Feilding Settlement

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 32, 12 September 1891, Page 2

Feilding Settlement

It is seldom tbat the shareholders in any limited iiabilily enterprise have the pleasure- of listening f o such a satisfafl- | tory story of a compete success at Lieut.- j General the Hon. William Feildmg de- j scribed to the Colonists' Land and Loan Corporation on the 21st iastant. As chairman of the company he was able to assure tb.fi shareholders that not only was their capitaJ intact, but that if they were to go into liquidation there would be nearly 30s p ayable on the whole of the Ll >hares; or, in other words, in, addition to having their capital intact, they had a six years' dividend in hand at the present rate. Of late the company Lid been operating with a paid* up share .capital of L 77,944 and L 95,330 debentures. They had accomplished much. They had paid the New Zealand -Government £104,500 for land and iv taxes, they had setiled a thriving population of over 5000 people in the colony, and tue dense bu.*h se» lected in 1871 had been covered witli cultivation for an area of over 35 miles. That was tue result o? 18 years' colonisa tion, and it repres nted a state of things to which the director.' and shareholders might point with priJe. One would naturally have thought that the New Zealand Government would have jumped at any offer from the company to repeat those operations elsewhere, but here greeted to say. their feeling was totally different. Though: they had not positively declined the overtures mtxde them, it seemed unlikely they would allow the company (o repeat the operation. The company had sold thsir last acre of rural land, and now only possessed 400* odd acres out of 106,000 they purchased in 1871-2. These 4DO acres consisted chiefly of town and suburban land, and wflre worth at least ten times the amount the.y figured for in the balance-srheet. Colonel Gorton, their colonial auditor, had written in the following terms in regard to the future of the company : — " There is no doubt about it the company stands very high in the estimation of the set tiers of the West Coast, and that it is a very great boon to them to be able to get money on loan without incurring the ex* pense of valuation or procuration fees, and at a modes a' e rate of inter j*t. I feel quite convinced the company has got a grnnd and lasting future before it, as there is yet a vast area of country beyonrl F<*ildinar to be developed, and the settlers who take up new country will be only too glad to avail themselves of the assistance offered by this company, with benefit to themselves and a safe invest ment to the shareholders." The report of. the chairman was hailed with satisfac ion by all present. Sir Charles Clifford and MrJohn Balfour were re-elected directors; a dividend of 5 per cent was declared (payable in New Zealand one week after the arrival of the outgoing mail), and Sir James Pergusson paid some handsome compliments to the colonial directors and Mr MncarJhur, the general mnnnger. Mr W. H- Levin re « sponded, expressing perfect confidence in the future of New Zealand. Before separating the chairman remarked that the directors were on the look-sout for a property at a low price, but none ot the offers so far submitted complied with their requirements. — London correspondent N.N. Herald.