The annual general meeting of shareholders of the China General Omnibus Ca. Ltd. was held at the office of the general managers of the company, Sassoon House, on February 25.
Mr. H. E. Arnhold, presided and Iwas supported by Messrs. Chun Bing-him, Ellis Hayim, W. R. Me-Bain, and Commander F. R. Davey, directors, and Mr. H. S. Benner, secretary. The shareholders pres-lent represented 32,604 shares.
The secretary having read the! notice convening the meeting and the auditor's report, the chairman said:—Before proceeding to the consideration of the annual report and Jaccounts for the past-year, I propose first to deal with a few matters which you will doubtless find! lof interest. The past year as, T think I may say, seen greater progress and development than any jone year since the inception of our company. Our fleet has been it fereased until it has now reached a oral of 98 buses, and arrangements; for further considerable extensions have already been made. With the assistance of these new vehicles it] fis hoped that the problem of overcrowding during rush hours can be successfully coped with, and it is) the policy of your Board to morea: the fleet as rapidly as possible wu this difficulty is overcome. As a further means to this end the operation of a number of double-decked buses has been suggested and three such bodies are now in course of construction in order to try this jour, Overcrowding is an unfortunate experience common to all transport organizations in all big cities. If transport companies, whether above or below ground, in bus tram, were to provide all the vehides and personnel necessary to enable all who wish to do so, to travel in comfort when the tide of traffic sets inwards and outwards at lat the beginning and end of the day, the overhead expenses would be so materially increased that the' cost, fares would be very considerably increased also. The mileage operated during 1929 has increased by 60 por cent. over that of 1928; and it is well to bear in mind that such increases of fleet and mileage bring in their train the necessity for additional maintenance and operating facilities, These have been provided by the extension of the Garage and the erection of new offices on our promises at No. 263 Connaught Road. The es hitherto occupied there have, as your business expanded, become rmiuch too small and inconvenient for this purpose.
With an undertaking such as) ours, development and extension are continuous and further arrange ments will have to be made during the present year to house and care for new vehicles. Maintenance of the fleet is being given meticulous attention, and the exertions of our staff in this direction are meeting, with their due reward as the average mileage run per breakdown by: the heavy buses compares very favourably with that of the leading. British bus companies.
In conducting a transport business the question of accidents is an. ever-present source of danger and: anxiety. To arrange matters so as to reduce these to the lowest possible level is the care and consideration of the senior members of our staff and that their efforts are be-
1 successful may be ganged by the fact that during the year under review the average mileage per accident increased to 4,926 against 4227 in 1928.
As our returns include all accidents, no matter how trifling, it will be understood that the vast' majority are. only of a minor character and it will interest you to Jearn that there are drivers in the' company's employment who have driven for over two years without the slightest accident of any description. With the help of a system of ¥e-wards, and penalties which take the form of extra schooling and training, it is confidently hoped to increase the mileage per accident yet} more.
Tt is gratifying 10 be able to re-Pott that no labour difficulties of fany kind were experienced during 1929,.and in this connection, it is noteworthy that the Provident Fund for Chinese Staff referred to in my fast report. kas now reached a. total Jof about Tls. 23,000.. Our relations with our employees are on a satis-
[factory basis, and we are always! Prepared to receive and consider, with an eye to improvement, any' reasonable views which any class of Jemployee may bring forward.
The company is fortunate in possessing 2 competent and energetic staff who under the direction of your Board and general managers hhas_ succeeded in developing ths business of the company to a degree Jof success which is reflected in the [balance sheet and profit and loss account for the year 1929, These having been in your hands. for the necessary statutory period I presume that you will agree to [their being taken as read. You will Thave noted that the nett profit. for ithe year amounts to Tls. 101,634.43, [which with the balance brought forward of Tls. 139,98.54 gives a sum Tis, 115,472.97 for disposal, Your directors propose the de-Jclaration of a dividend at the rate jof 9 per cent. on your Capital of Tls. 1,000,000, which will absorb Tls. 90,000. It is also proposed that goodwill and development accounts be written off entirely by a trans-for of the balance of Tls. 71,204.85 from share premium account and of Tls. 7,505.15 from profit and loss, the balance to be carried" forward the latter will thus stand 17,067.82. As you are aware your capital was increased from Tls. 708,- }000. to Tls. 1,000,000 by the issue of 29,700 shares of Tls. 10 each at a premium of Tis, 2.50 per share, an operation which resulted in increasing the reserve in the share permium account to Tis, 71,294.85, Depreciation reserve both on bu! es and tyres have increased proportion ately with the mileage operated and are considered adequate In this connection it must be remembered also that the heavy fall jin exchange which has taken place inal fleet. was purchas-new depreciated value as standing in our book: mn to replacement. cost. Sunday ex editors account has, since been liquidated, while tokens issued have increased slightly during the year.
Tarning to the Assets, goodwill has increased by Tls. 25,800 which Jsum represents a payment of Tis 22,000 made to the original Concessionaire. Under his agreement he held the right to take up at his Joption 10,000 ten tael shares at par, and it was considered advisable to make this payment in cancellation of his option, The balance of Tls. 3,000 was on account of a subsidiary route taken over by cur company. This route has been operated on a satisfactory basis ever since. Development. account remains unchanged, and as stated above it is recommended that. both this and the goodwill account. should be written off. Land account. fs unchanged. Buildings account. has increased by Tls. 94,185.08 for; the reasons already placed before you, Rolling Stock Tls. 916,013.44. Buses included in this figure are shown at cost, and against this amount stands the Depreciation Reserve of Tls. 246,372, 'The addition to plant, furniture and fittings, and running' equipment were neces ated by the increase in the company's business. Stores hay creased to Ts. 111,634.4 which is commensurate with the extension of your fleet, Sundry Debtors: These have almost entirely been collected, any sums still outstanding are ' considered good for payment Arnhold & Ca. Ltd, Tis, 147- 058.89: This sunt represents the company's floating balances in the custody of which the—gencral managers act 2s the company's bankers. This will be absorbed by the dividend to be paid and by the, purchase of new rolling stock. Meanwhile it is earning inter a satisfactory rate, While stati of themselves do not of necessity convey a great deal of information probably a few facts concerning the Company's business operations will be of interest to you.
During the past year your fleet operated over three and a half, million miles, carried about twenty-three million passengers and in doing so consumed about three quarters of a million gallons, of, gasoline. Fares collected included about 2550 tons of coppers, against which just over one thousand miles of tickets were issued.
Taking a general view of our company's development and present position T fee that we may be satisfied that we possess a flourishing and progressive enterprise, This!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.