NEW ZEALAND LOAN AND MERCANTILE AGENCY CO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9116, 26 July 1888, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND LOAN AND MERCANTILE AGENCY CO.

ANNUAL LOCAL MEETING.

The annual local meeting of shareholders of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company was held at noon yesterday, at the Company's offices, Queenstreet. Dr. J. L. Campbell (Chairman of Local Directors), presided, and amongst others present were Messrs. D. L. Murdoch, Sir William Fox, A K. Taylor, J. C. Firth, S. Vickers, G. B. Owen, W. Aitken, A. Boardman, W. I. Taylor, J. Leighton, G. P. Pierce, and a number of other shareholders. Mr. F. Battlby, Inspector, read the advertisement convening the meeting, also the minutes of the last annual meeting, which were confirmed. Printed copies of the report of the 23rd annual meeting of shareholders, held at 1, Queen Victoria-street, Mansion House, London, E.C., on the 3rd of February, were in the hands of the shareholders.

THE CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS.

The Chairman then addressed the meeting as follows :Gentlemen,You have been placed in possession of the twenty-third annual report and balance-sheet of the com- , pany's affairs to the end of 1887, together with , the proceedings of the meeting held at the London head office on the 13th of April, confirming the increase of the company s capital ' by £1,000,000, of which £500,000 wfcs issued, ■ and I am pleased to be able to inform you the whole half-million has been subscribed for. [ It must have been very gratifying to shareholders that the London Board was not only in a position to declare the now long-accus-tomed dividend and bonus yielding a 15 per cent, return, but also able to carry forward ' the substantial balance of £15,300, and further, that the chairman in his address was able to speak in such confident terms as i to the future good prospects of the com- ! pany. You are aware, of course, that it is l the reports received from this office upon which are based such hopes of the future, 1 and it will be a cause of gratification to you to be informed that the advices which have ' been received from all th company's agencies, both in this and the sister colonies, are with- ' out exception of a character, which will 1 enable the London Board to confirm its forecast of a prosperous and increasing business ; for the half-year now j ust ended. The reports from Australia are especially encouraging as j to our business, both in the increase of local sales of wool and other produce, as well as the increasing amount of our exports., The wool clip of the season is expected to be a most excellent one. _ The great influx of home capital now seeking investment there has had a marked effect on the value and demand for station property. I beg • to refer you to the remarks of the London chairman, pointing out that the company's business now occupies the wider field of Australia in addition to New Zealand, indeed some 60 per cent, of its capital is now employed there, and quoting his. words, " in that extended area our mercantile business has rapidly become the largest part of - our operations.' Since I last addressed you, two seats at this Board became vacant by the deaths of Mr. Williamson and Mr. Browning—the former an original director since the first formation of the Company, the latter holding a seat for very many years. Their co-directors have just cause to regret that such matured business experience nas been lost at the counsels of the Board. The first vacancy thus arising was filled by the appointment of Mr. Allen Kerr Taylor, but the other remains open, pending communications from London as ,to what are the intentions of the head office as to the permanent constitution of the local directorate. WHAT THE COUNTRY'S PROSPERITY DEPENDS ON. It might perhaps be Considered out of place that from this chair I should enter upon any of the controverted political topics now agitating the colony, and which are being so keenly discussed in every settlement. But inasmuch as the prosperity of this company may be said to depend wholly on the agricultural and pastoral interests of the colony, I may be permitted to make one or two remarks bearing on the question. The retrenchment tocsin resounds aloud throughout the land, deafening the ear and obscuring the judgment but beyond doubt good work is Being done in that direction. But, gentlemen, it is not by retrenchment alone that true prosperity can be brought back to the colony, and I think I am justified in saying that as yet the Government has made no movement nor shown any sign of grappling with the difficulty, and seizing the only remedy which can bring us permanent relief. , The one and only remedy is the extended occupation of the soil by placing practical farmers on our country lands,; by a system of assisted immigration and money being advanced, as now m operation in America and Canada. Railway log-rolling, Opening up-country of the same description as we already have millions of acres opened up and available for settlement, is simply a criminal waste of money, only adding to our existing burthen of indebtedness, and not yielding any return to relieve us from it. That money expended in the manner I have named would speedily change the whole aspect of the colony. We may retrench here a little, and there a great deal, but after all, the colony will only be a little less or a little more in debt, but it will have remained as to progress in statu quo, audit will not have advanced in material, prosperity, and I confidently assert that it cannot and won't advance until it has fallen back on the only true source of wealth to all nationsthat : which proceeds from the occupation and cultivation of the soil. We must have a greatly increased agricultural population we most assuredly will retrorade. There is now a great cry gone forth to native industries. Verily we are almost asked to believe that the establishment of a score or two factories is going to bring about such a great wave of prosperity that depression and hard times shall "know us no ■ more.' i No greater delusion than this can exist. Manufactures ! What are these compared to agriculture A mere drop in the bucket, as the following figures will prove. Those I have taken are not of very recent date, but that does not affect their application in the case in point. I am aware there has been a great shrinkage in the value of agricultural produce, but that will be found to be relative only in proportion to a like falling off in the value of- manufactures. Here is how the case stands upon instituting the comparison. I quote from a London journal: "The annual value of the agricultural produce of the- United Kingdom is about £300,000,000. . This is double the produce of her • looms, three times the produce of her forges, and four or five times a year's produce of her mines." , On analysing this, the following result is brought out • Looms, one-half .. .. £150,000,000 Forges, one-third . .1.. 100,000,000 Mines,, say .one-fourth ... .. ... • 75,000,000 Total value manufactured .. .. 325,000,000 Value agricultural products .. .. 300,000,000 Leaving those only ... .. .. .. £25,000,000 lest than all the manufactures put together. I have quoted these figures knowing that the general belief prevails that England owes her great wealth to her vast manufactures. But these figures prove that, after all, we must fall back upon our mother earth to yield us our great and abiding support and sustenance, for from her only our true and permanent prosperity can come. Such being the case, can there be any doubt as to the direction in which our statesmen ought to concentrate their, whole energies? Land without the yeoman's labour is, nothing worth," declared Cobden in years now long gone by — without his labour there can be no tillage, no enclosure of fields, no breeding of cattle, and land is no more than an equal number of acres of the sea or of the air." And this great truth New Zealand in the present crisis of her fate may well ponder over and lay to heart. (Applause). ELECTION OF DIRECTOR. The Chairman announced that Mr. G. B. Owen was the retiring director,bburt r being eligible,' he offered himself for re-election. On the motion of Sir Wm. Fox, seconded by Mr. Sims. Mr. G. B. Owen was re-elected director of the company. AUDITOR. On the motion of Mr. S. Vickers, seconded by Mr. Leighton, Mr. W. I. Taylor was reelected auditor for the ensuing year. FINANCE AND MERCANTILE BUSINESS. Before the rough minutes, were read Mr. Boardman said he ' would have liked to move a resolution, and make a few remarks. He would first read the resolution which he proposed to move. It was as follows:— •'That this meeting respectfully begs to tender its cordial thanks to the Right Hon. A. J. Mundella, M.P., chairman, for his . speech at the annual meeting of the company in London on the 3rd February last, 1 and at the special meeting on the 13th April ' last, and especially for his remarks on sound , finance, on increasing the mercantile business , of the company, ana those apparently indi- i eating a policy of contraction rather than ex- i pansion of loan on mortgage operations." | He knew that it was not usual at a meeting of shareholders to . move resolutions, the busi- 1 ness being usually cut and > dried, but he i thought as this was the only opportunity t they had of expressing an opinion, that it j should go forth as a representation of what 1 this meeting thought. He would make his • remarks as brief as possible. In his speech j 11 the 3rd of February, the Right Hon. A. ! J. Mundella said :— Although we can, and i ought to, put a limit to our loans on mort- < gage, we cannot so reasonably put a limit on our mercantile business. Already the volume of that business . ere and in the colonies reaches an annual total of nearly three ' millions sterling. We can conduct that ' business at present neither so efficiently 1 'Uor 60 economically as we ought, hi I

cause it absorbs more and more capital every year." In his speech on the 13th of April, the right lion, gentleman said that trading on borrowed capital was a mistake, and the object of increasing the capital of the company was that they might carry on more with their own capital. He gathered from the speeches at those meetings that the greatest profits were from the mercantile business, and that the directors would in future be more chary in lending on the security of land where there was the greater danger of losses. Another thing to which Mr. Mundella referred was as to the value of the company shares. He said the value of the shares in London, instead of being £4, should be £6 or £7 at least, and he believed increasing the capital of the company as proposed would tend to alter that. He (Mr. Boardman) thought that shares in the New Zealand market were also much lower than they ought to be. They paid £9 13s 7d per cent, on the present purchasing price of the shares. He noticed two banks—the National and the Colonial—whos« average rate of interest on the present price of shares was £6 10s per cent. Then again, he had taken five local insurance companies which at the present price of their stock gave an average of a little over 7 per cent., and he maintained there was no reason why, when they paid so large a per centage, their shares should be so much cheaper than those of the banks and companies he had mentioned. He left it to Mr. Mundella to deal with London, but what he wished to deal with was New Zealand. There was no doubt that the Bank of New Zealand catastrophe had depreciated the shares, the ! fall in the value of the bank shares within the last 18 months being equal to a loss to the shareholders of something like £700,000, and it was an inference that there was a feeling in the public mind that it might be that the management was not so sound as it ought to be, that too much had been lent upon landed security and property. He hoped the directors would consider the responsibility they owed to the large number of shareholders who put faith in them, and when they saw so . many other companies burst in which they had put faith, it was only right that they should say something in regard to their own property. He had lost money in other companies, and he did not want to lose in this. He felt certain that with thorough confidence the shares should be at £5 to £5 life, instead of their present price. If in order, : he would move the resolution, bo that it might co to the directors in London. ~. The Chairman said he considered the resolution in order, and if it was adopted, he should have great pleasure in forwarding it to the directors in London. Mr. N. Harker seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.

' ■ROUGH MINUTES. The rough minutes were then read and approved. • A vote of thanks was accorded to the Chairman, and the meeting then terminated.