WESTPOR COALCOMPANY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10597, 18 February 1896, Page 7

WESTPOR COALCOMPANY.

The annual meefciiig of the sharsholdors of the Westport Coal Company was held in the company's office, Vo^el street, on tbe 12th inst. Some 30 shareholders were present, and the chair was taken by the Hon. H. J. Miller, chairman of directors, BEPOBTANn BALANCE SUBET. Tha following report by tho directors was tskeu as read:— ■ ' The profit for the year, after providing for had and doubtful debt* '. depreciation and all charges, amount* .to £14,109 lls 7d, to which must be added the mm of £'6702 7s-2d, brought forward from Kst yf.o.r, making c- total of £20,811 18a !)d.. An interim dividend_of.2J per cant, was paid for the half-year ending 30'h June 1595 amounting to :£sl°o 9s, leaving a balance to be dealt with of £15,610 S>3 !)i, out of which the directors now propose -.to pay 3J per cent, fob the half-year ending 315,1 December. 1885, making'a dividend of 6 per cent, for tho year, which will absorb £7275 0s 6d, to appropriato'for expenditure on Gvanity Creek works £3000, and to carry forvy»rd to next year's account £5310 9s 3d; total, £15,6159s <M. : .. . .

The report, which recommended .the payment of a dividend of 3£ per cent, for the half-year, making 6 par fteuc. for the year, and which has already besa published, was, with the bnlsnce shtet, taken as read. The Chaikman, in moving the adoption of the report, said: Tiie report and balsnoe sheeli1 arc now in your haiids, atid, with your permission, will be taken as read. You will observe that oar liabilities remain at nearl.T fo the j sime amount as last year. Capital is the ! same ; debentures ace the name ; liabilities on j loans aod current accounts ate leos by conic £2300. One the other side works, leased, abd, j pluut stand at £4500 !e«s than last year. Open accounts (£19,223) are all quite good, and have nearly all beeu paid since the close of tho your. Turning to the' profit and loss ccoount, tho profit for tbe' year amounts to £14,1C9 11s 7d, which is less thi,n via made last year. This is owing to the keen competition from the Newcastle scd local j mines, which jou will remember was antici- | pstad at last1 year's meeting, and to smaller output. The output for 1895 was 185,500 ioas, less by 31,000 toaa thin tha.output for the pre- | vious year. We p»id au interim divided of 2-i ] per cent, in August last, which absorbed £5198 J 9s, and after. adding balan.ee brought forward"i from last year there.is an amount.to bs dealt with afc this meeting of £15,615 9n 9d. ' Onb of this tho directors now propose to pay a dividend" of 3£ per cent., making a distribution of 6 ppj-.j cent, for the year, to appropriate for expenditure on Granifcy creek works £3000, s'.id to j carcy forward to noxt year's account £53W 9a | 3d. The Granity creek works are now rapidly approaching completion. The whole length of j incline is formed and the rails are laid, the grade being 1 in 4 The hydraulic brakes, works of considerable magnitude, have not bsen. sent Home for, bub. are bsinj constructed in the colony by Mnssra Anderson (of Christchurch) and Messrs Butt (oE Duuedin). They will,probably bs erected in the cour3o of two or t'uree months, so that wo hope by the tiuio tha .j winter demand s«ts in to be putting out coal from this mine. Every possible effort h&s been, made to establish an " export trade." One cargo has already been sold for Samoa, and three vessels have bsen chartered for S»n Francisco and Valparaiso. In opening up a new trade of this description many difficulties must twees-, sarily occur, »nd some pecuniary loss is pro-, bably inevitable, but I trust that we shall, eventually succeed. The Grey Valley Coal Company, in which we hold a lnlf interest,have rttiantly sold their Brunner mine to the Greymouth-Point Bliztbeth Railway and Coal Company (Limited), for the sum of £10,000,. payable half in cash and half in debsnluresof that company. The'stooka of coal and fireclay goods at the'mine and depoti* were taken aS! a valuation, which yielded £2950 in addition;' This is payable within two years, and is secured in the meantime by deposit of debentures of double .theamount. iTHerS sliill re : ' main to be realised tho Wallsand mine and.] plant, and come outstanding accounts, of which this company will receive a.half-share. Looking to tho well-known fact that the supply of, coal in that mine is nearly exhausted, the price realised must be held to be fairly satisfactory. I' may perhaps, bepermitledtoquotesotne remarks; on the Greyniouth mines made by me at our annual mestiug in 1394. I said; "Our experi-, ence of this property haa been so unfortunate that the directors do not see their way to spend any more money on it. The supply of coal opened up will be practically exhausted by the end of the present year, and wo must consider our capital invested in this property ss virtually lost, with the exception of what we can realise for the plant The development of the Westport mines has, on the other hand, fully realised our expectation, and will, I think, make up far the losb at Greymouth." Gentlemen, the development of the Weotport mines has, in tbe meantime, fully realised our expectations, and will, I have little doubt, makeup for tb'alos3 at Greymouth. In parting with that property at a low price the directors feel that they have got rid of a doubtful asset, which has been the cause of ranch auxiety, arid that they are now in a position to concentrate all their energies Upon the Woitport property, from whiob. satisfactory results can be relied upon. I beg to move the adoption of the report. Mr J. F. Hebdert seconded tho motion, and said that though, the' figures were not very^rosy they ought to remember that the past year bad"; been one of considertible depression, and that the coal trade hs.d 6uffcred in common with other industries. Six.per cent, was cot much of a dividend for an industry of this kind to pay, and shareholders would look at come future time to be paid fos the amount that h»d been written off. It occurred to him that something might be done by the shareholders ii: they would not enly use the oos.l themselves bet use; their iufluencg to increase it? consumption. The quality of the coal was exceptionally good. Some time ago, when travelling by one of the lurgo boats of the Union Company, he had mentioned that they were going along at a capital speed, and the engineer had said. "Yes; thanks to thfl.WastporS coal. I wish wa could always ba supplied with it." That was an unsolicited and unprejudiced si ateraent as to tha excellency of tho coal. Ha wai glad they hid got rid of the Greymouth property. It had always been, a mistake, and he understood that the amount received for it had been given chiefly for plant and material, the mine itielf boing of no great value. Mr H. S. Fish agreed with -a great deal that had been said by the last speaker. Although the dividend wag not so high ai possibly they might fairly expect as the result of investing in coalmining enterprise, still, taking ail things into consideration,' be thought it might be held to he, fairly satisfactory. One point in the chairman's address that seemed worthy of notice was that respecting the attempt made by the directors to open up on export trade for this coal. He agreed that it was extremely probable that in making this attempt there might at flrit be some pecuniary loss, but there was no doubt at all that one 'of the groat features in the future of this company must be the establishment of an export trade for its coal. This was a matter of tha gravest importance, and he trusted the directors would give it their closest and best attention. E7eu a little loss in the experiment would ba borne with equanimity if there was any profpsot in the course of time of develojriog a large export trade. He felt certain that if the coal Was sent to foreign ports and onca got into consumption its vory great excellence wou'd shortly find for it a good and lnorativo market. In their attempts to extend the coal trade tho directors had opened what might be called a retail yard in Duaedin. This, he believed, was a atop in the right direction ; but ho altogether failed to see why it should be necessary to have two managers for one yard. Tho directors in starting such an experiment, should have made a point of getting men that' were young, pushing, active, and well-known, and csrfcaialy one manager ought to be sufficient. It would ba well for the directors to seriously consider what they had done. He would like to know if there was any need to continue to pay expenses connected with the Melbourne local board. Tbe existence ot that body might have been expedient at one time, but he was. inclined to think the necessity for it had passed away. Then ho would like to see more particulars given regarding the first item of the profit and loss apcount—" Expenses o£ management, general charges, directors' fees, law charges," &c. The information should be more definite. Whet did directors' fees amount to, and what sum had been paid for law costs ? He would further like to know what rate of interest was being paid on the £42,000 worth of debentures, when they fell due, and whether there was not a possible asset in the reduction of interest paid on them. Subject to these remarks he thought the directors might be congratulated on their successful management. They all knew .them, and had full confidence in them. He would, however, like them to note what ho had said about the retail business, for he could not understand how the clear heads on the directorate could have ntumbled as he had indicated unless they allowed the feeliriga of the heart, rather than the judgment of the head, to gnido thorn, and they did not want that.

The Chairman, in reply, said that v to two managers having been appointed for the retail trade, one was to do the outdoor work and one tue office work. There was, pf .oourao, a great deal of work in do. Aa to the Melbourne

Board, tho shareholders in Melbourne ware gradually decreasing in numben and he h«d no doubt the tiuie would eomo when they would ce&se to require any board thsra. In the meantime, however, its con'tinuanco wns necessary. The general charges stood at £2231-14-8 Bd, direobt^ fees at £487, salaries £1280 17s 6ii, sundries £579, and law charges £35 14s. Tha debentures expired next year, and 6 por cent. ■Wnff paid ca them; , ' • Mr Fish would like to say that he thought ths directors' fees were rather heavy. He I would like to know how much they got for eje'a I meeting. \ The Chairman said the question of directors' fees would be considered presently* The laotiou for the adoption of the report and balance sheet w«s carried unanimously. EJECTION' OF DIRSCrOES, ETC. ' Mr John Mit.l moved and Mr George ISunho seconded tho je-eleotion as directors of the Hon. W. D. Stewart and Mr Keith Ramsay.—Carried nem dis. ■ On the motion of tbe CuAiAiiMr, seconded by Mr Hekbeet, Meßsrs Brpdrick and Hislop were re-elected auditors for tho oompany. PIBEOTORS' PBES. The Chairman said that those gentlemen who wire shareholders in the. company in the early days would remember that the question of directors' fees was a temporary arrangement. They were fixed in the day of small I things, when they did not in ihe least know how matters weald turn ont. As they were aware, the operations of tie company were | very extensive, and its aff.\ira occupied the directors a very considerable time. They now thought tibisS fees more caiataenstirato with tha magnitude of the operations controlled should be provided. The emount paid aa directors', j i fees they did not consider sufficient. ' He moved--'• Thit yearly the sum of £700 should bs paid to the. directors out of the funds of the company a* remuneration for their setvices, ! and such remuneration elitll bo distributed amongst the directors in such manner as tha board of directors shall from time Jo time ' determine." Stver.a.l .shareholders protested against the proposal A poll was taken, with the following ' i result: —For the motion 3011 votes, representing 31/59 shares; Rgaiastthe motion 178 j vote?, reprssentiug 1051 shares ; mttjority for, 2833 votes. The motion was accordingly declared carried, Mr Fish protesting. THANKS. ■ [ Mr W. L. Simpson taid that notwithstanding j the expressions uf opinioa as to the duties of the directors, aod though he did not agree with the motion to iuereasn the amount votod as fae?, baliaving that tho number of directors should ba reduced, he would move a vote of thanks to the directors and stiff —Carried nem. dis. j The Chairman returned tuank9 on beh&U of j j the directors and tbe staff.