ROSLYN TRAMWAY COMPANY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10598, 16 September 1896, Page 4

ROSLYN TRAMWAY COMPANY

The adjourned annual general meeting of the Roalyn Tramway Company was held in the Chamber of Commercß last evening. Mr Peter Duncan presided, and there were eight shareholders present.

The annutl report and balance sheet, which has already besn published, wera taken as read. . ~

The Chairman, in moving theit adoptiou, oaid : Upon the history of the year's working of the line little need bo said. Pursuant to the policy which the directors of this company have always followed, all necessary repairs and renovations have been made out of revenue, and during this year the whole of the work of renovation was completed, so that if any one other than .the company had* purchased the tramway line tha purchaser would have received full vulue for his moueyj'nnd. would have found himself posaes.-ied'of'a, property" in" full working ordor and on which not a penny would require to be spent, except in tbe way of remodelliug. The. line, as a line, is in excellent condition, and. as stated in the report, the shareholders must be gratified to know that the valuers—three gentlemen expert in thair judgment of the value aud condition of work of the kind — unanimously expressed their opinion that the company's property was in first class condition. I may s»y that they came on to the business of their valuation prepared to find the condition otherwise, and on this account their opinion is all the more valuable. This opiniou his beiu'borne out by another expert in the person of Dr M'Gil!. general manager of the London Tramways Company, who recently visited the colonies.aod, having a letter to our manager from Mr Halliday (the originator of cable tramways), made a complete inspectien of the line. Dr M'Gill waa specially interested in- this: line, as he had heard from Mr H&lliday that it was the very first line of its kind which had ever been built, and in Mr Halliday's opinion reflected great credit upou all connected with it. Dr M'Gill, after a careful iaspectiou, expressed the. opinion that the line had been substantially constructed, and from his knowledge of the. working of a tramway line had no hesitation iv saying that it was at the present day in excellent condition. ' This being so, the directors hive no hesitation in saying to shareholders that although the profits from the company as an investment may not be large, yet thsy would not grieve that no purchaser C!tme forward; for although a large t-XfjKiiditure is immiueat. for the purpose of modernising and re-ecjuipment, yet the company have in their present undertaking a good basis to work upon bow that the term of concession has been put np:>n » proper footing by the City Council. Referring to the terra of the company's concession, shareholder!) will have already learnt from th« newspapers what has beeu done. The council has viewed the matter in what jour directors consider its proper light, and has granted such a term with such a right to renewal as will enable the company to fiuunce for the necessary large expenditure about to be uadertiksn, and to keep the undertaking up to modern requirements. With reference to the balance sheet, everything is set out in the usual comprehensive and simple manner. The usual annual dividend wbs handed over to shareholders iv anticipation of your approval, and the company is now left with a credit balance of £580 16a lid carried forward. This ie certainly not a yreat credit balance to carry forward aftir 14- years' woiking, but the company has its line of rolling stock to represent its present capital. I beg so move the adoption of the report aud balance sheet. Your approval will carry with it your consent to the payment of the dividend of 7£ per cent., which has already been distributed among the shareholders.

Bir BivGO »ocoi''d"d the motion. He stated that the shareholders must be gratified at the success of the company, and the fact that an additional concession bad been granted the cornpuny which would eoable it to finance a sum to modernise and make additions to the line. He thought shareholders had cause to be thankful for the position in which they found the company. Tho property was a good one, aud would certainly not deteriorate as time want

In answer to Mr Throp, the Chairman said that the lease for the haulage of the cars on the extension line had now nearly expired, and the directors would consider the question as to whether the company should take over the contract on its own account or re-let it. While tha question of tbe concession was still in abeyance nothing definite was done in the way of the contract, nor were any radical changes made iv any direction. The company had now the further concession of 21 years, and at the lapse of that time a valuation would be put upon the property. In the event of any outsiders purchasing the property they would have to pay the company the amount of valuation placed upon it

Mr J. W. B mnsLEY expressed the opfaTon that the corporation had met the company very eraciously in the matter of the concession. They had granted the Kiikorai Company a concession of 21 years, and the Roslyn Company could not see why it should not be put on the same footing. Of course the corporation could not be forced to do anything, but it very kiudly extended the term to a period of 21 year.*. He bad beeu a director of the company for 12 months, and so far as his (Experience went he thought the line was carefully managed and carefully looked after by the manager.

The motion was then carried, and the proceedings terminated.