We discussed some days ago the annual report of ti Company, and the speech of the Chairn Sutherland, at_ the Com 'Mr, Sutherland' financial condition of Jompany was an excellent one, the fleet eufticient and in good order, and the results of the year's working such that " reasonable dividend could be paid; his chief Inbour reconcile the sh with the new mail contract, on which they are to receive £95,000 a year, or nearly a million sterling altogether, less than in the previous decade. Firat, lo was able to tell them that in the courts of next year their fleet would amount to the very large tonuage of 260,000 tons; and to remind them that whereas when the famous Himalaya was built she was considered too large for their service, and promptly disposed of to the Admiralty, they were now building four steamers for the Australian trade, each almost twice the imalaye. In yeara of the expiring had built 82,000 tons of shipping, at a cost of over 2t millions, and had expended over half a million in improvements on their older vessels. In thi i they hail sold 33,000 tous, 20 gain to the fleet during the six years had been about 50,000 t But they had in no way strained their reavurces; they could ensily, i assary, have built twice much as they actually had done; but their policy had always been a conservative selves to their own proper and legitimate work, and had never attempted to attack any other interest or line." Mr. Sutherland avoided the question whether the P.
participation in the Conference is or is not an attack on the outside owers. The ideal they put before th Ives was to convert their branch jon as possible into lines of di without tranship-have not yet China, for Frouch i was perfectly confident 7 mail contract—oven at a red £95,000 a year—would be a remuuerativ twelve years azo the Company was paid £500,000'a year for the same service that it was! now yoing to perform for £265,000 a your; but at that time their coal cost them, laid down at their arations in the Evwst, an average of 45s, a ton, while the cost now'la not much more than half that amount. They had also got rid of the obligation to transport the mails through Egypt, and ho hoped they had finally done with the constant trouble caused by the Egyptian Quarantine Board. In. this permission to sond all their steamers thorough the Suez Canal, there was cons siderable saving in time, and couseq: of expense, to the Company, We that Me, Sutherland found it imposal avoid altogether that bugbear of all tions connected with the Exst, 1 exchange. Lhe Company lost £18,000 in past by the fall in silver, chiefly in the passenger traffic, for it was impossible to raise the faros as silver fell there is too much competition to allow to follow the example put on ten por ngo gots too low. In h Mr, Sutherland wmber of Council than the busi-airman of the Company which nefited more than all others by the 0 in homeward freight from low sutherland thou gave some ies, The company landed the port of London some 450,000 tous of cargo; and adiffereuce of Is, 4d. a ton on that quantity of cargo would amount to more than one per cent of dividend, As to rates-of freight, he told the shareholders thnt while the average rate at Bombay in 1880 was 44s, 9d. wan from 17, to 20+, Inst your in Calcutta in 1880 the raivs for dead weight were 59+. Od. and 48s, respectively, they were in 1836 37 and 22s. 3d. This is the result of ex competition, and he stated his con that nota single line of steamers tr between England and India had, accoun's were fairly made up, pai refit in 1886; which, however, has heel no means a bad atate of things for t Indian producer. The Aus contract was not yet settled, hopes therothe negotiations would be brought the whole he in saying that the ly well in the sev yours of thi ing mail contract, which, besides placing aside largo reserves, they had paid an averngo dividend of seven, per cent,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.