COCK ISLAND TRADE. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2858, 23 December 1908, Page 15

COCK ISLAND TRADE. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

AUCKLAND, December IS. , Yesterday the prospectus was issued of a company that is being formed with a capital of £40,000 to acquire the business 6! the Cook Islands Trading Co., of London, the purchase price, which is to be determined by arbitration, will, it is anticipated, amount to about £14,000, of wliioh £3000 is to be paid "in 3000 ftilly paid-up shares in the new company, an* I £5000 in ca»h by April 1 next, and the balance on July 1 next. This will leav^ about £25,000 for the development o{ ! the new company. Tlie total value o : the existing company's assets is stated at £18,000, of which the assets at Raroi tonga are credited with ±.8592. The averi aige profits realised from the business by the present company is stated at £1226 Sj a. yeair, which works out at 10 per ceru. lon the average capital of £12,000 em- ' ployed, but it is expected that the final . results of the current years' business will considerably exceed the average profits 'of previous yeans. The control of th« ! company's affairs by a local board of . directors in Auckland is also expected to 1 prove a gneat advantage. Two seats on j the directorate will be allowed to southern j shareholders. As the trade with the i Islands increases efforts will be made to ' secure a faster service with boato more suited for the carriage of fruit between , the Islands and New Zealand than those ', now in use. The minimum subscription upon which the directors may proceed to aJLLotmient is 20,000 shares. The following are the provisional directors: — Mewn J. C. Smith, G. K. Ronfeld, G. Ndocol, !&• M. M'Callum, A. Kohra, and P. M. Hansen