HARBOUR FINANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19953, 23 May 1928, Page 13

HARBOUR FINANCE.

♦ LARGE SURPLUS OF ASSETS. REVENUE FOR LAST YEAR. WRITING-DOWN OF PLANT. A balance-sheet showing a surplus of £2,217,438 of assets over liabilities was presented to the Auckland Harbour Board at its annual meeting yesterday, when the accounts for the year ended September 30 last were adopted. The acting-chairman, Mr. M. H. Wvnyard, said the board's progress was manifested by the fact that whereas in 1894 the year of the application of the doubleentry system of book-keeping to the accounts, the assets showed a total of £676,100 and a surplus of £308,900, the balance-sheet total for the past year in the consolidated Waitemata and Manukau Harbours accounts was £5,027,300, with a surplus of £2,217,438 of assets over liabilities. The amount of the surplus was more impressive when it was remembered the plant had been well written down, including the sum of £32,893 on account of the sheeriegs at Calliope Dock, which had been discarded by the Admiralty and wera unsaleable. Expenditure of Loan Money. Attention was directed by Mr. Wynyard to tho statement in the accounts concerning the £1,000,000 loan raised under the empowering Act of 1919, which had been spent.. The principal items of expenditure from the loan were the eastern reclamation No. 1, £128,430, and No. 2, £56,582; the eastern tide deflector. £71,787; roading of Freeman's Bay reclamation, £38.603; Frince's Wharf and equipment, £580,601; Onehunga Wharf and equipment, £71,000; and loan flotation expenses, discounts, premiums, and exchange, £49,153. Loan works under the authority of the Act of 1924 had been proceeded with during the year, a sum of £97,512 being represented by new construction. A great saving of interest had been effected by making very large advances from the general account to the loan account, and the amount of tho debenture issue had thus been considerably reduced. On September 30 the loan indebtedness amounted to £2,837,600, but of this £IOO,OOO had been redeemed on- January 10 of this year. New loans to date brought the board's indebtedness to £2,875,000. Sinking funds at January 11, 1928, amounted to £448.700. Addition to Sinking Funds, The revenue account revealed a very satisfactory position. The operations in' Waitemata Harbour yielded a gross revenue of £385,925, which, after providing for general expenditure, £i298,022, and depreciation, £51,624, allowed the transfer of £56,278 to tho credit of the appropriation account. Sinking fund and insurance reserve, intended to render the board's position thoroughly stable, absorbed £39,205, and there then remained the gratifying surplus of £17.074. The position in regard tr. Manukau Harbour was somewhat different. The revenue of £7483 was insufficient by £3307 to meet the full requirement. The consolidated revenue account, however, still showed a surplus on the year's working of £13,866. The insurance reserve funds totalled £59.250, and, in addition, there was the special reserve fund in respect of Cal : liope dock equipment, which amounted to £27.392. The superannuation fund was in credit to the amount of £33,898, and the Government actuary had reported the fund was thoroughly sound. The number of employjes contributing was 121 at the close of the financial year. Mr. T. B. Clay congratulated the actingchairman on the concise manner in which he had set out the board's financial position, which he considered to be very satisfactory The Hon E. W. Alison said the report was most pleasing. Tho board was to be congratulated on bping in such a sound financial position. It was very gratifying to find the policy pursued during the year had been not only progressive but had also been carried out on sound and prudent lines. With a view to strengthening the sinking funds of the board's loans, it was decided to make provision for the payment to the funds of an additional £SOOO on January 10 of next year, and to arrange that all future loans, where practicable, shall be for terms of 30 years, with a sinking fund of 1£ per cent, per annum. It was stated the loans were now for varying periods, and that in the majority of cases the sinking fund was only 1 per cent.