early meeting of shat :—Measra, F. H. Boll, (in the Hart, Gubbay, and Sutherland, Directors, Hogg, Westall, Tootal, Smith, MacGregor, Jones, ©. Thorne, Sim, Buchanan, E. Cameron, Pollock, J. Brand, Dyce, E. P. Hague, and B.S) Biorris, Secretary—in all 19, representing 285 shares, The Notice convening the meeting was read, and the minutes of the last meeting were read and confirma: now proceed to the principal business of the meeting. You have heard the minutes just now read, and I must confess that, after having heard them, I am st a loss to know how to vary' the generally agreeable notony of the proceedings of our mee! by any statement I can make; for it seems to me I have exactly the same ground to go over again, as we went overat the last meeting. The office has progressed during the period of depression of trade, I think, e factorily. The pre-rece half-year, na you amount to Tls. 58,000, which i ither of the July to December, Tls. 536,000, and this veer I am glad to say we are able to show the largest' amount ever carried to the credit of the working account since the formation of the Company. The losses appear to be considerable, but without losses I suppose we should not collect much premia, and, s Iaaid at the last meeting they are losses on first class risks, the most desirable we could take. There is little to add. The losses on the steamers I mentioned at the last meeting, the Orestes, the Strathclyde, the Dunraven, and the Kwangtung have been paid off as total losses, but, of courge, there is some to be received from them which will appear to our oredit hereafter, There is particularly the Orestes, the salvage in her case being much larger than we could have hoped for at the time. Since the 30th of June the premium received and now entered upon our books appears to be Tis, 225,000, which I think may be conaldered clude the London branch and most'of satisfactory. That, of course, doos not other Agencies from which we have not yet received the accounts for S Since the 30th of June, the onl} casualty has been the Sarpedon, homeward bound with tea, by which sustained a total loss of Th I think those are all the points refer to; and the report. having been in your hands for time I think: that, as usual, we may take it as read, I shall conclude by proposing the first resolution, That the Report of the Directors and Statement of Accounts, as printed and presented to this meeting, be passed.
Mr. Gupsa¥ seconded, The Ouarmaan—If any shareholders have any questions to ask in reference to report or statement of accounts, "I 1 be very glad to answer them, No questions wore asked, and the motion was unanimously adopted, 'The Directors have now to place before the Shareholders the third halt-yearly Report for the current term accompanied by a State. ment of Accounts, showing that the balance of funds in hand' on the 30th June last was "Tls. 528,473.75 irrespective of the paid-uy Capital, and after payment of the frat ant second Dividends, The above amount it will be observed does not include Tis, 61,477.67 set aside at the Inst Meeting for future ap-7872-74 account which has been sine ortionment, and Tls. 24,084.17 duc
and the liabilities of that office tak 'The receipts of the Company again compare very favorably with former corresponding periods, and notwithstanding the occurrence of several total losses of steamers engaged in the Eastern' trade during the six months under review, the Working Account yields a surplus of Tls. 186,277.60.
16 principal risks applicable to the underwriting account for the year 1875 having terminated, the Directors as provided in the Deed of Settlement (Clause 95) have ascertained the position of the Company, and are glad to be able to propose to the Shareholders the appro ofa further sum of Taele 120,000, which if confirmed will be distributed in the following manner Tls. 40,000 proportionately on the Shares—equal to Tle. 40 per Share.
Premia—equal to'4 per cent, on contributions "Tls. 40,000 proportionately on contributory
during 1875.
Tls. 40,000 carried to reserve. the Agency of the Company at tareclle, Messrs. Ulysse Pila & Ca. having resigned.
Messrs. Arles, Dufour & Ca, are appointed to conduct surveys and assees damages, &o, at that port.
The vacant caused by the retirement of Mr. H, P, Hanson has been filled by. Mr, 'H, Sutherland (of Messrs, John Foster €o.), who is now proposed as a member of the Court.
Bacance Suxex—90rn Joss, 1876, Galas of Wor pital—paid up.
00,000.00 "ust December, 1875 622,186,15 Ada Arsount st Dei
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.