Alloding to the company's purchase of the Blae Anchor Line, he said be thought that it was an sbsolately fair transaction on both sides. The accounts showed that the £25,000 for goodwill had already been written off, leaving the capital of the concern at present at only £250,000; that was to say, about £100,000 less than the value of a single mail steamer of the M class. It would be very hard if the Australian colonies continued to prosper, as seemed likely to be the case, if the company shoold not be able to obtain some profit on a moderate capital of that kind. They established at ones " direct cargo line to Australia, and they opened totally ner description of passenger be ese, which it hed been impossible them to enter into with their mail steamers to Australia
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.