22nd annual general meet Repah Rubber' & Tapioca Es last Wednesday when he Kadoorie, Directors,_ and holders representing 188,900. shares, Mr. C. F. Shackleton, seer the notice convening the me the auditors" report, The chairman, in his address noted the fact that the output of the estates during the past year had been some~ what curtailed by reason of labour trouble but that a profit had been possible, even greater than the pre= ceeding year, by reason of the higher average price obtaining for their Product The accounts, said the chairman, may be considered quite satisfactory as compared with those for the previous year, the profit for the period under review being $46,095.08 as com= pared with a profit last year of only $1,197.06. 'This improvement is en= tirely attributable to the fact that the average net price realized for their product was 5.16 pence per pound as against 268 pence last' year. The {otal output of rubber was 604,600 1b. a against 649,618 1b, in 1993, the re notion in quantity, being caused by labour difficulties, bad weather and the incidence of the regulation of out= puts from estates. The standard pro-notion for 1985 for the two estates combined has been fixed at 753,728 Ib, At the end of the year the surplus of Tiquid assets was $76,370.70, "which will be reduced to $34,870 after the dividend recommended by the directors is passed.
Tu the Repah Estate, no change took place in the planted area during the year. The growth of the young trees the immature areas is reported to bbe satisfactory and 53 acres planted in 1027 will be brought into. tapp this year whilst the trees on the Estate generally are reported to have a healthy appearance, The bringing into tapping of this area together with the scheme for the Festriction of outputs. from. estates will help considerably to improve matters on the estate since it will allow of a longer period for renewal bark in the weaker areas and also of a more stringent selection among the toppers so that only first class workers are employed. "At the present time with the existing shortage of good tappers, indifferent workers must be employed if full crops are to be harvested. The trees in the poor~ for areas, with their hard and brittle ark, are not easy to tap well and hhence the indifferent tapper often eaves wounds on the tapping surface.
Neither pests nor diseases gave any serious trouble except for sporadic outbreaks of mouldy rot in different parts of the state. The whole of the estate has now been cleared of rough growths and any lallang that appeared and is being maintained in good condition by a regular routine round of weeding. Routine.anti~ malarial work is regularly carried out and Repah can now be classed as a healthy estate. Buildings and machinery have been given the necessary upkeep at in good order.
As regards See Kee Estate there was no change in the planted area here either. The estate has now been cleared of any lallang or rough growths that were present and is now under a regular monthly weeding routine. Mouldy rot gave consider~ able trouble on this estate especially in the areas near the native holdings where this disease is always rife, but it is treated and kept in check by a special disease gang as soon as dis~ covered. Other diseases gave little or no trouble, Buildings and machinery are reported to be in good condition and only in need of minor repairs which Wil be attended to in due course. Labour has been trouble-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.