'The annual meeting of sharehold ers in the Tebong Rubber Estate, Li, was held Inst Friday at the' otices of Messrs. J. A. Wattie Ca, Val, 10 Canton' Road. Mr. A. J. Welch presided, supported by Messrs. W. Wakeford Cox, E. Byrne (directors) and C. J. L. Stew art (secretary). There were 104405 shares represented.
The notice convening the meeting having been read) the Chairman Profit and loss account show het profit for the year of Tls. 33,- 30, to which must be added '31 brought in, or a total 1 of 4,058.61, and your directors the report before" you propose how this should be disposed of.
The Land Account Turning to the asset side of the balance sheet you will see that I stands our books at THs, 118,595 wer ease of Ths. 45: 4.19)
"ar, whi is recounted in half of the di the western bound: of our Gordon Road property. The asveosed value of our several is Tle, 275,870.00, or a differen our favour over that at which in oar books of Tls. 257,074, The report and accounts have been in your hands for the preseribed period and, with your per-_ mission, I propose to follow the, usual custom and to take them ax read.
The year's working has resulted in a profit of Tls. 512,789, or slight-over 10 times the profit earned during the preceding year. This profit is all the more satisfactory: when one remembers that it hat been earned on an output of rubber representing only 74 per cent. of the standard production, a sell-price of 2/78 per Ib. and a production cost of 7.97 pence per Jb. This latter figure includes the debenture interest and all Shanghai expenses and, being over pence per Ib, cheaper than the cost for the previous year, reflects great it upon the management.
For the current year we shall be Ly] permitted to expert ut least 1,17% depreciate 493 Ib, of rubber, or 325,493 Ib. yrorbeen kept in good than for the year under rev ing the year, the cost of the estimated cost of producing! which having been charged to work. this quantity being about 74d. ing account. per Ib. while 362,880 Ib. have Furniture and fittings stand at] been sold forward' at an aver-Tls. 2338.51 and and] age price of $1 per Ib. so that it blunt at after 10 is necessary for us to realize 1/11 cent. depreel jon on both, and I per 1b. for the quantity that still need hardly say these amounts are Yemains unsold, if we are to earn only a fraction of their real val the same profit for the current as they are in every respect up- year as was earned during the: to-date and in the best of condit ion. year under review.
Electrical fittings stand at the In the profit and Joss account purdy nominal value of Tls. 87.54.
I think that the only item that re-General stocks—Messrs, Low quires explanation is Tls. 2,718.21 Bingham and Matthews have agai spent under the heading of pre-this year taken the physical stocks ary expenses. This sum real-item by item and the stock lists ly represents the amount of stamp have all been certified by the gener-duty payable to the Straits Gov-al manager. These stocks were as ernment on the transfer of the at December 31, during the pair title deeds from the old company four years:—to the prerent company.
193 Tls. 509,275.58 You will have noticed th: 478,960.30 having paid three interim dividends 367,008.27 totalling 453 cents per share, th 207,774.28 remaining profit available for di lors feel gute you lanpreeiate this reduction which contributed materially to the duction of our bank overdraft out in-any way lessening the effec ey of the company. will tribution is Tls. 195,¢08.94, equi has valent to 274 cents per share, out of which your directors now." recommend that a final dividend of 20 cents par share be paid,,. that Tls. 30,000+be placed to -rererve, amounting to Tis, 118,737.73, which of course includes the debentures with 2 face value of Tis, 49,300 which have been bought at cheap prices but which, so far, have not. been cancelled. of reserve land that a for rubber growing and your direetors have given instructions to clear and plant this area during the current year. When this has been done, our planted area will be 2,859 acres in one compact oblong, block. The planting and upkeep of this extension is estimated to cost $26,400 in the coming year. The weeding of the existing aren ported to be in order and during the year silt pits were dug over a further 220 acres, thus bringing the total area treated in this manner up to 1,020 acres. The benefit to the trees from this form of cultivar tion is said to be very marked: 1,058 trees were thinned out during the ard this work will be continu-"din accordance with the index of yield from individual trees, Pests or diseases, as usual, gave very little trouble, the loss' from these causes being only 169. trees. In common with most other estates the Peninsula, a certain amount of trouble was experienced from a ige of labour towards the close ar, many coolies being en= away by the prospect of higher ses elsewhere. At the present time there are 22. recruiters in India, but until sufficient fresh coolies have arrived it will be neces sary to employ Chinese tappers for WY areas that are brought into the tapping rounds. The health of the Labour force, I am glad to tay, con-Hinuel to show an improvement throughout the year, malaria being. much less prevalent' than formerly, Tapping continues to be well and carefully done and the consumption of bark is kept within the preseribed limits; the rate of bark renewal and the reserves of bark are also satisfactory.
Mr. McKenzie, our manager, Nent on a well-earned holiday in March, 1925, and thus, for the major portion of the year under review, the affairs of the estate were under the charge of Mr. Balfour, the first assistant. I think we can safely congratulate hi results of his administration and 1 would like to take this opportunity of thanking him and all others ceted with the running of the estate for the good and hard work they have put in on behalf of the company.
That concludes my remarks, gentlemen, but if anyone has any ques tions to ask, T shall be pleased to answer to the best of my ability Uefore I formally" prepare adoption of the report and account:
The following resolutions then were pat and carried unanimour-
"That the directors' report and statement of accounts for the year ended January $1, 1926, as presented, be adopted posed by the Chairman and seconded by Mr, W. Wakeford Cox.
5 inal dividend of 20 candareens per share on the issued tal of the company be declared, making 65 candareens per share for "Proposed by the Chai man and seconded by Mr, E, T. Byrne.
"That the appointment of Mr. E. T. Byrne as a director of the com-confirmed."—Propesed by Mr. C. M. Bain and seconded by Mr, On Zwen.
"That Mr. Chu Pao-san be re-elected a director of the -com-
"Proposed by Mr. F. 8. Wong and seconded by Mr." Chi "That Mesers, Lowe, Bingham Matthews be elected auditors to the company for the ensuing year."—Proposed; by -Mr, T...R. Anderson, and seconded: by Mr. C. S. Yang. work on behalf of the club, He hoped Mr. R. Grimshaw was having a pleasant holiday and that he short ly would return to give them the benefit of his experience at Home, Mr. G. F. Forshaw was due for leave shortly and he trusted he too would return' invigorated by his holiday and help them till more, They were glad to welcome again Capt. E. 1. M, Barrett and Mr.
Leach.
ast year they managed to reduce their expenditure, whilst their mem= bership vase from 679 to 614 playing members and from 904 to 326 none playing members. It was obvious that now they were recovering from the bad years during and immediates succeeding the war. The com mittee tried the experiment of run ning a series of entertainments, on which there was a financial loss, but he thought the fun they had [was worth the &xpense.
In spite of the ground being Jcloyed for some time during the season, they managed to play off 21 matches, all of which wore very enjoyable, especially those at the the season when they met naval teams. That was a part of their programme he would like to see extended, for they to weleomve the oticers and men of HI, M. ships and thought they should given every opportunity to play, when on shore, The club was beaten both Hongkong and. Hankow. De. H, H. Morris headed the batting. averages and Mr. H.W, Alligon the Dowling.
As they knew, Shanghai now had Jas a visitor Lord Willingdon, who distinguished first class they ad avked_ him honorary member dure He was sure, if Lord Willingdon would honour them at the club, the members would be proud to'take advantage of his ad~ ice and example, Tennis scorned to be just popular as ever, but it, was the hat the club shoul fave finished higher in both divisions lof the League. There were senior members quite willing to coach the younger players and he hoped Jorpo here had been some intter woud sail themselves of
friticiam of the new hard courts: now being laid down, but the mens hers could not say they were taken surprise, for the matter had been discussed for 20 years and it was only he question of ways and means that nad prevented them being put ican before, Now they were an sceonoplished fact and they would rine-t the demand of a large section the clab's membership.
It war proposed to throw the ticket ground and tennis courts ven on certain days at times when fey Would not be Used by the memo in order. to encourage sand schcalshore. "Phe club held certain position in Shanghai as the targeer sporting in side the Race Clu pected to take the lead in sports fand it was up to them to assist the younger generation at much possible. They had in the club a legacy <f good sportsmanship. Tt not a potchunting arena, but the members came there for veereae tion and they all desired it to retain that character, Tt was for the club to set an example and keep the Englishman's. privilege of "playing the game" before everything else.
"The report and accounts. were adopted and the following officers ceted Gexeral Committee:—Messrs. H. W.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.