In the footnote reference is made to the company's contingent liability in respect of lans arranged fat Shanghai for the Chinese dealers to facilitate clearance of goods at contract dates. Security is provided by these dealers for such loans in the form of goods warehoused Eastern markets, I would like to suggest, for instance, that instead of granting concessions ju respect fof restricted frushes only and confined to certain grades of cloth, that finishing prices be reduced all round and for all markets, as by this method wil it be possible for all the known standards now selling in our overseas markets to be disposed of in increasing quanti-tes without further delay. Tt is often a question of two to five per cent. that prevents the acceptance of an offer to-day, and. such reduction in finishing costs would go a long way towards keeping the Japanese cloth from filing order lost to Lancashire. To allow such concessions throughout the list may seem a big step, but courage is demanded in the cotton trade to-day, if Japanese penetration in China, India and all other Near and Far Eastern markets is to be checked.
Merchants Pulling Their Weight Compensation would accrue to the finishing houses of Lancashire of their lower scale of charges by the larger volume of orders, and though more work would" undoubtedly be entailed, this would be all to the good, as the whole matter should be' viewed ally if Lancashire's sto survive even its present deplorable position, I feel I cannot too strongly stress my plea for more help from the finishing end of trade, for the efforts from these sources have hardly been serious their to the common to date. Merchants are "palling
and persistently falling margins "due to keener competition overseas will show, and a lowering in the direction of producing and finishing costs must be forthcoming to assist the mor-chant to keep his grip on the overseas orders, which are now t00 accounts for the decrease in thd profit for the year under review, which was Tls. 15,049.23 against} Tis, 31,260.44 last year, With the, balance of Tls. 15,160.04 brought forward, there "is a total of 80,209.27 at credit of-profit and loss account, and, in view of the very satisfactory cash position of the company, the directors recommend that Tls. 10,000 be transferred from equalization of dividend reserve ta profit and loss account, making the total available for distribution Tis, 40,209.27, and paying a dividend of six taels' cents per share, carrying accounts. 1 forward Tis, 10,209.27 to next year's
The estimates for the current year, provide for an output of 825,000 Ib. at an all-in-cost of approximately, 707d. per Ib. and, given reasonable weather and labour conditions, the, manager anticipates no difficulty in working to the estimate, The estate was visited periodically, by our technical adviser, Mr. H. Pinching, whose reports have been uniformly satisfactory and I would Wke to take this opportunity of recording the board's appreciation to the manager, estate staff, technic al adviser and Straits agents for the good care of our property, throughout the year.
Before putting the resolutions to the meeting, I shall be pleased ta answer to the best of my ability any questions shareholders may, wish to ask,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.