The wharves at Pootung suffered moat during the period under review. The majority of constituent "prefer 1 to berth on the Shanghai side and naturally Whenever possible we endeavour to accommodate os many steamers us possible on this side, Th strike on the Pacific Coast also w sFenasied inthe Pootung decreased earnings. the burden of taxation heavily on your company and though we have gone into the matter with the utmost care and made representations we can sce no way by Which the present position can be alleviated, Tu the current year the company will have to pay yates and taxes amounting to. no less than $260,000 or say $420 per share of issued capital—in 1998 this may be exported to be even greater. major construction work was undertaken in 1098. At the annual meeting two years ago, however, the chairman mentioned that several old godowns at Old Ningpo Whart were due for demolition and replace ment and the godowns referred to, (old one-storied structures), are now doftnitely unserviceable. They are, however, 1 am glad to say, completely written off the books, a fact which bears out the. advantages of working on a definite and conserva tive policy as regards regular depreciation.
A four storied reinforced concrete godown was completed at this whart 1935 which was specially con structed so that sections could be added economically, and we have decided to add to this structure about 40,000 square fect of floor space which will rather more than replace the area of the buildings to be discarded, The contract for this has already been placed,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.