COMMERCIAL.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 108, 2 April 1880, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

N. Z. LOAN AND MERCANTILE AGENCY COMPANY. The fifteenth annual meeting of the shareholders in the above Company was held at the London office on the 6th February, A. J. Mundella, Esq., M.P., in the chair. In the Report it was stated that the net profit for the year 1879, inclusive of £3,824 4s 2d, brought forward from the preceeding financial year, after deducting of expenses, interest, commisssions, and income tax, writing off stationery and furniture, showed a sum of £53,215 14s 2d, of which the Directors recommended the following appropriation, viz:—

In July last an ad interim dividend was paid at the rate of 10 per cent per annum,

amounting, with interest on calls paid in advance, to £14,358 12s lOd, so that there is now left for distribution the sum of' £30,650 11s 2d. The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the Report said ! “ You are aware that the past year has been on the whole very trying to these Colonies. New Zealand, perhaps, has suffered less, I will not say than any other,. but than most others. The harvest of IS7S in New Zealand was deficient, and the winter of that year was one of unexampled severity and loss to the flockmasters, especially in Otago, producing not only great mortality among the sheep, but also a depreciation to some extent in the character of the wool. According to a census return of the Colony of New Zealand, which is published in the New Zealand Times of the sth December, 1879, the number of sheep in the Colony in March, IS7S, was 13,069,338; in May, 1879, this number had declined to 11,405,389, thus showing a deficiency of 1.663,949, a deficiency that was mainly owing to the severity of the winter in the upper districts of Otago and Southland. Concurrent with this deficiency in the staple produce of the Colony, there was, as you are all aware, a very low range of values for wool, grain, and other colonial products. * * * * * You may easily imagine the influence of such a position of affairs npon an institution which is so intimately bound up with the prosperity of the Colony as this Company. lam thankful to say, however, that while experience of the past year has not resulted in an entire immunity from loss, it has, in the mind of every member of the Board and the officers of the Company, imparted increased confidence, not only in the usefulness, but in the stability and favorable future prospects of the institution. It must be satisfactory to you to know that notwithstanding the depression to whicli I have referred, the business of the Company has been growing and strengthening during the past year. * * * * * The number of bales of wool consigned to the Company in 1874 was 24,493; in 1878 it was 65,223; the aggregate of the past year was 83,966 bales. This Company is now the largest wool importers, not only from the Colonies, but in the whole world. The same characteristic which marks our wool, which after all is our great staple, applies to every other branch of our business. The number of our consignments increases year by year, and during the past year that increase has been a very large one, —larger than in any previous year since 1874. Well, gentlemen, that being so, you will expect me to tell you something of the influence that the depression under which the Colony has suffer ed has had upon the finances of the institution. I am very thankful indeed to be able to lay before you a balance sheet which shows an aggregate of gross profits nearly as large as those of the previous year, which were the largest in our history. And while while we show this amount of profit, I am able to state to you with the most perfect confidence that all actual and contingent losses have been amply provided for. * * * * * A paragraph in the Report says— ‘Owing to the steady inflow of debenture money, the limit of the borrowing powers under the Articles of Association has been reached.’ Some time ago we extended the operations of the Company to the Australian Colonies, Fiji, and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean. We thereby very much enlarged the field of our operations, and I cannot sufficiently approve of that extension, which has been very profitable to us. We have passed through the late depression practically unscathed. Those who have been in the Colonies know the seasons go in cycles, and that three years of bad times will begenerally succeeded by three years of good times. This, as I understand it, is the position in which we are now placed. We have had three years of bad times, and may expect three years of good times. I hope that our Directors, if they see it necessary, will not hesitate to call us together to provide them with funds to enable them to meet the exigencies of the Colonies."

The Report and balance-sheet were unanimously adopted. Mr R. Porter was reelected a Director of the Company. £SO was voted to each of the two auditors, Mr C. J. Taylor, and Mr R. Mackay, for their services during the past year. Votes of thanks were passed to the officers of the Company, and the meeting terminated with a cordial vote of thanks to the Chairman.

To payment of a dividend £ s. d. at the rate of 10% per annum, and interest on calls paid in advance on old shares ... ... 3U,UtiO 12 4 To payment of bonus of 5 per cent. ... ... 14,984 11 8 To be carried forward ... 8,170 10 2 £53,215 14 2