WESTPORT COAL COMPANY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12600, 2 March 1903, Page 4 (Supplement)

WESTPORT COAL COMPANY.

mV; , ANNUAL MEETING. ■V;; -fh® twenty-first annual meeting of sharc--5-." holders in the Westport Coal Company '>:] (Limited) was held in the company's office, :> Vogel street; on Wednesday, February 11, when the chairman of directors (Sir Henry iff. J..- Millet) presided. Messrs ?. C. Neill, K. £.v Esunsay, G. L. Deiuiiston, and E. B. Oar?li, gill (directors) and about 40 other sliare- ; f 'rioldere were present. J;,' ' HEPOBT. The report of the directors was to the %'■. following effect:—. J;/: The directors of the Westport Cn.tl'Com- ' pssny, in their twenty-first annua!, report, state ' that the profit for the year ending 31st Decem- ■ . "be'r last, after providing for bad and doubtful j.; debts,'depreciation, and all charges, amounts 5/ t0,£51,077.0s Id, to which must be added the sum of £9432 5s Id brought forward from last year, making a total of £60,499 5s 2d; an ; ■ ■ ■ interim dividend of 4 per cent, was paid for 3 { .the half-year ending 30th June, 1902, amounting to £9700 Os lOd, leaving a balance to be ■jy;;/dealt with of £50,799 4s 4d. Out of this the directors now propose to pay a dividend of 3s J; 3d per share (£11,258 19s 6d); to give a bonus . of 3s per share, winch will absorb £10,392 18b ; ; to.carry to reserve fund £20,000; and to cgtry sj.V■; iorward to next year's account £9147 Cs lOd. If rf ; 'v these proposals are adopted the dividend and fl > bonus will be payable immediately after the £ . meeting. The mines and plant "have been ji' -,; maintained during the year at the usual stato j/j :' of, efficiency. The directors regret to have to •pi■ report the death of their colleague, Mr AlexV ander Bartleman. which causes a vacancy at p/: the board.' Mr Keith Eamsay retires, in ac- ;>!' ■ cordance with the art-iclcs of association, and ~ ;■offers himself for Te-eleclion. Mr J. R. Sinhas given'notice that he will be a candi- - ' date for the vacant seat. The directors' ap. .:/ pointed Mr C. H. Stathara as auditor in place of ■ Mr Cullender, deceased. Messrs Walter ; Hislop and C. H. Statham retire, and offer r. . themselves for re-election as auditors. The Chairman said: Gentlemen, —With - your permission, the report and balance /r; sheet, which have been in your hands tor ; some time, will be taken as read. In reft, Viviewing the figures in the balance sheet you wUI notice that £20,000 has been paid off \ the debentures. Works and leases show a t' slight increase, and accounts owing to the ■ : -l' company are also larger, owing to a greater . volume of business. These are all quite W'. tgood, and a large portion of them has :V' Seen paid since the books were closed. The profit, and loss account, I am pleased to eay, shows an improvement on last year, and wo aro !iblo to recommend a- bonus os well as • the usual dividend. It i 3 gratifying to be to state that the output has at last ie.', reached over 500,000 tons, especially when j#' at is remembered that it was never expected f,£. ; that we should be able to reach that figure. S. ; it, must not, however, be thought that behave been able to achieve this £ .amount of work the works are all com-eS-'/slete.;. As the mine becomes more and [>': jmore developed fresh works become neces- ; ' saiy. The question of insuring against risks ;V. under the Workers' Compensation and other . iindred acts has received the serious con- ;* •. federation of the board. Tho premiums are f very high, and are out of proportion to ■f. <the sum for which we are insured. We have : " therefore determined to take the risk ourselves. Judging from past experience, this jy.-. i should effect a considerable saving. One ijX'of. tile difficulties we have to contend with ' is.the supply of the household coal. People y; 'insist upon being supplied with doublets /screened coal, and do not consider that the !iy operation is a very. costly one to the / company and to the coal merchants. If you insist on taking ill the plums out of the ,'g :: plum pudding and eating only them, you . (will find it rather a 'wasteful prooess. The b'; quantity, of course; of tho double-screened ;st| . ooal must of necessity oe limited, and hence £/: - the ; complaints of short supplies: If custoimere would only take a little trouble and ' use unscreened as it comes from the mine, x&Mie supply would be ample and their pookets ppuld-be benefited. There was some diffiWty in working the bar at Westport during (part of-last year, but I am pleased to say the' Harbour Board are fully alive to the Mi difficulty, and have now ordered a suction pi jdredge,' which,, it is hoped, will keep the bar |g;;.olear. I beg to move the adoption of the fty-report and balance sheet.': £ Mr Edward Herbert seconded the motion. J Mr John Mill said that, whilst agreeing with the balance sheet and report, he woujd p remark, as an old shareholder, that ho did i. '.not think tho directors had exceeded their ~&\;'generbsitv very much, seeing that the share-f:{,-holders bid not' participated ■ ja auytbine l ;

very great from the foundation of '.lie company to the present day, He thought that the shareholders looked forward to the day when the directors would be fair enough to pay them the interest on the rednccd capital y which the directors thought wise to re■i duco, say, eleven or twolvc years ago—lie ~ thought it was twelve years ago. 1 The motion for the adoption of tho re- .. port was then agreed to. Mr W. L. Simpson moved the re-election :- of Mr-Keith Ramsay and the election of Mr J.' R. Sinclair to the vacancy on the board created by the death of Mr A. Bartlee man. In doing so, Mr Simpson expressed the opinion that something "should be rc- _ corded on the minutes regarding the loss e tho company had sustained by the death of . Mr Bartleman. Speaking of the directors l generally, he hoped that their conduct of s tho business would ho marked by caution, e It was all very well to have good dividends, t as Mr Mill evidently would have—(Mr .Mill: i "So. would you, too"),—but that must be i done .with great caution, for they must not • forget the fact that a State coai mine had 5 now been established, and though not yet s developed had to be considered, for the 5 capital behind it was not that of a limited i company. Mr "William Patrick seconded the motion, j which was carried. j The Chairman congratulated Mr Ramsay 3 on his re-election, and also the board on , haying for their new colleague a gentleman 5 of the largo legal experiene.-> of Mr Sinj clair, which no doubt would be of great . use 'to the directorate. He had not fort gotten bv any means the fact ol the loss - they had sustained in the death of Mr 1 Bartleman, but lie bad thought it was moro - appropriate to refer to that at a later stage. - As, however, Mr Simpson had referred to • it, he would like to say that the board felt ! tliey had lost a most valuable 'oikl indusc trious colleague. He was a director for a ; long time, and always took an active in- ' tercst in the business, He was suro all 1 shareholders agreed with him in expressing 1 regret at the los 3 the company had sustained : in the death of Mr Bartleman. Messrs K. Ramsay and J. R. Sinclair re- ; turned thanks for their election to the ■ board. '• The retiring auditors, Messrs Walter His--1 lop and C. H. Statham, were re-elected. On the motion of Mr John Mill a vote of ! ! 'thanks was accorded the directors, the 1 i chairman, and the members of the staff 1 throughout the colony. The Chairman, in acknowledging the vote 1 ,jn behalf of the board and s.taff, said that 1 the voto was an annual .one, but this year 1 lie thought it was moro than a formal ■ matter. Their success was dno in a large measure to the statf. He said the comjmiy had, by tho death of Mr Roiwon, their agent at Ohriutchurch, lost a. most capable and - efficient officer—one who had been brought up in the company, and had displayed very valuablo qualities. Some meniioti had beon made—mere tu a joke than otherwise, he thought—of the dividends Ithey ought to pay in tho future. Well, perhaps, it would not be unfitting if ho referred •to the time when they first declared a dividend. It fell to his lot 15 years age—in 1888—to declare the first dividend—2£ per cent.,—and he remembered how it was , : hailed by shareholders—he would not say , with eliouts of delight, but as an earnest of, better things to come. They had received nothing for some yesTs prior to that, and it. had been freely circulated by a great j number of people who, ho thought at the | but dared not say so. ought to have 1 known a great deal better, that this com■pany never would do anv gco:l whatever— in fact, that they would go to the wall, j They had lived to pee a better condition of things, and ho thought lie might say they were now fairly successful. I'hoy should ; Temember that all this had been brought , about by the energetic efforts of their ofii- ! cials from the very oommcncement. He j i jjaid a high tribute to the sterling worth j of their first engineer (Mr Watters) and their > first mine manager (Mr Brown), who had set > fi lead which had been followed by all their | successors. At the present moment their : managers were men of great experience, and men who devoted Ihemselves entirely , to. the interests of the companv. The re- ! J&tions of the board to the staff could not ! 1 ibe bctler in any company in any part of ■'. the world. Regarding the risk of accident ;, insurance, he said it was impossible for i > anyone to eay what was the risk in coal- j j •mining, but they could say that their mine i was as free from risk as it was possible for ' ] ,it bo. ■ In undertakings the Tisk under ■ 1 She Employers' Liability and olher kindred pa

- nets ho did not believe they were taking t 'any very serious risk, and mo?t certainly if 1 anything did happen they should not be in ' any way worse off than they were at pre--1 sent, for the amount they were insured • for was not sufficient to make very much ! I difference. ' Mr Joachim, general manager, said: I ■ I beg to thank you on behalf of tho staff ' and myself for tho kind expressions of approval of our conduct of lho company's affairs for the past yoar. &neh expressions will, lam sure, bo much appreciated. Mr | Ronson's death, our late manager in Clirist- ; church, is a matter of sincere regret to us all. He was a very eilieicnt officer, and had j the company's affairs thoroughly at heart. : Our output last year was 510,000 tons. We paid away in wages £121,6*2, in freights j £105,£61, in royalty, railway haulage, rates, ; and taxes. £33,492, and stores £20.710. Tho , number of men and boys employed amounts to 1000. ; j | A vote of thanks to Sir Henry Miller for presiding concluded tile proceedings.