Weillington-Manawatu Railway Company.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1674, 2 April 1886, Page 3

Weillington-Manawatu Railway Company.

ANNUAL MEETING.

The fifth annual meeting of the ahareholders m the Welliujjton-Man&watu Railway Company was held at the Cjtamber o! Coininerco on WeSneaday. Theit were about forty shareholders present, »ud Mr J. E. Nathan, Cliairrpan of Di : * rectors, preiided. 'THe aniiual* report and balance-sheet were submitted. The Chairman jio moving the adoption if • the report and balatice-sheec, said he had had muoh lest cohfidenc© m mdving the adoption of those for last year than he had on this occasion. It would be recollected that from the partial failure of the sales of land last year, the D)irectori sought assistance by salejof^lil line tp th« .Government ; and at the ftinik - when the annual meeting yraioli^dl negotiations to that end Wete>roing| on. . . Th« approval of such eaile 1 : rested mfei ... th% shareholders, and th^lKondon snarg, tiolders, ineeting to consider-" the m^ttef^ . Agreed that the Hue should 'not be i-sojdf .joh the terms offered by the (ioverni^eht.' They proposed that .-tyr 'virtue of a reßOlutibn for increasing tha capital of a - company H such increase . should be £200,000 by tho issufr of 40,000 shares * of jfcs each, 20s on which .could be balled , up.;. and. that debentures for £160,000 could be issued and sold. This proposal ; was agreed to by . thi? Directors, and 25,000 shares were taken up" m London aud 15^000 m the colony. The Goyern:ment was informed of the suggestion of the London shareholders, and the; pro- ;'-. posal.of the sate of the line was with,**draswn.',.Tl)e r Sajd of whs' not ■ * Incomplete succees, one , £50,000 worth . nmfciuiffg unsold. . These " and other ciroumsfanceß, together with the -non■uvttsss of laind, rendered it necessary for f -the Directors too seek assistance ; and he , :- jhiad the pleasing duty to tell them that ;. day that complete anc satisfactory ar rangenientß had been madn which would , •n»ble them to push on the wprk and to regulate tUe sale of land. These arrange- ; nients hap bnen made with the Colonial ' Bank of New Zealand, and he spoke m ■; -terms of praise of the broad and liberal -. manuer m which the negotiations had ■. been made and completed. Tneftctof • Colonial institution haying the will . ability to, carry such an undertaking to a successful issue was, ho said, proof of a healtliy expansion of the commercial ' interest, and spoke well for the 'Colony. V«ry little had been done lately m aeliiugiaud, and the Directors were of :. opinion that the land would fetch better _ prices later on when the line m opened ■". up still further, and tho peoole could be put on it. They had beep able to open lip to Paramata m September last,; and ; since then to Phmuierton and Pukurua. Very -fair returns bad beeu received, '; and ho-hiad to congratulate, shareholders : on the results. , A net return of £2938' . forss weeks from a' siunll length; was' r^ty encouraging, and he hoped as the 'line' was, extended .that the Directors would soon be able te announce a ;divideud." The reports received irom the ; : engineers -justified -.him m assuring sharehold«rtt that the works. wer«t 'closing up ho fast that the Directors calculated, on, opening up comiuuuication with both ends at an burly date. They hoped to reduce the coach junction to about twenty miles by Jnne uext, and by October or November next he hoped people would be able to travel by rail "from Wellington to New Plymouth. . Their traffic was rery encouraging,' and were ofte.n . mado here about jthe Company's facility for carrying cat,'tle, £c. Their rolling -stock for this pur- ' pb>« was complete, and equal to a large dtnund. lit moved the adoption of -the report and balance-sheet. ; -Mr C. J. Pharazyn seconded the motion. .. r , ■■;_ Mr C. F . Richardson asked for infor- ... mation as to the Cape debentures,' Had ' 'in^^'^'^e.eh;;Soldv--''an'd,'.:-if-Bb.""at'fw ( ha't''' profit ? He asked this question, be said dn account of -the somewhat extraordinary statement / appended to; the 'Auditors' report on the matter list year. .., The Chaiaraan replied that the dfcben.turesalliHled to had been sold at a very gpbd profit. It was necessary that a ■ /eiirttin ilmbunt of^^ money should be kept .m London; and by the investment m Cape debentures the Company was much the gainer. . .'••.;' ; Mr Dawson asked for information v, astotbo item £1172 for- engineers' ■alaries and charges. He. thought it /was rather heavy, considering that the line was approaching completion. : ' The Chairman said the Directors', had - -hot been ablo to reduce their staff much ■■"- j«t- Overseers, foremen, &c, had to be employed, m addition to enginjeers. -But :b» could assure the shareholders :4hat every item of expenditure was - . w«ll watched over, atd not a single cheque was signedkefore the work] .had been wall scrutinised. : Another cause of- ex pence was that the Company found - that it could do its own plate-laving far 7 more to its advantage, and an extra -staff ,was, of course, .involved. But it .; was yeiy profitable to lbs Company r(b Ldo this work even »t the cost of an .•xtra staff. . • . ;' . r ; . v . ; .*' 'MrArchtr thought the report showed' .' ; sf state of things very creditable to the Comptne. He did not approve of a cheess-pariug policy. , i ; ■i. -'The motion being put, was carried un- • Auimously. ; > n JThe retiring: directors, Afcssrs John Plimmor^nd G. V. Shaunon, were reeliicted: : ' :'.:. . .'•'": ]■ .■ ■ k - ; - Messrs IV K. Macdonald and Semper wttre re^eleoted auditors at the same ■ .remuneration as last year; '<-:- ■- , ;, Mr, T. X- Macdonald, m returning tbankSi said he might say . that, judging from a careful investigation of the books . pt the Company, he did not' think' the shareholders or the Directors .need > b<»" ' afraid to trjr the experiment of running th line without troubling the Govern ' went about buying the line. The ; line had a long and prosperous career before such management, as it at ■ present had, and he believed thgt it would be;an<txample .to the other lines : •f the Colony. Votes of thanks: were passed . to the Chairman and Directors.