On December 31, 1910: the liquid assets exceeded the cash liabilities by Ch.$580,587,84, In my Speech Inst year I foreshadowed the possibility of some form of taxation in the Straits and a restriction on the profit which may be distributed in the form of dividends. I can now inform you that rubber producing companies are being taxed by the levy of an export duty' on rubber and your company paid the equivalent of Ch,$06220:31 during 1940 in export duty, So far there has been no restriction on the amount of the profits that may be paid out in dividends but. stringent regulations restricting remittances. 10 countries outside the sterling block are in force which in the case of those companies that do not have large cash resources in Shanghai is tantamount to a restriction on the amount of dividend that can be paid, For this reason we are obliged to deal with the profit in the manner set ut in the report and propose a total dividend of only 20 cents per share absorbing Ch,$289,000 or not quite 45, per cent. of the' total profit which was eared.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.