ASHBURTON WOOLLEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1714, 18 November 1887, Page 3

ASHBURTON WOOLLEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

The seoouS annual general meeting of the Shareholders m the Ashburton Woollen Manufacturing Company, was held at the Arcade Chambers on Thursday afternoon. Mr G. H. Greenwood, Chairman of Directors, presided. BEPOBT AND BALANCE SHEET.

The Directors report and the balance-sheet were taken as read. The report stated that the balance at the Credit of the profit and loss account, after nuking provision for interest to shareholders On cafia paid m advance, was £686 19s, which the Direotors reoommended should be earned forward. Financial arrangements of % satisfactory nature had been concluded for the ooming year, which would enable the Direotora to work the faotory to the best ad* Vintage. The balanoe-eheet for the year ending Sept. tOtb, showed that the capital unallotted wu £19160 ; that oalled up, lesa oalla unpaid was £7829 ; and that uncalled £3511. The assets amounted to £20,818 0s 4d, and the liabilities to £19,631 Is 4d, leaving a balanoe at credit of profit and loss, £686 19s. The Chairman, m moving the adoption of the report andbulanoe-shest, said that at last meet* ioghehad expressed ahope that the Direotors on this oooasionmight be able to recommend • dividend, and there was no doubt that they could have done this if they had had a little more money invested m the Faotory. He had much satisfaction m stating that the concern was m a Bound and prosperous condition, and without making invidious comparisons, he could Bay that their manofao- j turing property was as sound bb any m New Zealand. Unfortunately they had to work with much less capital than any Bimilar in* dustry, Last year he laid stress on this faot, and he again urged the shareholders to invite oOrae of their friends to take a few shares m the Factory, and the venture could not fail to be ft profitable one, both to the shareholders and the district at large. As it was, during the past year, muoh of the money whioh would have otherwise gone towards the payment of a dividend, had gone towards paying interest on advances whioh the Direotors had obtained. There could be no two opinions m regard to the benefit to the district arising tbroogh the establishment of the mill, which paid annually £6000 m wages, Puring the year from £1500 to £2000 had been paid for new and improved machinery, which had greatly advanced the working capabilities of the Faotory. Insurance was a heavy item on account of the flooring being of wood ; had the present Direotors had anything to do with the construction of the mill they would have bad all the floors of concrete. The machinery was m good order and repair, and the Faotory was m a most efficient state. Local coal was now largely being used, the Directors having recently made up their minds to use J three carta Of Mount Somers coal to ono of Westport, and m this way another benefit would be conferred on this district . by the Mill. The turnover bad increased ii per cent as eomparii with last year. In regard to the coming year tbe prospects seemed exceedingly OQdfl. They were full pf orders forjths nexf; four months, and everything augured well for » ; highly successful year. Mr Ballook seconded the adoption of the lepoit and balance-sheet, and he congratulated the shareholders on the advancement that had teen made during the past year. Ha could quite understand that if they had more capital they would have had a dividend. The money had been Bafely earned, but it had to be qsed m the purchase of new machinery. The great increase there had been m the turnover was matter for congratulation. The Factory wan a very great advantage to the totriot. " The 'greater povtlon ol -the deal Seed was a looal pvoduot, and the remainder w*s obtained within the colony. One.great advantage of the Mill was that it was a source of employment for a great many of the young people of the district He hoped the Directors would continue to carry on as satisfactorily 'as m the past, and next year declare a small dividend; ft large ona was not Wfthtid bioaußa the shareholders were sajis fied of the soundness of the venture and were content to wait their time. He hoped the shareholders would induce their friends to invest— farmers particularly ought to take ibares, as the Mill was of greatjimportance to them by creating a local market for their wool. Mr H. Friedlander wished to refer to one or two things. In regard to the money actually earned by the Company, it would be noticed that the net profit was £440, after deducting the amount carried forward from last year. Their capital was £7.300 and they bad earned a net dividend of 7 per cent. When they took into consideration the heavy commission they had to pay on wool, etc, it would be seen that were it not for that commission the results .of the year would have been equal to }5 per cent. That should be eaiisfaotory to shareholders. And it wfanld be : noticed by the report that the directors had made arrangements which would do away with theße commissions. In repard to the benefit of the mill to the district, be stated that including money paid for coal, wool, etc., the mill wbb the means of distributing £20,000 annually. The report and balance-sheet were adopted. DIBECTORS.

Messrs G. Jameson, A. Harrison and G. H. Greenwood, tue retiring Directors, were | re-elected. , Mr Joba Grigg bad also been proposed as & candidate, but m view of that gentleman baying written a letter intimating that he desired to withdraw m consequence of it being inconvenient to him to attend the meetings, bis name was withdrawn. ~ '■ '- Aooiroß. Mr J. G. Beßtell waß re-eleoted auditor COMPLIM«NTAinf. Votes of - thanks were passed to the pifeotora, the staff, and the Chairman, and (be meeting adjourned.