Eleventh Annual General Meeting The 11th annual general meeting of the above company was held on Monday afternoon in the offices of the secretaries, Messrs, J. A. Wattie & Ca., Ld., No 24a Kiangse Road, Mr. N. G. Maitland presiding.
In. the course of his speech, the Chairman said As you will have noted from the report the crop harvested during the year under review was 3,662 1b. short of the estimate, this was due to heavy wintering and labour difficulties.
Tapping costs were about one cent less than that of last year, whilst the total f.o.b. cost shows a reduction of slightly over a penny. Depreciation on buildings, etc., is not included in the f.0.b. cost as the various sums which it is reeommended should be written off the several accounts are really depreciation.
The amount of 12.40 pence realized per lb. for the quantity sold up to the end of the financial year is point.19 of a penny less than the total f.o.b. cost, and when the A/Salés for the balance of the year's output are received I am afraid that the average loss per b. will be greater.
I am pleased to state that the loss on rice supplied to the labour force this year will be very small, that for last April being only.01 cents per Ib.
The manager estimates the f.o.b. cost for the current year at 27.04 cents or 7.74 pence.
It is, however, impossible in these times to estimate costs a year ahead with any accuracy. General charges and upkeep of the produeing area are especially liable change should the market improve or decline to any extent from its present standing.
The estate at present is well supplied with water, it is considerably thinned out, and the rubber produced is of standard quality. About 20 acres will be taken into the tapping round during the cur-. rent year.
Mr. G. V. D. Sinclair, the visiting agent, in his last report states "The estate is in good order, and is being run well and economically. During last year a great deal of good work has been put in."
As stated in the report, with a view to further economizing, the board decided to. dispense with the services of Mr. Sinclair, and I now take the opportunity of expressing the Board's appreciation of his reports and advice.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.