'The 16th annual general meeting' of the Dominion Rubber Ca., Ltd, was held on March 27 in' the offices of the secretaries and genera} managers, Messrs. A. R. Burkill and Sons,'2 Canton Road. Mr. Byrne, supported by Messrs. A. W. Burkill and F, W. Sutterle, und "Mx. C.J.' Smith, secretary, presided over a gathering repre: hares, chairman said:— of his speech, the The report and accounts having been in your hands for some time, I will, with your permission, follow ie usual course and take them as rear The report, as on former oe:
sions, 4s you as concisely as! possible the riv—sary statistics and details as regards the working of the estates, and thes leave very little to add to. The yorking of Doth estates continued satis'rtorily throughout the year and, due i the higher output, costs showed a siderable improvement over those of: the previous year.
As will be een from the report, practically all the compan;—~ble-land has been planted up. As far back as 1917, an application for 1 block of which only 200 acres were granted. Our application was renewed in 1927 and every chance!
company's application receiving approval. The total area covered by our revised application is 600 acres, and it is quite that we may be granted an area. of 800 acres at an early In the event of receiving an early ap-Proval of the application from the Government, it is proposed to make fort on' the opening up of 100 eres right away. There is no land available for alienation neat Dominion Estate and future extensions of the company must, therefore, be confined to Hendra' Estate, Everything possible is being done to bring the costs down to a lower level and, although the "coat of 6.02d. per Ib. compared with other: estates may appear to be on the high side, T might say that Dominion Estate, owing to its extremely broken' and hilly nature, does not permit of such low cos estates more favourably situated, 'The result of the year's working amounted to Tls. 56,745.92 as against Tls. 16,030.98, the previous year. Several factors' contributed tos the achievement of this satisfactory result, the principal being the higher output for the year, which amounted to 648.680 Ib. as against the previous voar's figure of 431.406 1b. In addition to this, a better average selling price was realized from the sale of our crop. while. at the same time, the cost of production was lowered by 1.674. per Ib. After the payment of an interim dividend of ten tael cents per share, the balance remaining, for distribu: tion amounts to Tls. 47,472.12 and your directors recommend the payment of a final dividend of 18 tael cents ner share, making 25 per cent. for the year, absorbing Tls. 25,011. 75, to place to general reserve Tis 10.000. tu write off various assets Tls. 487261. to donate to British Forces Recreation Centres Fund Tis, 250, and to carry forward the balance of Tls. 7,387.76. and T hope you will approve of the directors rrermmendation with regard to the annranriation.
Before concluding, I would like to express the board's appreciation to; Mr. Skyum on Dominion, tune who managed Dominion Estate during the manager's absence on leave and to the Straits agents and visiting-agent for the good care of our properties thoughout the yen Before putting the resolutions to: the meeting I'shall be glad to answer to the best of my ability any avestions shareholders may wish to There were no questions and the following resolutions were put to! the, meeting and cared wnaninously Proposed by Mr. E, T. Byrne and seconded by Mr. A.W. Burkill—That the report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 1929, presented, be accepted.
Prosposed by Mr. 'E. '7. Byrne and seconded by Mr. F. W. Sutterle. That the following recommenda tion as to the appropriation of the Lalance at credit of profit and loos count, as presented, be accepted:
pay final dividend of stack Te Te To
Te write off pisni and'
Mores Proposed by Mr. F. W. Sutterle and seconded by Mr. W..R. McBain.—That Mr. A. W. Burkill be re: elected a director of the company.
Proposed by Mr. W. R. McBain and seconded by "Mr. Chun Sing Long-jue—That Messrs. Lot Ringham & Matthews be re-elect auditors to the company.
New Amherst Rubber Estate The Annual meeting of _shareholders in the New Amherst Rubber Estate Ltd. was held on March 31. Mr. C. J. L. Stewart presided, and ported by Mr. R. N, Swann J. Welch, directors, and PF. Shackleton, representing Messrs. J. A. Wattie & Ca, Ltd, the general managers.
The notice calling the meeting having been read, the Chairman The report and accounts have been in your hands for some and so Iwill, with your permission, follow the usual procedure and take them as read.
Your directors regret very much, that they are in the unhappy posi tion of having to present to you again, what you cannot help but consider an unsatisfactory report, T would, however, like to point out. to you, in this connection, that Tls. 39,541.59 of the loss shown by the profit and loss account is accounted for by the payment of interest on our debentures and other indebtedness, and that the loss for the year on the working of the company, provided that it had been free from debt, would have deen only Tis.
To secure this result with an average nett selling price of 8d. er Ib, reflects great credit on the administration of the manager, Mr. Norris, and our best thanks are due to' him for the efficient manner in which he has steadily reduced the expenditure and brought the estate into good order since he took over charge of the property. For the coming year the estimated out ut fs put at 900,000 Th. and I anti. cipate that at the present price of rubber the actual out-of-pocket expenses incurred on working will be covered approximately by the proceeds of sales, but, on the other liliand, it will require an average net selling price of at least 111d. per Th, to pay of the interest as well as the estate and head office expenditure.
From this it will be clear to you that, whilst the company is finaacially very seriously embarrassed, the situation is not yet quite deserate, and for this reason Sir Elly Kadoorie has kindly offered to continue to finance the company until October 81, 1930, in the hope that in the meantime the state of the raw rubber market may take a turn for the better and thus enable the company to extract itself from the morass in which it is now wallowing.
It is impossible, however, according to the articles of association for him to carry out this generous "Mr. tention, unless you pass the resola- the cultivation now being done!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.