NELSON BROTHER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6488, 7 April 1908, Page 7

NELSON BROTHER

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

T,ONPON. February Mi. Providing n’t the twenty-fourth ordra* nrv general meeting of Nelson Bros., Ltd.. Sir E. Montague Ndsnn (cmnirman and managing director) stated that the net profit for the year amounted Ho ’£18.547. 'showing an increase of., J5'4,812, which he thought the tharoholders would regard as satisfactory. At r)io end of IUO6 and in the early part of 1907 tlio ftockß of New Zealand ; meat were low, and there won a gool deal .of speculation, prices _ rising to a i very unusual figure; but tin’s year thero . had bojn no such excitement. Pi’ices h (I not gone up;' indeed, they were fully Id a pound less than .they wero a year ago, representing a considerable amount on the large stocks .of frozen neut hold. Since their meeting a year.,' ago there had been a considerable ugita- - tion in some of tho London newspapers with respect to tho moat trust. Ho did not* • say that it would bo a good thing to imnoso n duty, but it Boomed to him ; that that was tho only way in which they could control or do anything with ' a foreign trade which obtained such a hold on tho trade of this country os thov American meat trust had secured, not ; only in respect to importing, but also in distributing the meat. At their last ; meeting he stated that 1,000,000 lons of meat were imported into the' United i i Kingdom in the previous year, and that, > out of that quantity only 25 per cent. ’ came from British possessions, white. 75 Eer cent, oamo from foreign countries.:'; .o thought it must appear to the ordinary observer that if anything, could bo c * done to assist in .removing some of that ' i trade from foreign countries to the out- v tying portions of the Empire as a wliole, (Hear, hear.) , lie was, however, happy ! ; to say that, without any preference at, - all, there was o tendency for the imports ' :> into this country from British .possession* to increase, with a corresponding do* ; crease in the imports fro7n foreign coum 1:1' tries. He had the figures for the last six years, and ho found that in 1902; ; 20 per cent, only came from British 1 poa- ‘ sessions while 80 per cent, came - from other countries, whereas in . 1007 29 ,per ;■? cent, oamo from British 'possessions - *and 71 per cent, from other countries. Those ■ figures related to dead moat, and there had also been a falling off in the impor- , tations of live cattle. Last year wo ' imported 472,000 cattle, showing *a fulling !• off of 89,000 coni pared with 1908. Thi s in ■ itself meant a good den] of beef, and tho ■: quantity required had ' been made up ; either from British possessions or from . homo-grown animals. He had no doubt - that these figures would bb used by op- ! pononts of colonial preference os showing i that we were doing what we wanted to 1 do without any preference at all, but ho was inclined to think that, although. ’ these figures- were satisfactory in, them--I: selves, they might be vastly improved ' upon by a little agreement with the colonies and the Mother Country. Ho . afterwards referred to tho Land and In- , come Assessment Act which was paa-isod p last year by the New Zealand Government, and which would come into operation on April next. AVhat it enacted, he continued, was a graduated land tax, and such a tax, he assumed, was for tho purpose of breaking up largo estates and enconraging small holdings. In tho .. company’s case, at any rate, the Act had hnd the effect for which it was designed. They had sold land to tho amount of about .€IBO,OOO or iJ190,000, and tho directors hnd decided to pay off all the debentures, which amounted to .£147,000 odd, but which hnd to be paid ' off at a premium # of 10 per cent. Ifo concluded by moving a resolution" for the adoption of the report and the payment of a dividend of‘ 3 per cent, on the preference shares.' making 6 per cent, for the year, and of 4 per cent, on tho ordinary shares, tnx free, making 7 per cent, for the year. Mr W. J. Taylor ■’ seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously after tho chairman, hod to* plied to a fefr questions.