunter: Can I explain this? The Chairman did not think it necessary. If what had been said wore true, the matter would be inquired into very closely. Air Hunter said lie treated Air Calverley’s charge with contempt He admitted {Rat bo had told the conductors to take no notice of Mr Calverley. He denied that conductors’ families travelled free. His instructions were given to the staff as manager of the company. He did not consider either the shareholders or tho directors had any right to interfere with the men on the line. —(Hear, hear.) He would not tolerate that while he was manager, and when he could not insist on the observance of his authority he would ceaso to be manager.—(Applause.) He could prove that the fares to which Mr Calverley had referred had been piid. Mr Calverley interfered so much with the conductors that one day the cars had to be stopped. On that occasion lie (the speakerWnstrucfced the conductors that if Mr Calverley interfered again they were to order him off the cars. Mr Calverley said he wished to explain— The Chairman: I rule you out of order. Let us get on with the business. Air J. C. Wilson said it seemed from the - reading of the report that the company had been most successful during the year, always going one better. It seemed to him that they had a clear profit of over £2,0C0. Directors: No! No! Air Wilson said it appeared so to him, and he certainly considered they were able to declare a 10 per cent, dividend. The Chairman said there was a balance of about £7OO in hand from last year. When the present dividend was paid they would have about the same balance left. Air Wilson still thought they could afford to pay the 10 per cent, dividend, and then Lavo £I,OOO in hancL Altogether he must admit the position seemed very satisfactory, but ho felt ho must certainly refer to the extraordinary account for the maintenance of repairs (£1,182). It seemed to him, compared with former balance-sheets, to be exceptionally heavy. Of course, ho had no idea as to what had to be done on the lines. The Chairman said ho could not possibly sanction any increase of dividend. One thing which had not been taken into consideration was the depreciation in property and plant and road construction; That would have to be a matter to write off in a very short time. They must have a liquid asset. They never knew when they might have to meet claims over accident and so forth For his part, ho thought thev should have a liquid asset of at least £5,000 before any attempt was made to pay off the debentures. He would hot consent to an uhafease of dividends—not even to the paying of 6i per cent, instead of 6. Mr Sligo said the income for the year “ en £6,769 odd, and the expenditure 573 odd, leaving a difference of £1,415 j. ~ of that £720 would be paid in dividends, and £675 would be left over, leaving a balance somewhat less than last year. I he Chairman said, in reference to the heavy maintenance this year, that had been raosed by the trouble over the last rope, it had not turned out as well as it should have done, and it had put them to heavr eatpenec. Mr Sligo said they had had £250 less wear out of the rope thin they should have bad. Air Fea said the directors should not place ihemrolves in an antagonistic attitude Shareholders had a perfect right to ask questions on anything which seemed to them irregular. He did not agree with any suggestion to increase the dividend. They did not know’ what was ahead of them. To-day it was a property worth any man’s while investing in; he Would get far more money out 01 it than ho would by putting his money in a savings bank. He hoped the Uh6 would soph, be extended to Halfway

Bush. If this company did nothing in that matter, he felt sure another company yould-. pJ keing_ able to travel from the Octagon to the Kaikorai for 4d the shareholders were reaping what was really : a diYidend in itself. Regarding the managemeflt and' the servants of the company,"lre could 1 only say It. gave him very great pleasure to come into contact with them. They could not got a better class of men.—(Applause.) They were civil, ohligihg, ahd did their work well. He would like to impress upon all the shareholders the advisability of patting by a good nest egg to meet possible contingencies. For his part, ho would forego his dividend to see it realised. Air Washer (Mayor of Roslyn) asked if anything had been done about uniforms for the men. ' The Chairman said nothing had been done; When fhey came to go into calculations they could not see their way to spend £SO or £6O in 'tho providing of uniforms. Air Washer: What about other companies? The Chairman; Only the City Corporation provided uniforms—nono of the other companies did so. The men got paid wellwhy shouldn’t they provide their own uniforms? Air Washer asked if the men got a bonus? The> Chairman said only the gripsmon got, a bonus, if they did their Work without accident. They got £5 a year. Hr Washer: Don’t you think it wrong to irtike a distinction between the grvpmen and the conductors? The Chairman said the whole responsibility of the safety of the -public lay with the gripmen. Mr Washer: But the comfort of the puoiic is in the hands of the conductors.— (Hear, hear.) Tho Chairman : I think it is a matter vou may safely leave in the hands of the "direr tors. Air Washer: The directors don’t see their way clear to treat the servants equally? 'Hie Chairman: No! Air Washer: Then I would recommend tho matter to the consideration of the directors. In reference to the Halfway Bush , extension, he asked had anything been 1 clone. Hie Chairman said they had gone so far 1 as to get to know the cost of an Onler-in- I Council, and the probably cost of that j would be £llO, and the time required for the completion of the work would be about two sears, but, as far as he was concerned, ho would nut recommend carrying the lino up to Halfway Bush. That would kill tho present company entirely. Shareholders: No! No! The Chairman: I repeat it would. mi. r a ' <= .^ cr: I cannot agree with vou! The Chairman would go further. The passengers who would go to Halfway Bush would not pay for coal. If others chose to construct the line, as soon as it paid 5 . per cent., this company would take it over, 1 but they were not going to sacrifice the pre-rent shareholders. Air Washer: Is that the decision of the directors, or is it your own opinion.? Ihe Chairman: That is my opinion. The directors are here to speak for themselves. Afr A. Smith was in favor of it. Air E. Roberts said he could net support the proposal to make the extension. The new line over the Valley would certainly take some of their traffic. Before going to Halfway Bush the kinks would have to be taken out of the road. The great development going on with regard to motor ’buses rendered it inadvisable to extend the cable. A motor car might be tried. , If that would not pay, a cable tram never would. | Air Washer; Would you favor the putting i ou of a motor ’bus? a The Chairman; Why should we put on a motor ’bus as a spec? Air Bunting said some of them took up their shares on the understanding that the line would be extended to Halfway Busin Air E. Sunderland: Would it not pay to have the debentures converted into 6 per cents.? The Chairman: The debentures have to be converted within two years. All that has been considered. Tho report and balance-sheet were adopted, Air Calverley dissenting. The retiring directors (Messrs Smith, Sligo, and Tilbnrn), and the retiring auditor (Air Peter Barr) were re-elected unopposed. I The Chairman of Directors (Air Haddock), j after tho meeting was over, requested us ' to state that, in reply to Air Jeromsbii’s question about the right to travel free, he overlooked for the moment tho fact that I passes were issued to the inspectors and others—seven in all—with the full knowledge and consent of the directors.