In view of the great attention given to the cotton industry, the following account of the Woo Fung Cotton Mill, Ningpo, will be of interest, not only as showing the widespread condition of prosperity in the trade, but also as an example of successful management of Chinese of this business.
The Woo Fung Mill is one of moderate capacity and is working only 23,200 spindles. Situated at Ningpo, it is run under management which is purely Chinese, It was started in 1907 with a paid up capital of $6C0,000, divided into 6,000 shares of $100 each, and has invariably paid good dividends. During the last three years the profits of the mill have been quite in keeping with the prosperity enj by foreign-managed contemporaries. Out of the working of these three years big and substantial increases have been made in the capital, increasing it to three times its original amount, without any call upon the shareholders—a fact which well bespeaks the flourishing state of the mill.
In 1917, after paying a dividend for the year of 8 per cent., a bonus of $50 per share was declared, which was utilized in augmenting the capital, by increasing the paid up value per share to $150. n 1918, after paying the usual dividend of 8 per cent. a further bonus of $40 per share was declared and this, as in the preceding year, was used to increase the paid up value per share to $190. The profits for 1919 yielded the customary dividend of 8 per cent. plus a cash bonus of 850 per share. Over and above, a bonus of $110 was available and was utilized for raising the paid up value per share to $300.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.