The 12th Ordinary General Meeting of the above Company was held at the offices of the Company, 10, The und, at 4 p.m. on the 13th inst. The following were present:—Messrs. W. D. Little (Chairman), C. M. Dyce, J. N. Jameson, H. R. Kinnear, W. H. Poate, and A. Zickermann (Directors), Juhn Prentice, W. King, J. M. Young, E. J. Cornfoot, J. Tulloch, W. H. Anderson, T. Morat, P. McGregor Grant, T. Weir, W. Meyerink E. Wheeley, C. S. Moore, H. A. J. Macray, J. Stenhouse, F. W. Styan, J. Such, and W. G.' Bayne, Secretary, representing 1,724 shares.
The Secretary, Mr. W.G. Bayne, hia read the notice convening the mee the Chairman said Gentlemen:—The Report and State-iment of Accounts have been in your hands for some days past, and with your pér-mission, we will follow the old established custom, and treat them as having been Iread. 'The business for your consideration at this Ordinary General Meeting is of a formal nature only, and includes the passing of the Report and Accounts,—Declaration of a Final Dividend and Bonus, and your consent to the Directors' proposal to place Tls. 40,000 out of the profits of the year to the Reserve Fund; also the election of Directors and Auditors for the next working year. It is pleasurable to note an improvement in the outturn of the Accounts for 1902, and that we are gradually increasing our earnings, as will be seen by a glance at Working Account for 1903, and this may add is arrived at without departing from the careful policy which has charactised the conduct of our business for some years past, and in spite of the fact that rates all' over the world are extremely low, and show little or no igns of improvement. You will also observe from the statement, that a new account has been opened, styled Exchange Fluctuation Account, instead of the method pursued heretofore of placing the lance of Exchange to Working; Account.
I enable the shareholders to see the actual results of the year under considerat!
from the figures before to the credit of Liability' Account, as at 30th June, amounted' to 14,088.83, 2 sum considerably in of our requirements, and we now propose with your consent to transfer Tls. 100,000 to the Reserve, which will bring that fund up to Tls. 500,000. This Directors greater confidence that a reduction of meet with your approval.
re whing you to vote upon the re:
ations L have already referred to, 1 wish to express on behalf of the Board, and I sin sure of all present, the regret we feel at the death of Mr. Augustus White who for so many years rendered xt and valuable Services to the as one of its Auditors.
Gentlemen, have only to hat before putting the formal re-ions, T shall be very glad to hear remarks you may have to. mak and that I shall have much pleasure answering them to the best of my There being no questions, it wa posed by the Chairman, seconded by Jas. N. Jameson, and carried unani ly that 1.—That the Report and Accounts ax now presented be accepted and passed.
The following resolutions were also put to the meeting and carried unanimously.
2.—Proposed by Mr. W. D. Little, seconded by Mr. Zickermann: That a final share "dividend of 4 per cent on the paid up capital, and a bonus of 10 per cent on Contributory Premiums be distributed, both payable at the exchange of 2/6} per tacl} to place Tls. 40,000 to the credit of the Reserve Fund and the balance to be retained to meet further liabili Further that Tls. 100,000 should be transferred from account to the credit of 10 Reserve Fund.
3.—Proposed by Mr. J. M. Young, seconded by Mr. E. Wheeley: That Messrs. W. D. Little, Dyce, Jamesoi:, Kinnear, Poate and Zic mn be re-elected Directors of the Company, and that their remuneration be Tls. 4,500 per annum.
4.—Proposed by Mr. J. Tulloch, seconded by Mr. John Prentice: That Mesera, Wrightson and Wingrove be re-elected Auditors of the Compat The Chairman—That is all the business of the general meeting, except I m: say that dividend warrants will be posted to-morrow. We are now going in for transformation scene, which turns us into an Extraordinary General Meeting.
The Secretary, Mr. W. G. Bayne, read the notice convening the Extraordinary meeting.
The Chairman:—Gentlemen,—You will doubtless remember that at the 11th Ordinary General Meeting of the Company held on the 2ist October last year, the Chairman drew your attention to' the fact "that the working of the Company is burdened with " paid-up capital far in excess of all needs, and that it is a matter which must have the attention of your Directors in due time." As thi statement was unchallenged at the mecting, and the idea was further approved by many shareholders with whom the Directors exchanged views, they took the matter into serious consideration and eventually elaborated the scheme which resulted in the circular (the notice connected with which you have just heard
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.