MOSGIEL WOOLLEN FACTORY COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2803, 4 December 1907, Page 12

MOSGIEL WOOLLEN FACTORY COMPANY.

The thirty-fourth annual general meeting of shareholders of the Mosgiei Woollen Factory Company was held it the company's office on November 26. Mr John Roberts, CM.G. (chairman of directors), presided, and about 20 shareholders were present. '' The directors' report was as follows:— ■ (Che company has, notwithstanding ths hi^h pries, of wool, keen competition, and Importation and manufacture of inferior and shoddy goods, w«ll held its own during the past yaar, and our 1 products are in sis high estimation and demand as- they have- ever been. Although - urg«d by< tfumeroxjs interested people to i supply an inferior quality of goods, your directors Jiftv© steadily, adhered tp tb« manufacture of a .firßt*rate article, and this course of' procedure haajMen amply justified by increasing business. To-day > we ar«, fully employed,; and hav«^ remu?}er»tii?«' orders in , hand"to ; : keej> us going f,ox some' time to come. After writing 'off £194 16 a ffij for replacements I,'1 ,' the profit 4nd loss aqcount- for ' the past 1 year ' showed -an available' bsl'anW of; £5550 IBs lOd. Addpting 1 af poljtcy '6j; cafrtionV' lydurdirectors have written ""-oH £1500 for depreciation,, and now ' recommend that' a dividend at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum >be declared, absorbing; / £3?8&. 6s, ape} r ihat ; Jhe balance, £712 7s , 10d,, "toe carried forward. THK OHAISMAN'S ADDRESS. In moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet, the Chairman 6aid? — Another year has passed, and the report , and balance sheet of the thirty-fourth year of the company's operations are before you for consideration. After last annual meeting the woof sales opened at an un- j usually high range of values, and as the season progressed enhanced prices had to be given, the general result being that the wool requirements' of the company, had to be given, the genera,! result being that the . wool requiremnte' ~oi the company had to be secured at a cost in excess of what had been paid for many years.' This, as you can well imagine, caused the management, considerable anxiaty, as orders hiving been booked for some months ahead neces- ' silated our selling at prices barely suffi- j cient to cover manufactured cost. • In order to cover the increased cost it became necessary , for us Jx> materially raise our selling prices', and this naturally hampered business for - a while, t The pinch was, of course, felt,by,*ll milk alike, and a united determination to secure more rej munerative value* was manifested. Our oustomera very naturally did not at once respond to the demand for higher prices, but the reasonableness of the request was admitted, and things at last settled down, and for the latter half of the year wo were able to sell all the company's output at fairly remunerative prices. The mill has been kept fully employed during the year, and we have still a fair quantity of orders On hand. .Present appearances point to our being able to seoure, our seasons wool requirements at a lower cost than last yeer, and as trade is good, I look forward" to our doing a satisfactory business during the now- current year-. When addressing you last year I pointed out that an .urgent necessity existed for putting the woollan manufacturing business of the Dominion On a more 6atisfactory basis, and I am glftd that the sharp rice in wool last season brought about an improved condition. It uto be hoped thai in future, such a course of action will be pursued as will result in fair profits being earned, and that "those interested will not relax the policy of the past year and again return to cutting rates. i We do not desire or. expect to make exorbitant profits, but we are certainly I called upon to use our best endeavours to earn for our shareholders a better return than has been eeoured for some time, and in addition have sufficient to provide a fair I sum for depreciation. The margin of ! profit has^ for some years been quite inade- [ adequate, and it is to be hoped that better t<mes are in store for us. During the past year the management. made inquiries as to the wisdom, of installing electric- power for the mill, and alter going fully into tlje question, concluded it would, not- bf advantageous to adopt \s, I ajn glad W> &y sales for the past year show a snkp jncreaJse , on Sne prev»&u> yeaJr, ami a considerable increase compared with 1904. I wjll now make a few remarks on the baknco eheet and profit ana loss account. It will pi noted in the former that the liabilities show but little onange on last year's figures, * and on the assets side the Only item requiring- any mention is that of goods manufactured, in process, and raw. material/

which this year shows an increase of £4657. It will be remembered that I drew attention last year to the very low amount standing" against this account. The increase showit' this year is owing to the somewhat larger stock of wool on hand and 1 a, larger stock* of goods in' process. Book debts show s lessened amount of £IM6, which in view of the increased turnover is satisfactory. Contingent liability in bills under discount represents s somewhat larger sum than usual. The bills, however, are undoubted. Turning to profit and loss account, it will be noticed that working expenses show a decrease of £883. - "It has been frequently .pointed out that this item shows considerable fluctuation one year with another, and I may mention that this year's expenditure is almost identical with 1905. "The decreased expenditure in charges and salaries is £506, and is almost entirely acoounted for by this account being relieved of one half-year's salary for the late manager.. Interest and discount show an increase of £168, which is largely accounted for by the higher cost of the season's woolpurchases necessitating a larger advance by way of overdraft- from the bank, and a eqne ! sequent higher cost of interest. Goods, account yields an increased profit of £137&. The actual amount of profit earned during the year ia £5093 3s sd, as against £2483 Is lOd last year- Last year the amount for replacement of plant written off was £551 lls lOd, and this year the amount under this heading is £194 16s 6d, and the directors have written off £1500 for depreciation, making a total of £1694 16s 6d written off on account of plant, etc. Shareholders are aware that a sufficient sum has of late .years not been available for depreciation, and I trust they will approve the action of the directors in this matter. It is satisfactory that the result of the past year's working shows a better profit than the previous year, and I am hopeful that the now current year will show a still further improvement. I have pleasure in drawing attention to the fact that the business of the year has been carried through without any bad debts having been made. lam pleased to be able to say that the change which took place in tb« management during the year has resulted satisfactorily, the manner in which Mr Cameron has performed his duties having met with the board's approval. I now beg to move' the adoption of the report, which will carry with it the" appropriation of £1500 as depreciation «nd the payment of a dividend of 4 per cent, for the year. Mr J. Mitchell, 1 in seconding the motion, said that the remarks made by the chairman had been «o comprehensive and instructive that they had almost exhausted the subject. Any words that he could say in addition would tbaiefore necessarily be waste of time. The results on the whole must be deemed satisfactory, especially when the difficulties that had to be contended with were taken . into consideration. Competition had been keen. There was also the question of the price of wool. Some shareholders would perhaps have been pleased at getting larger dividends. That, however, at present was hardly the point. On the whole, he thought he was correct in stating that the majority of the shareholders were pleased, and that the year's results had been so good. Mr J. Hunter, in supporting the motion, said that three years aio the chairman had^ i informed them that the sum of £300 a year would be gamed by electrical installation. Since Ihen the chairman {tad made another utterance to the effect that suction gas might be cheaper and jjj.it as effioient. He wished to know y that question had been considered, or haj been thought worth while considering. The Chairman pointed put that suction gas power was an uncertain thing to work with, and to a large extent at present in its experimental stages. They o^uld never approve of any alteration that Jfiight mean uncertainty as to power ; and unjif its absolute reliability bad been demonstrated beyond doubt they must bide their time. As for electric power, the boa/.d had made full inquiry, and had decided that it would not pay to introduce it. The question of suction gas might, however, be considered later on. Mr J. Mitchell said that he had made inquiriej concerning the advantages of suction ffa§, and a great deal of the evidence collected had proved conflicting. A great deal pepeftged, otcours?, off the quality of the coke used. Be agreed with, &c chairman that, as {h« jhcrits of auction gas had not yet beeq quite established, t^ey would ling wisely «( jrajt PO. Ford f&M $6 fm> glad to see that irecfors had written off a substantial or aeprepialon, JTJh/» ?}g»« were hopeAs for suotion gas power, he would strongly r€comm,eud the Hianag«nSent not

to go in for alterations without first fettinfr tho fullest : nformaUon obama&le. The Chairman: further remarked that tne allowance for depreciation waa about equal to 2 per cent on the capital* and he had ' no doubt that year by year the directors would be only too pleased to make ample - provision in this direction when they were able to do so. the directorate was naturally anxious to do its. best on behalf of the shareholders. Times had been Jmd during the past three yesvrs. It had befen a somewhat doleful tale that he bid had to tell. The position bad reached its acutest staget . last year. . He was glad to say that Be J found the outlook now more hopeful, and > that there were better things in store. j TJba motion for the adoption of the report waa carried unanimously. ELECTIONS. No other nominations being to hand, the Chairman, , declared the retiring, directors (the Hon. J. R. Sinclair and Mr Walter Hielop) re-elected. The Hon. J. R. Sinclair :«nd Mr Hislop thanked the shareholders for the' confidence reposed in- them. • Mr/. P...Cr. Piyde moved— "That the retiring auditors. (Messrs Peter Barr and i; David Cbwfor,d) be rejected."— This was seconded by Mr J, Hunter, and carried. Mr D. Brent : moved, and Mr A. Kylo .seconded, a vote, of "^hanks to ( chairl man and d,ireptors, and the. Chairi map, in returning thanks, said they had) , passed through some, anxious times, but ' had f xeaeon to look forward to better pros- * ' pecta for the future. Personally he would! be surprised and disappointed if he did not meet them with a more satisfactory reporc . this time next year. The directors could I not work impossibilities, but they used their best endeavours on behalf of the. i shareholders, who, in their turn, had & Teoeonable right to expect an adequate return for then- investments. A vote of thanks to the management and employees of the company was moved by, Mr P. G. Pryde r seconded by Mr JMJ M Hunter, and carried.. Mr E. Cameron, responding on behalf of the employees lain stress on the fact that they had alb passed through a particularly anxiotw i year; the worst they were likely to experience for some time to come. The prospects, however, were much more encouraging than they had been for some time past. He wished to express his indebtedness to the staff, by all of whom he had' been loyally supported; also to the manages and workers at the mill, who had also greatly contributed to the improved results.