Shanghai Tug & Lighter Ca.
The 27th annual general meeting] of the Shanghai Tug & Lighter Ca, Lid, was held "on March at the offices of the agents, Messrs Wheelock & Ca, 2 Trench Bund. Mr, Bernard Firth, chairman, presided_and he was supported by Messrs.
A. Peel, P. A, Cox and Forde (directors) and and Mr.
May, office manager. The Number of shares represented was 8,209 The notice convening the meeting] and the auditors' report having been read, the chairman' said; Gentlemen:—The report _and accounts for the year ended Decem-Ber 81, 1029, having been in your Ihands for several days, I will, with your permission, take them as read.
Tam sorry to say that the optimistic view held by some of us uring the early part of 1920, has not been justified. The frequent uprising of different military factions, fostered, no doubt by self-seeking politicians, both in and out ~of office, proves beyond a doubt that China is still far from being that united and peaceful country we all hope for, Ware ly have nin gathered in the auth and the pos-Poets of 2 return to normal tradin, eciviions in the mea future are jue from bright, Military seizure!
rolling. stock on the railways and]
[trying conditions, and this excellent behaviour enabled us to carry out ithe work successfully. Payment for [these and several operations of [lesser degree have been received and Jare included in the 1929 accounts.
With regard to your trucking or [land transport department, the learnings, while showing a. slight improvement, are not anything to compared with what your company is equipped for.
Competition this class of work is most keen, however, the department continues to serve the purpose for which it! was originally intended, -ie the protection of your existing business by enabling us to quote through rates to those of your constituents requiring such services.
You will note from the accounts before you that the sum of Tls. 60,596.22 has been written off for depreciation.
This sum is greater} than that allowed for in recent] years, but, in view of the good showing for the year 1929, your directors, in appropriating " the amount named, are carrying out the conser ive policy of the past.
'The amount of Tls. 40,000, which your directors recommend' being} placed to general reserve, bringing that fund to Tls. 400,000, is also in with your conservative policy and is, in a sense, an insurance against lean times which we all hope may not materialize for your company.
During the year, the steam tug Vulcan was disposed of adv ously, this vessel being too for present day passenger requirements and unsuitable. for towage. The steam launch Hong Lung was purchased from Messrs. Hong Chang, Chang & Ca., the builders, for a very moderate sum and I consider her to be quite an acquisition to your fleet. General upkeep on the! whole of the company's property, has, as usual, been charged to working' account.
The amount available for distribution is Tis, 259,811.39, which interference with shipping and other yeo directors recommend to. be menns of transport so necessary toldealt with as given in the report trade, are of such frequent occur® before ence that one is rather apt to over-"Your wisectors have pleasure in Jock what this means financially to recording *e appreciation of the merchants and traders generally. services rendered by the foreign Lass to the individual means loss to st tai and Chinese office staff, and I the nation, but this truth is either hall have plesstre later in proposjerlooked of, if realized, is ignored ing a resolution for the payment of being of little consequence by bonus to then those responsible. If only part of In spite of tie difficult trading the energy expended on. righting situation, steamship companies some of the imaginary wrongs China apparently are prepariag__ them-claims to suffer at the hands of selves to meet improved conditions, other nations were centralized on as is exemplified in the w and real effort to create a peaceful ing this port and China, surely such effort would for the trae Prove fruitful, and, with peace and [greater carrying capacities and security, would return confidence Tuxuriant pass and-good trade such as Ching ha Ju this connection, I would tion not known for many years. A vessels are ying fitted cessation of civil warfare and a with cold story space to meet the saturn to normal trading would increasing demands for such from mean a happy and prosperous the exporters of frozen, chilled or China, with famine and other such fresh eggs, a branch of the trade horrors, things of the past. "o which hai shown rapid growth doubt there are those in power who all this and much incre and are whole-heartedly working for the nation's we'sure, but they are unforturvely faced with many difficult problems, the most difficult of all being' the elimination of those self-seekers, who, for selfish motives, are insubordinate and seck to embarrass their Government at every available opportunity, totally ignoring the suffering their actions cause to the nation, "However, in spite of existing conditions, your company aboon most successful during the past year and the earnings show an appreciable increase over there of 1928, While economy of operating has received every attention, the maintenance of good service has been the first consideration, and your] directors feel that your nianagement are to be congratulated on being able to place before you such an excellent working account.
T am pierised to state that, during the year under review, your salvage being called upon for two major department was extremely fortunate berations. The mux. Victoria, stranded on Tungsha Banks, and the N. D. L, mail str, Derfflinger, Which' went on the rocks: come 26 niles outside the port of Tsingtao. he latter operation was carried out ce-operation with the Shanghai Dock & Engineering Ca. Ltd. Anything T might say in' praise and "appreciation of the members of their staff engaged on this work and with whom T was brought into. diteer contact, would fall very for short of what they deserve. This also applies 40 the members of your own staff engaged; in fact the whole salvage, crew; foreign and Chinese, Worked as one unit under the most the past few years. To meet thi your company has already placed fan order for two new insulated! lighters this year, in addition to the! six already operating, and it is more than probable that the requirements of your constituents will necessitate} further orders being placed during} the current year.
The passenger traffic to and from Shanghai and the number of tourist] vessels visiting this port make it increasingly hard for your existing Passenger tenders to satisfy the demands of steamship lines and your directors already have under consideration the construction of large passenger tender and tug.
I do not think there are any items in the balance sheet which call for} special comment, with the exception, perhaps, of the rather large item of Tls. 450,000 on fixed deposit. 'Against this, you will see that the balance on' current account smaller than usual, it having been the policy of your directors to build up the fixed deposits as much as possible. Nearly Tls. 100,000 of the fixed deposits represents the item of "premium on shares" on the liabilities side of the balance sheet. As you are aware, this premium innet be utilized for the payment, of dividends and is, therefore, shown separately from. your, general reserve. Instead, it is viewed by your directors as an insurance reserve for such of your craft as are not insured in an outside company, and, on the chance of claims being made against your company in respect such craft, "your directors deem necessary that such reserve should be maintained in.a liquid state. To meet the dividends recommended by your directors, to pay agents' commission and cuirentt expenses we are!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.