The sixth annual general meeting of shareholders in the above company was held at the offices of Messrs. J. A. Wattie & Ca., the secretaries and general managers, Kiangse Road, last Friday, Mr F. J. Burrett presiding.
In the course of his speech the Chairman said The result of the year's working shows a profit of Tls. 12,952.13 which includes a profit on exchange of Tls. 6,517.25. This latter amount is really only a book entry, the actual profit between revenue and expenditure being Tls. 6,434.88, which under present circumstances may be considered satisfactory.
In my address to you last year I mentioned that on the advice of the mycologist and Messrs. Thames Hornidge, consulting engineers. Ipoh, your directors had decided to abandon work on about 36 acres of the newly planted area. On a survey being made during last May it was found that the area consisted of 53.1 acres, on which all work has been stopped.
The proposal to plant it with foodstuffs for the benefit of the labour force has not been found practicable, therefore as soon as an opportunity presents itself the area will be sold.
Labour has been adequate. At the beginning of the year it was hard to obtain and keep labour, owing to the high wages being offered by local Malay and Chinese holdings, but the depressed state of the market latterly obviated this difficulty.
A small portion of the producing area is being rested in order to aid bark renewal and the remainder has been placed on alternate days tapping.
All expenditure on the estate has been brought down to the lowest point possible and only the most essential work taken in hand.
In ease there should be any demand for information as to the prospects of th® company, I will briefly state that the directors have made no forward sales, but until the market improves we are selling as opportunity offers.
The continent of Europe, generally speaking, is starved for rubber and whenever commercial intercourse is again universal there, there is no doubt whatever that rubber will come into its own and that the patience of investors in rubber producing companies will be justly rewarded.
T do not venture to predict when this will come about, but when it does eventuate I am positive that the present stocks in London and Liverpool will be absorbed quickly enough and that demand will rapid-overtake supply.
There' were no questions, and the formal resolutions were adopt-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.