When I saw her to-day the lower part of the hull was almost entirely enclosed in tiers of scaffolding. Here men were chipping away the old composition and laying bare the plates in readiness for a new coat.
Three of the four massive propel iers lay at the bottom of the dock, for the tail shafts have been withdrawn to be machined and adjusted. One ai these shafts swung from the 50-ton dock crane looking like a big naval gun. No change is being made in the propellers, On the dock side several of the ship's great motor-lifeboats were being scraped, repainttd and overhauled. Every boat is to be so ireated. A section of the promenade ü: ek has been dismantled and wit be reconstructed by electric weld-
The annual meeting of the Per-mara Rubber Estates, Ltd, was held yesterday afternoon at 17 The Bund. Mr. J. Frost presiding supported by Messrs, W. J. Monk and L. E. Canning, directors, and Mr. Lloyd Bland, representing the secretaries. There were also present shareholders representing 53,141 shares. In his speech, the chairman said:—It is very gratifying to have before us the best results for a number of years due to the enhanced selling price of our product and the Increased quota allowed under the restriction scheme, We closed our annual accoünts with a net profit of $37,535.68 for 1927 compared with a profit of $14,097.73 for the previous year which we consider very satisfactory.
From this sum we have paid two interim dividends of 3 cents each and we now propose to pay a final dividend of 4 cents per share, which Will be brought up later as a RE special resolution. The output of rubber for the year ending October 31, 1937, was 115.137 lb. as against 93358 1b, for 1936 being an increase of approximately 1834 per cent.
The standard production for 1935 is 140385 lb. but our output will depend entirely on tha actual quota allowed during the current year. The cost of running the estate has increased from $30,057.22 in 1938 to ing.
I am officially informed that no important structural alterations are being made nor are any contemplated. Some turbines have been opened for inspection, but no major repairs are necessary.
In the public rooms and staterooms furniture is stacked against the bulkheads and covered with dust sheets, carpets are rolled up, ana there is almost continuous scrubbing and polishing as some of the men are working night shifts.
Every day the ship remains in dry dock her owners pay £405 for rent, while dock dues, pumping operations, and taking the ship in and out cost more than £4,000.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.