BIG PROFITS

Hokitika Guardian, 5 November 1936, Page 5

BIG PROFITS

COLONIAL SUGAR COMPANY. YEAR REVIEWED BY CHAIRMAN* - (Australian' Press Association). , /SYDNEY, November ,4. The Colonial Sugar Company’s profits for the half year : ended September 30, • amounted to which ,is added a balance of the profit and loss account, as on March 31, /of :£3£>9,727,

making a total of £859,146. The. Board .•> 'is paying-, divideritls >:of 12s '6d. per share, absorbing £365,625,. and is placing to the Reserve Fund •' thus leaving to The credit of the profit and loss. account £393,521. ' ; In moving the 'adoption! of the, halfyearly! report, 1 the chairman, “Mr E. R„ Knox, said - that, despite .a dry winter in Queensland and New South r „ 4 the Australian cape cfops will' be- a record- reaching i five' and a half lioif cbli&nt be; as high as usual, tut the heavy crops should • produce; 754,000. tons of raw sugar. . • , ( % ’ ■*. . The. company, he said, also would handle a' record' Fiji: crop, which; should _ yield 150,000 tons of raw'. sugar. The company was establishing: an agricultural farm for Fiji youths, which, in time, would have" a;;strong, influence, in. maintaining stability'in the colony. It also was intended to develop a pineapple industry in Fiji on lands that are unsuitable for cane. . Market prospects for good canned pines seemed assured in the United Kingdom and Canada. The company would thus . enter into the canning business with confidence, but its pro- f. duction would not begin before 1935. The chairman added that,the world’s sugar price level was still .very low, although the world stocks were con- . sideraßly reduced: r The report was adopted. Mr Knox, referring to the surplus of sugar in the world, said conditions abroad naturally had their local repercushions, and his company,;had thus: ; been forced to sell its expbrtable, s«f- ;v, plus on a saturated market. For this 1 < reason it became necessary fpr. the. _ Australian industry, to curtail .its production. ,’ v , ■ l: : i-MU K ‘lt is a paradox to 'have to adm that further production danger tO;, the sugar industry;’ ’ Tv • >-.