COMMERCIAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 December 1934, Page 8

COMMERCIAL

! /old and exchange. [by CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, December 17. Gold 140/7, dollar 494 9-16, franc 75 1/16. DATES CONSIGNMENT. WELLINGTON, December 18. The Wanganella, due this evening, is bringing 800 tons of dates for the local market. ' STOCKS AND SHARES. AUCKLAND. December IS. Sales: Grand Junction 4/10; Northern Steam 6/10; Farmers’ Trading 7/-; Dominion Breweries 11/4; Commercial Bank 16/2; Taupiri Coal 17/6; Mount Morgan 36/-; Bank of New Zealand 48/11; South British 9G/6; Bank of New South Wales £3l/5/-; Rural Bonds £lO3/10./-; Mt. Roskill s§, £lO7. DUNEDIN, December 18. Sales: Reserve Bank £6 10/9 (two), D.I.C. pref 26/6. Reported: Golden Point Id. CHRISTCHURCH, December 18. ’Change: Westport-Stockton Coal (pref) 4/-; New Zealand Breweries 50/9 (4); Big River 1/11 (2); Mount Lyell 17/10; Skippers 7Jd (3). MINING TAXATION. A striking point in the balancesheet of the Okarito Company, said the chairman, at the annual meeting, was the large sum of £1442 which had been provided for income tax. Shareholders might wonder why the income tax was so much when the company’s earnings had been much less than formerly. They might not be aware that a mining company was taxed on a totally different basis from other companies in that its income was deemed to be half of the amount paid in dividends during the income tax year. Many people seemed to be under the misapprehension that a mining company received great concessions as regards income tax, but in the - long run a mining company was taxed on exactly the same basis as anyone else, and in the event of a mining company not being sufficiently successful to repay to shareholders in dividends twice the amount of the capital, it was taxed on what was really a return to shareholders of their original capital. The £1244 tax which the company had to nay in February, represented the income tax in respect to the dividends paid during the year ended March 31, 1934. In addition the company, from its reduced earnings, from which no dividend was paid, contributed £lOOO in . the year to the Government through the gold export tax.

OKARITO FIVE MILE BEACH. The sixth annual meeting of shareholders in the Okarito Five Mile Beach Gold Dredging Company was held in Dunedin. Mr J. E. Wheeler, chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, said that the practice of issuing accounts half-yearly did not give a clear indication of the results over the year as a whole. The company had always followed the practice of issuing a complete set of accounts and balance-sheet in respect of each six months,' as this was required under the old Companies Act. This obligation on mining companies had been removed in the new Act, and in future they iiroposed to issue only an annual statement of accounts and to make the company’s annual balance date June 30. The next balance-sheet df the company would therefore be issued about August, 1935, and the annual meeting be held in September, 1935. The profit and loss account for the year ended September, 1934, showed a deficit of £377, after writing off the capital expenditure incurred during the period. For the previous halfyear the balance of profit after writing off similar expenditure was £2738, so that the real result for the

• year ended September 30 was a profit ? of £2361 after writing off expendi--3 ture of a capital nature amounting to i £3450. The aggregate profit on 5 dredging for the year had therefore - been £5BlO, which was equivalent to 1 almost 17 per cent, on the capital of s the company. In other words, the s capital expenditure necessitated during the year had absorbed a 10 per , cent, dividend. , In the preceding years the expendi- : ture of a capital nature amounted to ’ just under £4OOO, so that to date the ) company had had to face a total outlay of £7500 outside of current dredg- ’ ing expenses. This seemed a large . sum, but it included the expenditure ■ on the main pipe line deviation and extension, new pelton wheels, new i pumps, shaking tables, new gold ■ saving tables, and other extensive al- , terations to the dredge. As a result of this expenditure the dredge was now operating efficiently in the heavy ground on tho claim, and was treating a much greater yardage. During the year the gold won had Loen much less than in either of the two preceding years during which the company had been in operation. In 1933 the total gold won was 39980 z, in 1932 it was 28510 z. and in the- first three months during which the dredge operated 1030 oz. The total for the year ended September 30, 1934, was 15500 z. The company had thus had the privilege this year of assisting other exporters to the extent of only £lOOO, this being the amount paid by the company in export gold tax. On the other hand, the price of gold had remained high during the period and had averaged about £7/5/- an ounce, after paying all charges. The company had substantial cash balances; in fact, more than sufficient to cover the payment of a 10 per cent, dividend. The directors were, however, reluctant to declare another dividend until the company was winning better returns than it was at. present. A few weeks ago there had been a steady improvement, but recently the returns had again declined. At tho end of September, 1934, the dredge had been operating 39 months. In that, period the gold won was 942.9 ounces, including 630 ounces from sluicing. The area dredged was 30 acres. The dredgeable area >of the claim was 158 acres, so this left 128 acres still to work. At present the dredge was . about one mile from the • southern boundary of the claim, and to reach this would take about three years. The dredge had then to work its way north, the full two miles and a half of the claim, say, another eight years. Of course, these figures were approximate, and the distance south would be determined by the results obtained.

Mi R. Lee said the cost of the new ladder would be about £5OO— that was excluding cartage. The retiring director (Mr G. W

Bowron) was re-elected. The directors’ remuneration was fixed at the same amount as was paid last year—£27s. C.F.M. AND D.P. CO. CHRISTCHURCH, December 17. The annual meeting of the Canterbury Frozen Meat and Dairy Produce Export Coy. was held, to-day, Mr. John Deans, Chairman of the Directors, presiding. In terms of the directors’ recommendation a dividend of 5 per cent, on preference and 7 per cent, on ordinary shares was approved. The report of the directors showed a profit for the year of £4,771/6/6. “We are very pleased to be able to place before you such a satisfactory balance-sheet,” said the Chairman. “This is largely due to the belated returns from last year’s operations, and we cannot look forward to the same assistance for the current year.” The market prospects, he added, were not nearly so favourable as at this time last year. The Government had recently, by a special Act, taken very extensive powers over the conduct of the meat industry. These powers, if exercised with discretion and with due regard to all aspects of the problems which may arise, would probably be of benefit to the meat business as a whole. The directors had every confidence that the powers would be so used.

The following resolution was carried:—That it be a. recommendation to the incoming directorate to place before the company’s next annual meeting a proposal to vote to the preference shareholders, such bonus as will restore to them all the reductioirs in their dividends caused by the National Expenditure Adjustment Act. The Chairman said the directors viewed the proposal with sympathy, and the money was there to carry it out.