In our provioits isetio we commented at some length on the attendant oircumnees of the introduction of this Company, also of the golden prospects of the undertaking in the future t take is to exam! tions of the Directors have been actually realised.
Ta illustrate this we cannot do better than give an extract or two from the annual report of the Directors on the first year's operations of the Company, comprising a period of eleven months only, the business having been taken over on the lat February, 1882, The above extracts give the pointe of Mir. Keewicl [The extencts referred ing ho that parti h referred to accounts, will Herald of 3rd August.)
We do not think the Chairman could have said much less, and we think, in support of the Directors' characters us sharp business men, he might have aald good deal more. It is not iven to every-0 to be able to make @ silk purse out of On the whole, Mr, Keswick through his allotted task have it superhuman exertions in waaring other people's money. Shareholders are the camels and donkeys, a pationt.aud long suffering race, Judging from the equanimity with which they received this report, one would imagine that the proprietors of the Indo Steam Navigation Company have, in their composition, a more than ordinary proportion of asinine blood. So. far as we ru, they ig heard the Chairman had to say, and de-thei th were confronted, deprived them of power of speech." Whavever be the caw the Directors have certainly good re to be thankful. One, and only one, important question was put by Mr. Book. This gentleman, who evidently is possessed of more. than ordinary courage, mildly asked what we consider a inept ossonti question—siz., the receipts taken by the Company dur term referred, to in the report. immediately crushed by Mr. Ko replied with that lofty superiority of the table, thet it was not usual at steamship meeting to make public: the ta, wor the rates at which they had been earned, In bygone years, as our readers know, it has not been usual for those who mat ipping companies to explain many other items connected with the bu ous equally vital as those regarding which Pook requested some information, Ti rapidly changing howe:
ipping is ever to take its trus an investment, the sooner sud are changed, the better for all cancer: The only objection we can nee to a shipping company publishing their gross roceipta is. the mistaken idea that competitors will be kept in the dark concerning the rates at which thole rivals ara working, This is quite a fallacy, as opponents in every trade know perfectly well what their compeers are doin, As the shareholders did not think fit to on one or two items which we think require elucidation, For instance, we think th planation should be given how it waa that, month or two after the purchase of the fleet, it was discovered that one of the steamers, the Appin, was unsuitable for the Company's work. With this excuse the vessel was gold, and though the pany had paid for it an average of £15 0 '3 before half the Lo ippin and Europe in the wworve fund—£l0aton. 4 urop which was lost, is maid to have boon insured, but to what extent we know not, as the balance-sheet contains no credit on her account what-over.
The depre ion account is also a puzzle, The Directors aay that they have written off £12,000'on the coat of steamship: oto. (£269,418), which they rate of 53 per cent. Uni gotten how to calculate, £12,000 from the above-sum is only about per cent. It m received from of the Europe is in some way smuggled uti 90, 1¢ de. perplexing and irregular ico to the Shareholders, an impor-like thia should not need any explanation, The next item whioh atrikou our attention is one on the credit alde of the reserve account, which is couched in following remarkable language "By not onrninga of Steamers, after deducting Commissions of £10,199 holders were entitled wore therefore only £3,824. In short therefore, had it not been for the the generosity of the managers, Company, on their own showing, is of course as favourable as they can make it, would have been nos rly £15,000 to the bad in eleven months The managers of the Company, are aug on g up nearly £7,000 comm emelude one of two things, Kithor Messrs, Jardine and Ca. have a very comfortable and lucrative berth; or they, have already done so well by the tranafor of their Company, that thei ce as shipowners rebels against such wholesale profits. If the last conclusion be the correct one, the concession is all the more remarkable, as Scotchmen are celebrated not only for keeping the Sabbath, but everything they can Iny their hai The ques: if the managers can afford to return so much as they have done, what is the total sum they of this sum is represented by the £7,000 which they have voluntarily relinquished
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.