NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6037, 20 September 1887, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY.

ANNUAL MEETING.

This Day.

The fourteenth annual meeting of the New Zealand Shipping Company, limited, was held' at noon to-day at the head offices, Hereford street. There wa3 a moderate attendance, and the chair was taken by Mr H. P. Murray-Aynsley. The following Directors were present : — Messrs A. C. Wilson (Deputy-Chairman), C. C. Bowen, John Anderson, Percy J. Fryer, Leonard Harper, and John Studholme. Mr George Harper, the Company's legal adviser, was present.

After the formal proceedings had been taken,

The Chairman stated that proxies had been sent in for S7SO proxies, but a number from Wellington had arrived too late to be made \ise of. The Hon E. Kichardson had been at a meeting of the Directors that morning, but had been called away on unexpected business. The profit and loss account showed a profit, on the Company's steamships and sailing vessels, and on charters for the year ended June 30, of .£80,590 12s sd. The balance at credit was £o& t 2Q9.

chairman's statement. The Chairman said: — Gentlemen, — Bofore proceeding to move the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, I must allude to the loss sustained since our last annual meeting by the de^th of Mr Coster, one of your Directors, for some time Chairman and Managing Director. Wo cannot forget that it was his energy and perseverance which first started this Company, and fully recognise the unceasing exertions he [made on its behalf. The vacancy thus caused the Board did not fill up, awaiting the decision of the Courts in the action brought by Mr Fryer to be declared as duly elected Director. "When we last met I announced that Mr L. Harper had consented to the Director's request that he should visit London and consult with the Board of Advice there. The shareholders on the London Registry of this Company are anxious that the control of the Company's affairs should be in London, but we consider that this would be detrimental to your interests unless the practical control of the Colonial portion of the business was retained by a Board elected by the shareholders in this Coloay, which would retain their interest and sympathy. We think the proposed change with this provision would be in the interest of shareholders, as tending to facilitate finance on more advantageous terms than is practicable under existing arrangements. As negotiations aro going on it would be . inadvisable to say more at present than that when we are able to put any decisive proposition before the Company, a meeting of the shareholders will be called to decide the question. Mr Harper, after this meeting is closed, will be prepared to give shareholders more fully the results of his visit to London. At the last meeting I mentioned that the retiring Board had under consideration the desirability of changes in the general management, which have now been carried out, and great reduction made in the expenses of mßna^enient, which have not been fully felt in the accounts for the past year, but will be shown in future balance-sheets. It is satisfactoi'y to know that during the past year all your steamers have performed their voyages, both outward and homeward, well within their mail contract time. As it was found that the run from the Cape of Good Hope to New Zealand now and then left the coals on board the steamers rather short on their arrival here, and passengers were complaining of the cold weather they had passed through, the Board decided that the steamera should keep a more northerly course, and call at Hobart to land passengers and coal up ; and on leaving New Zealand on their Homeward voyage the commanders have had instructions not to cross the fiftieth degree of latitude before reaching loOdeg west longitude, which avoids the ice fields of the south, with very little loss of time, and more comfort to the passengers, and, by taking a particular line, should a steamer break down between this and the Horn*, she would most likely be picked up by the following steamer, as the captain of her would be on the look-out for any steamer not reported as arrived at Eio before he left New Zealand, and the commander of the broken-down steamer could calculate nearly the exact time she would be at a particular spot. On referring to your balance-sheet you will see we have reduced the Eeserve and Depreciation Account to £2SD 14s, by writing off .£154,760 Gs from the value of the Com- i pany's sailing fleet, which now stands at £ 197,303 19a 3d, and out of the balance of Profit and Loss we have written off .£7OOO on each, steamer, and 10 per cent off the amount as cost of hulks, working plant, leaseholds, and office furniture, making a total sum of .£195,132 03 lid. This action we hope will meet with the approval of the shareholders. The sheets have been made up with fuller details than in former years, so that you may see the -working Expenses and Receipts. — We have charged the working account with 5 per cent for management, as, if we had not our own offices in the different ports of the Colony and in London, we should have to pay a commission to . agents, who would deduct it from the earnings of each ship, and therefore it might not be shown in a Company's published accounts as expenses of management, the same as appeared in this Company's previous balance sheets, which made some shareholders consider our expenses very heavy as compared with statements of some other shipping Companies. After this deduc- •■ tion you will see it leaves a balance I of .£50,500 12s iSd, out of which we have to i pay interest on debentures, money borrowed, discounts, exchanges, management, that exceeds the five per cent charged for management in working account, trade expenses, &c, leaving ,£54,209 93 Id to the credit of profit and loss. As the shipping trade has been very bad throughout the world during the last year, we must be content with the results of the year, which, under the circumstances, have been fairly successful. Last year this Company carried'to London 110,202 bales wool against 127,707 the previous season, showing an i increase of 12,495 bales for the year, j In the steamers for the thirteen voyages we carried from New Zealand 1303 passen- j gers, being 87 passengers less than, in the previous year, which . was the Colonial Exhibition season ; and outwards we had 2G95 passengers, being 115 less. In the accounts before you there are suma amounting to JEGO,IIG 13s 4d which were paid the builders of the steamer 3in accordance with the contracts. Thia year we have only to pay off .£21,250 under the building contract. We hope the shareholders will agree with the Directors in thinking it wise policy to write off £35,000 against the steamers' cost, and the other disposal of the profit and loss account, and do without a dividend this year, which no doubt will allow the Directors to issue a balance-sheet more satisfactory to the shareholders next time. You will see in the report that we have recommended the appointment of an additional Director to represent more particularly the shareholders residing in Wellington, which, if you carry the report as printed, will make six Directors to be elected at this meeting. I now beg to move — ' That the report and balance-sheet as presented, and the appropriations recommended by the Directors, be adopted.' " Mr C. C. Bowen seconded the motion. Mr Edward Green asked what the cost had been of defending the action brought by Mr Fryer, to establish his position as a Director. The Chairman said about £94. In answer to the came shareholder, the 1 Chairman said the mortgage on the ; Bteamers amounted to .£320,000 in round I numbers, but .£IO,GOO of thia had been j paid to the builders since the accounts had ; ; been made up. ■ \ I Another shareholder expressed regret that J294 should have been thrown away in . legal expenses, i .The Chairmaneaid the Directors had nob

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gone to the Court of Appeal. Had they accepted Mr Fryer before the Judge had given a decision, it might havo made all their proceedings illegal. Several other questions as to details on the accounts were asked and answered.

The motion, was carried unanimously, ELECTION OF DIBKCTOIIS.

The following were elected : — Messrs John Anderson, John Studholme,. Alexander Cracroft Wilson, Dr J. Logan Campbell (Auckland), and the Hon Robert Campbell, M.L.C. (Auckland), and J.K. Blair (Wellington). AUDITORS. Messro David Craig and Alexander Carrick were re-elected Auditors. This closed the business of the meeting.