NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5429, 3 December 1895, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY.

— * The twenty-second general meeting of New Zealand shareholders in the NewZealand Shipping Company was held at the offices, Hereford Street, at noon to-day. Mr fi. P. Murray- Aynaley presided, and the following directors were present: — The Eton C. C. Bo wen, Messrs P. J. Fryer, Joseph Gould and John Sbudholme. There were also several shareholders present. The. annual report of the London Board, which was taken as read, showed that the audited accounts for the year ending June 30,1895, after providing for depreciation, insurance, London and colony charges, admitted o? the payment of a dividend of 4> per cent free of income tax, and to carry forward .£4449 7a 4d. Contracts had been made with Messrs Hawthorn, Leslie and Co., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Messrs Barclay, Curie and Co.; of Glasgow, for two steamers of/'l&rge .carrying capacity," and with insulated s^acefor v 90,000 frozen sheep eagh'i or the equivalent in -beef .-or. dairy* produce. The first ,of . these, the -Rakaia, waj3 banded: ov^' to Jibe' company on .June 2& and the second, the Mataura, is expected to be delivered" before the end of this year. The' sailing ships Mataura, Waipa and W,airoa have. Been sold during the financial yaar, and the Hurunui and Waimea since June 30. The Eight Hon Sir John Gorst, having aoeepfced office under the Government, has resigned his seat on the Board. - . " Tn moving the adoption of the report the Chairman, after referring to the several matters dealt with in the report and balance-sheet, said that the financial position of the company at Home was getting easy. All the vessels bad been written down considerably, bo, aa to get them down to their selling value in the English market.. During last season the company bad sustained considerable loss owing to the shortage of the wool dip in the North Island, which had amounted to over thirteen thousand bales.- At the request of wool-growers, the Company had provided fourßteamers to take the wool, but owing to the shortage one of them bad gone Home almost empty. Had it not been for this there would have ,£BOOO more to the credit of the shareholders. No navigating accidents bad occurred, though there had been one or two fires, which were attributed to the charcoal ÜBed for insulation. The engines had been working well, thus showing that the engineers had done their duty. He then referred to the visit to the colony of Mr Beaumont, the representative of the colonial shareholders on the London Board, the result of which would be advantageous to the London Board. The Boards were working in hprmony, and with the ; assistance which Mr Beaumont would be enabled to give the london Board,. the shareholders could, no doubt, loi?k fo-ward to a successful season, j Mr Joseph Gould, in seconding the adoption of the report, said that share^ holders might consider 4 per cent as not a very great thing on shipping property, but on the other hand they should consider to some extent the position of the company four or five years ago, when it became apparent that the fine passenger boats of the company cost moie to run than was really desirable for this trade. He asked shareholders to compare the present balance-sheet with that of five years ago, and to 'coimder what the direotors had to face in obtaining vessela with larger earning powers. This had "ne'cesßifcated considerable . self Kdeniai on. , . the part of "the ",' shareholders, who" had had t> . forego their profits, and the Directors had written a substantial sum off the capital, thus bringing down the shares from £10 to .£B. From that time till the present, every endeavour had been made to place the company in a thoroughly sound and solvent position. During the past four years, without any additional call on the shareholders, the company had greatly increased the fleet, had added cargo stjamer after cargo steamer, until at the present they had no fewer than a ; x sf tamers of the very beat class for earning money.. The tonnage value of the com-p-uiy'a vessels had during the same period been steadily written down, and there had also been a steady reduction in the company's floating liability. In the course of a reference to the state of the company's debentures he stated that some time ago, when money became fairly plentiful in the colony, and investments scarce, a communication had been sent to the London Board asking whether it would be desirable to issue 5 per cent debentures in the colony. To thi3 a reply was received stating that it would not suit the company to finance on that basis, as the bills for steamers were being discounted in London at an average discount rate of H per cent. The Directors were exciedingly satisfied with the position of the company at the present time. Its earnJngß had been largely increased, and the Directors saw no reason why, with the new vessels which were now toeing added, tUe company's earn* ings should not be largely increased in. the near future. Shareholders could look forward to their property being more thoroughly sound than it had been for the paßt eight or ten years. The motion was carried unanimously. On the motion of Mr W. P. Cowliahaw, seconded by Mr E. S. Harley, the retiring direotors, |Measrs J. Anderson and J.'E Blair and the Hon C. C. Boweh, were Ireelected. .'■£ The retiring auditors, Messrs D. Craig and A. Carrick, were re-elected, on'th( motion of Mr J. Henderson, seconded bj Mr A. Anderson. * " p Votes of thanks to the directors ajid t< the company's general manager atuftVu staff afloat and ashore were passedfafft)] which the proceedings terminated. |