NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING CO.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 672, 24 November 1909, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING CO.

. QUESTION OP WOOL FEEIGHTS. IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY SIE G. OHFFOED. (By Telegraph-Press Association.)..''. ■„ .. , ! Christchurch, November 23; .At the annual meeting of. the Dominion.shareholders of the New Zealand Shipping Company to-day, the chairman (Mr. H. P. Murray Aynsley) referred to the details of the, balance-sheet, and stated that the reduction on the profits of tho" company was partly due to a falling-off in the quantity of tho cargo carried from London to. .the Dominion, partly to the low rate of freight at which a large portion of the wool clip was carried Home last year, and tho long detention or some of the company's steamers in tho colony waiting for cargo. In .this connection he menturned that the Opawa was laid up in Now Zealand for_229 days, the Kaikoura" 230 days, the Kaipara 119 days, the Papanui 86 days, and tho Waimate 73 days. This meant heavy wages bill's on arrival m London. It was,, however, satisfactory to shareholders that, notwithstanding these drawbacks, tho dividend had been maintained at10s._ per share for the year.' ■ ■ Sir George Clifford dealt at-considerable length with tho movement afoot, chiefly in the North Island, for a reduction of freights on wool, and said, in his opinion, that movement had been the result of a misconception, and was hardly justified by the facts,' which-.had not been clearly appreciated; by, the gentlemen who 'had taken part in it.'VHe :wa 3 himself ,' a "sheepiarmer. His interests as sheepfarmer wero vastly greater than any '■ interests he had in the shipjPing company. . Inr fact,- ; he- hadi.becn'led ■to loin the board of "directors ,'byUho'great feeling' 1 of gratitude which,ho had always felt to tho company for tho -marvellous-manner in which" tho trade between'..--New Zealand and tho Old Country "had : been.' carried on. .It seemed to -.him that there was a spirit of enterprise which risked great things: for the' benefit - of■: tho Dominion. He had hoard no argument justifying tho movement, he'..referred to. Wool -''freights.,' at which it was'.especially -directed, had'never .been oxcessive, and •ho thought that the company /always f clt i'and; had'.,always acted '■ upqri the. same'feeling that it would !do its best'from 1 patriotic motives ..to carry tho produce of tho JJominion at the lowest rates,consistent .with an offic.ient service. In comparing -their rates with Australian rates it' would -be-, found-, that Now' Zealand rates had J-been' actually lower; while there were many .reasons'.why ■ they should have been higher, than..Australian, rates.. .Thoy-.'all knew that the collection of-produco in New Zealand was a mosts.serious-ita'x on 'Oil -shipping .companies who sorved the farmers.\ In Australia a steamer■:;was berthed'and loaded? at that berth without'the expense-6f;movihg.VThey' would be surprised, to know. what.a..burden!.it, jvas. on tho. New Zealand''Shipping* Company to' send its steamers.'.round the coast-'to; collect' cargo, not only at', the chief porta, but also at open roadsteads and other places, where-tho-exV pondituro was conGidcrable.'-'Somotimes steamers' went for a portion'of da'rgo 'to. 6crvb '-!ttio' cord-" pany's clients which resulted'.- in ;absolute' 1033' to the company. That was nbt'uhknbwri an'tf.'not uncommon. Ho thought. that ifofiglit' ttf.bb'ad-' mitted that tho company had diSie"lts" best" in ..thisway, and even,''from that point-of„viow4h.oro-'was'.no reason why;a;'s'ot.'sliould<be;.inadp-iagain&l(! it There wa3 a inbro' produce and frozen moa^.had-to,bo lifted;with-, great regularity and''convoyed .with.great speed. Evon assuming (which was not fact) that the freight on wool waa rather higher than it onght t4 be, ho thought- that'thcy'ought-.to takointo | consideration all theso freights combined before it! could bo established that any reduction-should be forced on* tbe cdmpaiiy ,-in respect t<f wool. Supposing th'oy were forced by competition to' carry wool ,at a . rato .ivhjch did •no't pay,'>''it' would materially injure the Scompaiiy's: ability to continue'"that regular-'service'which wis bo necessary for the removal of produce as soon as It:was ready,/.Those connected with the dairy ; industry knev>-'that dairy produce mußt bo shipped as: soon as'it.'waa ready,'-acd: they '.also- knew that the company's .arrangements'for. doing so had: been eminently satisfactory;,to the 'dairy■ farmers,. and' thero was' every■' indication -that they would so-continue, tho same being, appliedto the frozen-moat trade. Eate3 bad not been excessive in.' these ■ details, and the service had been, conducted in such a way as to: benefit the wool-growers,'to a greater extent than . any reduction in rates could'have done. Tho'.substi•tution.of- trdinp steamers to carry-'away-wool, would be very detrimental to-tho general interests of sheepfarmors, simply, because the sheepfarmer was more interested in tho carriage of other produce than he was in the mere shipment of wool. , Ho also thought that the calculations of the gentlemen: moving in the matter of reduction of wool freights' overlooked the fact that a very large sum was required by the company annually for - depreciation.' If.tho life of one of the company's large steamers was reckoned at'ten years,.they had to put aside a very large depreciation fund in order to meet, not the decay of the'vessels, but'tho spirit of improvement which had to. bo continually met.. This year, they were adding two large 6teamers-to their fleet, and.he did not suppose that that rate 'of addition would bo very much diminished in future. They could understand, that the management of tho,.company had to look .forward, and -that, if its', profits -were .to., eo- down "to a lower rate than they now stood at It'would" be vory difficult to; maintain a service which would commend itself,so much.to the/producers of.the Dominion as it had done in the past. He: thought that they had" also." overlooked'the fact' that the ■ -profit made by the company had been' by no means excessive... Tho eharesstobd originally at £10. They knew that they had been.obliged to write £2 off the £10, and that tho shares now stood nominally at £8, but ho saw them quoted at £8 10s. in.the share lists; ordinarily seen: in newspapers. . -Ho might' safely "say that tho shares had not reached the point to which they wero .written, down,'so that l £2 10s. of'the company's capital, had been loet in efforts to.meet the requirements of producers. He thought- tho producers owed the greatest debt of gratitude for the magnificent which had been instituted and carried on. In view of the losses to which ho had referred, if any large amount' of money was, to bo made out of the company it would be mada in, the future, and had hot been- made in the past. The' whole of the £2 10s. had to bo recouped' before, the company could be said honestly to have been a thoroughly successful commercial speculation. From what he .knew of the board of. directors in tho Dominion and of the London board,- if the'amount were over' replaced, it' would bo with, tho most perfect consideration-for the producers of- New Zealand. Ever since he had been connected with tho board he had noticed, both in communications with the London directors and in allusions on the board in the Dominion, the utmost consideration ,to serve the country to which they were all so much attached with tho most per- ■ feot' sorvice by seeking and adopting tho. best means of promoting its welfare.'by taking produce to tho market in the most efficient way. He hoped'that shareholders-would endorse these romarks, and would endeavour to impress them on tho people, who'might-bo unwisely dissatisfied. ... ....--.

The'report and balance-sheet were adopted. Messrs. John Anderson, J. R. Blair, and F. H. Pyne were-rc-ele6ted directors.