Investment Ca. Ld., was held at No. 1 The Bund on January 26 afternoon, Mr. R. S. F. McBain presiding.
a the course of his speech, the Chairman said:—7 The result of the year's working shows a surplus of Tls. 174,422.67 including the amount of Tls. $2,644.74 brought forward from last year, and this surplus your directors recommend should be dealt with as follows:
To add to the reserve against fluctuations of investments, which now stands in the balance sheet at Tls. 50,000, a further Tls. 150,000 thus bringing up this reserve to Tls. 200,000, and to carry forward the balance of Tls. 24,422.67.
This reserve does not meet the full difference between the nominal market value of the Investments and Debentures at the end of the year and their full cost but I am inclined to think that it will be sufficient in the end for the purpose. You will remember that last year after reviewing the history of the company andj the causes which led to its formation I-said that of the then total amount of the investments and debentures of Tls. 1,280,000, Tls. 570,000 was in rubber. This year of the total of Tls. 1,175,000 about the same amount is in rubber but the nominal market value of the same at the end of the year was Tle, 285,239 as against Tls. 422,389, so that I think it will be obvious that there is no great fear of the value going much lower, Now besides this special reserve against fluctuations there is a general reserve of Tls. 75,000 which is more than enough to cover the Tls. 50,000 which the auditors point out in their report is unsecured on the money invested in loans. Last year you will remember that they gave the sum of approximately Tls. 122,000 as unsecured, thus showing a consid erable improvement here.
Although it has been considered advisable to pay no dividend this year, which will undoubtedly be a disappointment to you, it must be remembered that we have passed through a very bad year in the history of Shanghai without much damage to the company, and I think I can fairly say that we shall start on our new financial year in a sound position. Of course the rubber position is still very depressing but our shares are written down to a very low point and so we can afford to wait.
There were no questions and the forma] resolutions were adopted.
Ix election in the French Concession it is a common practice for the electors to exercise their suffrages in favour not only of those who have signified their willingness to become candidates for office but also of those who have not. Accordingly the number of people who receive votes on occasions such as the municipal election is considerable. The " Bulletin Municipal" just issued shows the following for the last municipal election:—M. Speelman, 245; M. Shoop, 231; A. Tulasne, 174; P. Lo Bris, 166; A. Chapeaux, 150; A. Arnaud-Coste, 141; Vandelet,' 14; Pardon, 13; Gaillard, 6; Madier, 3; White, 2; Cazier 2; Lowe, 2; Char-lot, 2; Lion, 2; Musso, 2; Camera, 2; Laverdure, 2; Laurent, 1; Ey-mard, 1; Schwytzer, 1; Dent, 1; Sallou, 1; Berthet, 1; Hourcade, 1; Maybon, 1; Lo Goellec, 1. The same type of voting took place for the Commission Fonciere, where the results were:—Ch. Barriers, 242; F. Sallou, 240; J. M. Tavares, 240; Vyvyan Dent, 239; Laverdure, 3; Bourhoulon, 3; Rabin, 3; Bibé, 3; Tissot-Dupont, 2; Chatley, 2; Labansat, 2; Herve, 2; Moller, 2. The following received' one vote each:—Pacot, Lavorel, Galian, Musso, O'Neill, Bell, Vandelet, Arnhold, Hummel Paturel, and Mornu.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.