ish have eon antsiented ioléwing tection cee fros heath gee Reelng of shuthlcs, Breer ater" rus CoMay til a he os of care Seating 2 Ea" ekg Mend on "rutdy "ase Ber, Oat ti Dele me! Oy 2p eng austen event lant ie" Goal, pie oe Sa: skater he Stange sere. SHER acting "Chay a 2 disd ad ecetng to Mess lawn' ale, Semeersan sts Eton ofth, Span is Penane Hotes D Ear ti the Heol ut, fad Teed tet tha eer autre te ned Abe coin of a aeeonet cence oe bora eae aah ely Cte ihe tt fate ake {ae he oda wre Tu eto thence, ec inal Shoe eRe in sao cin, wes, pont Seta AE wed eu. a Renae assurance that they were merely used for the purpose of forming a quorum. Mr. Canning said it was merely a outixe matter, Mr. G. E. Matthews said he had Htow "questions to ask on various points in the accounts compared with last year's working. The results, he said, had not been satisfactory. Net Profits were down about 34 per cent, dividends were down by about 40 per Jeent. The speaker said he would like to make it quite clear that these re-Jductions were, in his opinion, due to Jcauses over which the directors hed control whatever.
Alter drawing attention to the fact Jagain that profits were down, <-vid-Jends down, commission payable to the manager and assistants down, Messrs. Harrisons, Barker & Ca, Ltd's commission down but fees unchanged, Mr. Matthews turned to the Shanghai office figures. The picture was quite different, he said. He was informed {that the feo paid to the Geddes Trad-jing & Dairy Farm Ca., Lid., was Tls. 13,600 and a commission of' Tls. 900. the amount payable to the secretaries fadily Increasing. In 1933, Tls. 1400 was paid and in "1934 "they received Tls. 3.960, an increase of 50 per cent, amounting to 65 per cent. Including commission. m, ly.
Wits, WW, Standing, Soya, Gs B. Matinews.
He considered that the fees paid to the reeretaries were excessive and following further argument he then rolled upon the Chairman to answer the following questions:—
1. Whether he considered Tls. 3.800 {38.00450) a fair and reasonable fee for the secretaries and managers? we have this year eliminated the from both working and profit and loss" recounts and substituted the: doll, and this of course has the psychological effect of making increases look really bigger than they The total output under restric ton was 640,000 1b., which cost Straits $68,250.11 to produce as against fan output of 754,500 1b, which cost Straits $57,842.07. This" increase in Gast It due to Increased salares and wages, higher duty and less production, while-on the other hand the net proceeds of sales during the year under review. was Stralls $116,423.99 against Straits $120,826.50 for the previous period, 'Taking the working and profit and toss accounts as printed, T think you must agree with me that considering' all factors it is satisfactory The profit for the year is C.$70.90234 which is C:$44,48827 tess than last ave paid two interim dividends as the opinion of your board was, that under' present conditions the more money that circulated the Deller it would be for all. The hoved's. recommendation for the dispose! the balance of profit and loss is in the report, and will be proposed later as 8 separate resolution. T am pleased to be able to tolly reported to be in excellent order: Mr. Shackleton, who resigned from the board on his departure for home eave, visited the property on his return Journey last'month and he reports most favourably on all he saw has stated that the management {sail that periments commenced this yeas scheme suggested by Mr. Menzies, the visiting agent and the other by Mr. Roberton, the manager, and rome time must naturally elapse before we dot further reports. 'The health on the estate, T regret {0 say, has not been ood,' an epidemic of malaria has been' prevalent in the Sitiawan district andi Ayer Tawah has suffered in common with other' estates in. the neighbourhood, © Tt is some sixteen years since malaria was rife on Ayer Tawan and, needless to say, every effort is being made to check the disease which of course involve extra expenditure. "Later reports stale that matters are now well in hand the majority of cases now re-orling to hospital are recurrent In conclusion, I would like, on your bohall. to thank the manager and his assistant, "the Straits Agenis, our visiting agent and the secretaries for the work they have done.
T think that is all the information 1 can usefully give you and 1 would now. propose that "the report' and statement of accounts for the year ended September 30,. 1935, as presented be adopted and passed. This Fesolution "is "seconded by Mr. Hunter but before formally putting it to the meeting 1 will be pleased' to answer any question to the hest of my ability thereanent.
The first point of discussion which arose was regarding the forwarding of proxies to th secretaries, The question was raised: by Mr. Hickling, who asked the Chairman for ai, 2. Why it was necessary to pay a commission of one per cent. on iv ends In addition to this (ce and whether {ihe whole position was Feviewed before making the decision to do 10?
'3., Whether the directors had ever trlog {0 obtain competitive rater for this fit te, when?
Was the decision to invite come petitive offers ever. recorded. inthe Minutes of any directors meeting?
May we see the minutes of that 'FIs there any written agreement oth, Geader' ao, ud when does it termina Before enzwering vhis lst of ques-ions, Me. Canning said that inthe forst " place "he considered It very Juntair to toko the fqures of 1933 and Jeompare them with 1935, since! salaries, Straits agents fees, managers jond secretaries anc directors fees, were foregone to help tide over -the Jdepression. Now that things were faking a turn for the better theze tees were re-insisted and these fees were put back to the normal amount! voted by the shareholders and others, In 1929, 1990, 1931, and 1992, everyone wes, up against it, Chairman said, but in particular the rubber industry. Certain works left Jout on estates which was not considered absolutely essential. The result was that a certain amount of! Jexpenditure had to be done now that {the industry was looking up again In answer to the seven questions put to him, the Chairman said that lhe considered the foe for the secre-aries and managers was fair and In answer to the second question, the Chairman said that the agents had always had a commission paid Since 1929. The board considered, he said, that the agents were entitled 10 it, especially following the enormous Jamount of work dene in connection with the Wilkinson Process Fund.
The answer to question three, the Chairman said, was in the negative, Mr. Pennell asked that it be noted {that the directors had not tried to ket competitive rates, The answer to question four, the Chairman said, in view of his prev-jous answer. did not arise, and also isters {0 questions five and six did pot arise. Regarding the Inst ques-Jtion—the agreement of the company: with its secretaries and. menagers the Chairman said that there was {three years' agreement expiring in 1997, There was no written agree-Jment between the company and Messrs. Harrisons, Baker & Ca. Lid, the Straits Setilements agents in Penang.
Mr. "Fearon raised the point whether the Penang agente had ever been asked to reduce their fee of [Straits $200 2 month. The Chairman replied "that it was reduced volun-larily but since Rad been returned to its previous scale. Mr. Fecron said he was sure that if they were Fequested to reduce their fees they Jwould now do so. There were many. Jagencies, he said, who would be twilling to look afler the interests of! {the company just as efficiently at" ower figure.
Mr. Matthews said he would like to make the same suggestion with regard to the Shanghai agents. He thad no doubt that there were many firms in Shanghai which would be
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.