Massey, directors, and M, N, Sparke, manager. There were 11, BAL shaves represented.
The chairman said:—
The report and accounts have een in your hands for sume days and 1 presume that you will wish me to follow the usual procedure and take them as read, The Late Sir Edward Pearce Before proceeding with the formal Dusiness of the Meeting, Lam sure you would wish me to refer to the Meath of Sie Exward Pearce. Sir Edward wa chairman of the Board fof Directors from July his method by which shareholders should receive a share of the pro: fits. I shall, however, deal with this malter at greater length at the Extraordinary General. Meeting which immediately follows. this Meeting.
During the year under review net rents are reduced by the sum of Tls. 48,241.03. On the other hand} the credit at Interest Account inereared by Tls. 37,898.19. The! reduction in net rents is mainly due to the increased charges for water and higher Municipal taxation, these fare outgoings over which we have no control and the increases are unavoidable. Since 1923 our water; charges have' increased over 200 yer cent. and our Municipal Rates and Taxes over 100 per cent., wherebork cost of estates are only about 30 per cent. higher than in China in and throughout the 1 youre of his fassuciution With the & in whose progress he was more than keen, his advice due to his great Knowledge of Shanghai was always of the greatest value to the corns pany, lis kindly disposition endeared him to all who had privilege of his friendship. und it ho exaggeration tw say that his loss is sadly felt by a very. large umber of friends, To Lady Pearce, we should like to' elfer our sincere sympathy in her great loss.
wilt first of ull deal with the suggested allocation of the year's After poying a final dividend of per cent, und " bonus of 6 per cent, we propose adding is. 40,000 to the Bad Debs Keserve account bringing this Reserve up to Ts. 72,811.08, To. improvements and renewals account We propose ty the sum of Tls. 69,000 total of Tis, 354,581.08. 1 wish to make it quite clear that this reserve is for the purpose of assisting working account as explained by the chairman at the mectingg In 127 and it must be realized that certain charges paid from this account would otherwise to be debited to working.
frou accept the transfer of Ths. 100,000 to Depreciation account, Keserve will stand at Ths.
Ax shurcholders are aware, the book values of the com Pany's estates are well below the market value, but nevertheless we consider that this is a suitable opportunity. to add to the deprecia tion of buildings reserve to cover any possible cuntingeney in the} future, By the addition of Tis, 100,000 to Equalization of Dividends Reserve, we shall have the substantial Amount of half a million taels for the purpose of equalizing dividend We recommend writing off Debenture Viscount Account _altogether. This isa small item which occurs annually in the recounts und might with advantage! be eliminated in the future.
We also recommend the' creation of a special reserve for loss of rent during re-construction. Ke-developments which will become necessary in the near future will result temporary uss of rent and some to your Directors unfair that profitable re-developments from Which shareholders of the future will reap the benefit should be tax on the shareholders during the time of re-development, By using this fund, shareholders of any one year will' not be penalized for the Venefit of those of the following, years, Working Account balances will Lo kept steady and fluctuations in dividends will be less likely to ross Rentals Exceed is, 2,000,000 For the first time in the history the company, our gross. rents yeseeed! THs, 2,000,000, Turning to the recounts, you will zee that the rent, upkeep and inaintenance of Leased Estates amounts to Tls. 140,808.67, which large figure ix due to our having added to our Leased Estates, Included in the accounts there is also an annual charge sufficient to write off during' the peried of the leases the entire asset standing under this heading! nex Balance Sheets.
The above charges are, of course more than offset by increased rental coming in from these estates.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.