EXHIBITION COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3773, 6 July 1926, Page 9

EXHIBITION COMPANY.

ENDING OF A GREAT ENTERPRISE. .VOLUNTARY LIQUIDATION AGREED ON. It seems only a very little time since ike community was stirred by the proposal to hare here a great Exhibition, and public meetings were being held for the purpose of setting up the necessary organisation to carry the project through. But already the Exhibition has come and run its triumphant course, and now the last events in its history are being enacted. On Wednesday night there was held in Burns Hall an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition Company for the purpose of considering its liquidation. The weather was most unfavourable, but about 150 people gathered in the hall to take final leave of the big venture. The meeting yras a brief and cheerful one. The Chairman of Directors, Mr J. Sutherland Ross, occupied the chair, and was accompanied on the platform by the deputy chairman, Mr C. Speight, and the secretary, Mr H. R. Spence. Other directors—Messrs T. Somerville, P. L. Halsted, W. R. Hayward, A. Barnett, and H. F. Sincock were present in the audience. Of the remaining directors, Messrs P. Parr and C. Todd are absent from the Dominion, and Mr H. L. Tapley, M.P., is absent in Wellington, and apology was made for their absence. THE CHAIRMAN’S REVIEW. Mr J. Sutherland Ross said : “It is a pleasure to meet you with the feeling that we can give you a satisfactory report, and before putting the motion which stands first on the order paper, I will ask your indulgence for a few minutes while I touch on one or two facts and figures in connection with our great undertaking. From all points of view the Exhibition has proved a great success, one notable proof of which was the steady and increasing interest taken by the public The total attendances amounted to 3,200,498. with a record on closing day of 83,935, or, looked at another way, during the 142 days which *[® were open, the average daily attendance was no less than 22,538.-<Applause.) “His Gracious Majesty favoured us with personal messages for both opening and dosing days, also we received cables of congratulation from the Secretary of State for the Dominions, and many others, and we were privileged to entertain manyd.stlnguished visitors from overseas during the run of the Exhibition. I would hk t e . express our deep appreciation of the kind personal interest taken by his Excellency the Governor-General, who not ! the honour of declaring the BrtibJHon ODen but made a dose inspection of all the courts, and paid a second visit to Dunedin as circumstances did not permit o plete survey in the month of November “The six months before opening day were a period of great anxiety to the directors, as P the original project had expanded to such an extent that the financing of it gave us grave concern, and we are deeply debted to the Government for the cordial way in which it came to our assistance by lending us the requisite funds to ‘ d® us over. —(Applause.) The actual assist ance given bv thg. Government is as fol lows: —£50.000 was a straight_od grant and a loan without interest of £3o.™ was also accorded us. On top of that when we were doubtful whether money would be coming in fast enough to enable us to meet our commitments to contractors and others on due dates, we ?H an S ed „„d have the call on another £c5,000, as and when required, bearing interest at me rate of 5J per cent t am glad to say we only found it necessary to ask Tor EIO.UUU, -which amount was repaid within 20 days. (Applause.) The £30,000 loan was also re paid the day before the Exhibition closed, which left the company in the happy P° sl tion of owing nobody a penny except tor the ordinary current accounts. f ‘l wish to take this opportunity 01 tnanking those public-spirited citizens who came forward with guarantees, when we were un certain if the Government could see its way to give us the necessary assistance. This pave us a feeling of solid backing if it became needful to call upon it. “There were, of course, several matters which the general public did not know Very much about, and that was more par ticularly the case with regard to finance The directors were in the position of being able to call on £20.000 locally in the form of guarantees. —(Applause.) The directors were deeply indebted to these public-spirited citizens who came forward with these guarantees. As it was a New Zealand under taking it was felt the Government should have an opportunity of showing what it would .do. “In 1924 the directors, as a matter of policy, invited scientific, economic, and manufacturing associations and local bodies to hold their annual conferences m Dun edin during Exhibition vear. These bodies responded whole-heartedly and were a very great attraction to the city The presence of official representatives from the Governments of Great Britain, Canada, Australia. Fiji, and New Zealand gave a status which could not otherwise have been attained, and we are indebted to the Prime Minister for his good offices in the matter. The amusement devices were successful beyond all expectation, and those officially run by the Exhibition Companv were patronised by 2.205,155 persons. The Band of the 93rd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders provided a musical treat and an attraction the value of which it is hard to estimate accurately—(applause)—and it it a source of great regret to us that War Office instructions prevented us from giving those New Zealanders who did not have the opportunity of coming to Dunodin, a chance of hearing them; also, that !♦ was impos sible to carry out the Canadian tour as planned. “The Art Gallery was visited by 268, 853 persons and pictures to the value of £11,164 were sold. On the whole, the expense of getting the pictures out, returning the unsold ones, and the working ex ponses of the gallery were met by the ad* missions and the lo per cent, commission on sales. I might refer in detail to the various courts and interests but do not wish to weary you. I will, however, take this further opportunity of expressing our grateful thanks to thoae committees who rendered such yeoman service, and to the wide circle of the New Zealand publio who supported ns to nobly.—(Applause.) "I would not like this opportunity to paa without referring to the eplendid work done by our executive officer!. Few

people have any idea of the amount of work done by Mr H. R. Spence, our eecretary. He worked night and day to make the venture the succear it undoubtedly waa.”—(Applauae.) Mr C. F. Hainsworth, their general manager, he said, unfortunately would be-leaving them in a week's time on his return to the Old Land. "I have no hesitation in saying that Mr Hainsworth has been a god-send to Dunedin,” said Mr Rosa. “The directors, after all, were amateurs in the matter of running an exhibition, enthusiastic as they were; and it required an expert hand to guide and advise them, and the manner in which he handled the work showed that he was an expert. This will be the last opportunity I will hare of bearing witness to Mr Hainsworth’s value as general manager of the Exhibition, and to hia services as a whole.”—(Applause.) “How, touching on the matter of finance, the estimated statement of affairs as at May 31, 1928, is before you. It will be obvious that with so many loose ends it is impossible that this should be more than an estimated statement. All our estimates have been conservative, and 1 may say that this is no exception to the rule. It shows a prospective repayment on the £1 shares of about 14s lOd, and let me say the directors regard it as their duty to repay the shareholders as large an amount as possible, and have bad nothing to do with any of the claims suggested for alienating a portion of the prospective return in any direction whatever. — (Loud applause.) That is your personal affair after you receive it. In due course, a full and detailed statement of the accounts will be placed before you, but in the meantime it will be of interest to shareholders to have some of the principal figures, and I will ask Mr Speight, chairman of the Finance Committee, to include these in his remarks. "It non becomes necessary for the company to wind up its affairs, and the procedure therein is to go into voluntary liquidation. I accordingly beg to move the following resolution:—'That the company be wound up voluntarily.’” THE FINANCIAL FACTS. . Mr C. Speight, in seconding the motion, said he would like to take the opportunity of placing before them- some of the more interesting items of their receipts. it being remembered that these are up to May® 31, 1926. In all 82,089 shares and donations were issued; £59 in calls was outstanding from two sub* scribers, which was niore than covered by the prospective dividend; 250 shares were forfeited for non-payment of calls, owing chiefly to death or bankruptcy ot the subscribers concerned. There was £52 paid on these shares, leaving an apparent loss of £l9B, but, of course, these shares would not participate in the final dittribution. The chairman had already dealt with the matter of the Government subsidy and explained about it and the loans, so he did not need to touch on those. The total receipts for admissions were £100,262, including £17,669 from season tickets, of which 17,633 were issued, including weekly tickets. The total admissions were 3,200,498, of which 1,778,400 paid at the gates, and the balance, 1,422,098, were admitted..on season and other tickets —(Applause.) Space fees amounted to £61,555, commissions from selling stalls to £11,578, and rentals from concessions in Amusement Park to £13,172. Each represented the full amount due under the respective headings, and consequently they were in the happy position of stating that not one penny due had been lost on these items.—(Applause> On every occasion possible the directors had kept their credit balance invested and this had earned just about £I9OO interest.— (Applause.)

AMUSEMENTS. The total takings for the seven devices operated by the company were £56,270, and the number of passengers carried was 2,205.155. The details were as follows:

On the other side of the ledger the main items of expenditure were as follows: EXPENDITURE.

He said it had been put about the country that the Argyll and Sutherland Band had cost thorn about £30,000, but as a matter of fact its cost would be under £ll,ooo.—(Applause). The figures he had given them were the figures so far, but they would have the full balance sheet at a later date. It spoke volumes for the way in which the people of Dunedin, and of the whole Dominion had supported the Exhibition. They had no idea at the start that they would reach the magnificent total of £60,000 for space fees, or anything like £IOO.OOO for attendance. The whole project had been a huge success, and he would like heartily to congratulate the executive officers for the way in which they had looked after the interests of the shareholders generally.—(Applause.) No one desiring to speak to the motion, it was put and carried heartily and unanimously. DIRECTORS APPOINTED LIQUIDATORS. Mr James Brown moved: ‘That Messrs John Sutherland Ross, Charles Speight,

Arthur Barnett, Percy Lewis Halsted, William Rowland Hayward, Herbert Frederick Sincock, * Thomas Somerville, and Harold Livinstone Tapley be appointed liquidators for the purpose of winding up the affairs of the company.** In doing so, he said he did not want to introduce any irrelevant matter, but, as a matter of news and interest, he would tell them that he had just returned from Honolulu, and he fauna that the Exhibition was matter for favourable comment by many of the people there. This was all the more remarkable because Honolulu was a world of itself. He scanned the pages of the newspapers there in vain for three weeks for any news of New Zealand or of the strike at Home or of the Australian cricketers. Therefore it was all the more complimentary to the New Zealand Exhibition to find that it really was a subject for favourable comment by such a secluded people to whom the world was bounded by their own horizon He looked upon the motion as quite the right thing. The gentlemen who had carried through the enterprise to such a successful issue were certainly the men to take in hand the winding up of its affairs. He understood it was their intention to carry their duties through without any remuneration whatever. —(Applause.) He was full of admiration for the work of the executive ofificers, but the directors were the men who had to take the initiative and bear the final responsibility.— (Applause.) Mr G. Simpson seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. The Chairman said he had to thank the shareholders for showing their continued confidence in them in electing them as the liquidators of the company. He could only promise that they would, with the assistance of Mr Spence, endeavour to get every penny in.— (Applause.) A LEGAL RESOLUTION. Mr J. M. Paterson (solicitor of the company) then moved—“ That the services of the directors as liquidators of the company be without remuneration, and that they be empowered to employ Mr Spence and members of the staff to assist in the work of liquidation.” He said that provision would also be made to effect any compromise without calling the shareholders together. He did not anticipate that it would be necessary to call the shareholders together for any small compromise, but provision was made for the avoidance of this. Mr H. F Nees seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. A QUESTION. Mr T. H. Thompson asked if this were the proper time and place to deal with the disposal of the money. He would like to know if the directors would take a motion on the subject. The Chairman: The matter is out of order. I do not think the disposal of the money should be discussed to-night. This meeting was called for a specific purpose.— (Applause.) Mr Thomson: I only ask lor a show of hands. The Chairman: I cannot take it. — (Loud applause.) THE FIRST PAYMENT.

Mr Speight said he would like to make a short statement with regard to the finances of the company. There was at present on fixed deposit in the Bank of New Zealand the sum of £54,000. T’ .t deposit would fall due early in September, and the liquidators hoped to make the first payment on September 2. They hoped to return to shareholders on that date 10s per share. This would be the first payment of capital.— (Applause.)

The Chairman said that he could not do more than thank them for turning out in such nuro jrs on such a night. As one prominent shareholder had remarked to him, it was an excellent night for liquidation! A confirmative meeting had to be held as a result of their an* proval f the motion before them. It would be held on Monday, July 19, at 4.30 p.m. “We Jiail require those here present," he concluded, “and I hope we get them.”

Takings. Passengers Scenic Railway ... £19.555 507,158 Water Ride ... ... 5,545 281,342 Caterpillar Dodg em ... 4,773 ... 8,347 255,237 339,163 Fun Factory ... 9,273 394,789 Whip ... 5,917 280,470 Merry Mix*up ... 2,850 146,986 Totals ... ... £56,270 ■ 2,205,156

Buildings and erection*— Festival Hall £18,623 Art Gallery ... ... ... 12,644 Other buildings ... ... 129,462 Electrical fittings 10,020 Amusement Park devices 29,820 Architects’ fefes 10,493 — £211,062 Grounds— Drainage £6,643 Horticulture 4,946 Waterways 2,638 Paths and roads 12,087 Grand Court, railway siding, Sports Ground, 5,381 — £31,594 Furniture and fittings ... 6,711 Band. Argyll and Sutherland High landers 12,556 Choir and Orchestra 4,895 Wages and salaries 35,548 Insurance 3,279 Advertising 11,353 Water, gas and electricity 2,558 Grand Total £319,556