The annual general meeting of shareholders in the Cheng Rubber Estates, Ld. was held on Thursday afternoon at the offices of the Secretaries, Messrs. J. A, Wattie Ca., Ld. In the absence of Dr. Ivy, through indisposition, the chair was occupied by Mr, A. K. Craddock, who was supported by Messrs. A. J. Welch and Hugo Reiss, directors, and Mr. C. J. L. Stewart, representing the Secretaries. The attendance represented 23,300 shares.
In his speech, the Chairman said The year under review has seen no diminution of the acute depression that has ruled in the rubber market for the past two years or more and has been a most trying and anxious one for all concerned with the conduct of the affairs of the estate. The net result of the year's working has been a loss of is. (11,029.42 as compared with a loss of Tis, 18,080.88 for the previous year. In this connexion T must point out to you~ that although the full authorized fees are charged up in the accounts, your Directors have drawn no fees for the past two years and the seo votaries have not received their fee since September 1921. The expenditure on capital account during the year was negligible, only some Tls. 396.47 having been spent on the upkeep of the immature area.
The cost of production, this: year shows a very material reduction compared with that for the previous year and is being steadily reduced, month by month.-The cost for July, the first month off the new financial year was down to just inside 24 cents, say 6} pence, per pound, which figure I hope will he maintained, if it cannot be improved upon. Whilst on this subject of cost, I must point out to you that we are at present severely handicapped by the fact that the Cheng. division! 256 acres in extent and Bukit Tinggi 19 acres have both had to be rested throughout the year, in order to give the bark a chance of recovering from earlier bad treatment; so that the 425 acres that are being tapped on Paya Rumput division have had to earn the keep of the rest of the estate.
The visiting agent, in his report made at the end of June, reported that the whole of the mature area was in good order as regarded weeding. Grass is being allowed to come in on the slopes, in order to prevent wash and the loss of the top soil; as soon as funds permit it will be advisable to dig silt pits wherever wash is likely to prove troublesome. Pests and diseases gave very little trouble during the year; a total of 166 trees were lost, of which 64 were due to disease and most of the rest were blown down in a violent storm that occurred last April. Labour has
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.