NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4370, 23 March 1875, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY.

(Erom tlie Otago Daily Timcn, Marchld.) ----- Au 1 adjourned-' 'general i irihetinu 1 'of ‘ Otago . shareholders in the New Zealand, Shipping* -■ Company (Limited), was held’ in'the ‘Athenrenm ( Hall, Dunedin, yesterday. — The attendance wai not Very large. MW Pfqsser rVas H -chair--'-‘ man. ■ \ The object of,, the meeting was to elect three local directors ! for' the ’ehsuing yearNotices of willingness to act 1 were' received froin five gentlemen, but ’as Messrs, McLean and -Edward 1 MbGlaihah'SHth'dreW,’ . Messrs. G. r E. ! Held WM' 1 if. Scoular were the' only candidates. ■ "' The CiiaTumXn said,that .since he had met . ' them last' he had been'jit Christchurch, attend- j ,si»g the general meeting, of the company. ...Hq ■ stated at that time that'• as 'f,af as lie was'con-, , corned) imd, also, he .believed, ah far ..as . the) shareholders, in Otago, .were ' concepfcd,, the,, report then given by’the directors !yyould'tie' , regarded (is satisfactory, ,jmder ~the,," cjrovvp-, stances. ' Considering the amount of opposition they had to contend with, he thought,that the . loss of £14,000 was a' very small one" in start-. 1 frig an important company like,,thp, .particularly when all the preliminary expenses' were included in that sum. Of course some share"HOldera might be. disappointed, but lie .was sure the majority would endorse his view of i the matter. They would remember that Mr. Carter had proceeded Home* some time... ago for .the purpose .of completing, the inauguration qf; the .company, there. Hostile chairman) had no hesitation.in saying that Mr. < Carter did very good service; while, at JHome, in completing arrangements, foyyvorkiug.tliq company. After' referring 'to ■ tho 'London board of ‘ advice,’ which had been appointed,- 'and : winch he thought could.-bo-regarded ns very satisfactory, he wept,on to saydthat .tho,share-holders-would have seen by-the-report that very siitisfaotdry ftrrangeuients had- been irfido with a large buildidg firm-at Messrs. ■ Palmer—for the building .of five new vessels, each about 1000 tons,;t)io payment.to-extend over a period of four-.years,’ at- 5 per cent. • interest. At present they had eight vessels, many of them new ; and .when they had thirteen altogether, the prospects of-.the-company would rapidly improve. With regard to financial 'arrangements,'., it Would be seen that .the directors would not require to make a further call for at least six months from the date qf the general meeting, as they had madota satisfac-. tory arrangement with the .Bank of New Zealand to carry thorn on in the meantime, and it was intended to float debentures - to tho extent of £IOO,OOO, in theiLondon market,: He had no doubt tho shareholders were willing to pay up any additional l calls that wore absolutely necessary, but the company Was started' ; a t all events down here—on the definite; understanding that no calls beyond 60s. should . be made unless absolutely necessary, i He thought all of the shareholders hero could make more of. their money than 6 per cent, by • using it thrimselves, and, with* their vessels as security, and their uncalled- capital, he (iid not i think any money-lenders would/ bo afraid to : advance the money they might require-to , carry on the .company. Jt had;been said ,by, > mqny shareholders thatut was.'a; Very, foolish 1 thing to make arrangements-with regard to the r ra tes,-pf-, freight, jwith i opposing - companies. 1 Upon consideration, that, .would be found to ho , a mistaken opinion.; Seeing; that the’company i wore losing money,- and would continue losing 1 money for a long time .through the-Opposition - of j other firms, it would be conceded ithat. the directors should not'go'on/for an indefinite

time in that position; and ;the action in making fair arrangements,* as they had done with -’regard to the dates’ 6f ' freight, ought to meet -with the approval’ of shareholders, because the company could not afford to lose any more money unless absolutely necessary.' i When the ■ Jompany was m'a sufficiently good position, it would^'be tiriie "to’ -consider* : the • -desirability of reducing the rates of freight, bearing -im mind that' it was necessary to give a fair : interest' to shareholders, particularly those rwKo;;ywere. 'hotr .mercantile* men. It had been, stated, that the, rates of freight to were higher (lowdr ?) than to Otago. He took the opportunity when in Lyttelton to go!and see the Manifests, of twelve vessels,, and he ; could :firid‘‘no evidence of such being the •caseJ* In fact, the company. co;dd not carry freifflvfe to 1 one port at a lower rateThanto anpthef without breaking the arrangement that bail' been entered into.with' the opposing comWies. ” To Nelson, Pictoh, and Napier, freight %as 15s. higher than .to the chief ports, which also refuted The ’statement that freights were equal all' over New Zealand, There had been some complaints with regard to the despatch of! vessels, but the rule the directors had made ip i London” was to despatch one vessel every ‘month to the chief ports .of New Zealand, and he believed in most cases that had been done. He fgtfeved it was the! intention of the ■’difeeSK to \ ijJhr^w 1 ‘open, any vacancies that mighWbccur on board' their ships to the sons ofsharehoklers in. the company, so that any shareholders wishing to send their boys to ;sea, they would be - able to do, so full confidence that they would be properly trained and looked 'after. That was another great pany, managed, in the colony. He thought it ,-piust, be very gratifying to the shareholders to contemplate the advantages that had accrued from the, establishment of the New Zealand Shipping 'Company., They now had Three, first-class lines; of. ships, fair- rates of freight, and aii inducement To passengers to go Home direct, instead of going to Melbourne, as they fused to formerly. He could not shut his eyes ito - the ‘ fact' that ‘the' Provincial Government

had hot given*, them the amount of support which |■ he considered a colonial company rought to receive. ) (Hear, hear.) Of course they had had a company trading here for a con- ■ siderable number of years, and receiving a considerable amount, of support,, but, seeing that tall the gains of that company were invested in England, Scotland, and elsewhere, he did notthink it was- entitled .to all the support the residents of this province could give. He thought :tliG' Provincial Government should at * least divide any freight.:they had: with the -New Zealand- Company. , (Hoar, heap) Instead of doing so, the Government had hitherfo gone directly the. other way,, and used addi-, tional, efforts .to-back up the opposing line. He would only:6ay, in ; conc!usion, that he felt perfectly certain, if the shareholders would ■{stick together, this company in a very short ’’tirhe would prove a very much greater success than it was at present. After some remarks from Messrs. Peid and McGlashan, Messrs; G. F, Peid, ■J. Secular, 1 and W. J. M. Larnach were appointed local 'directors. - • ■ A' vote of thanks’ -tothe late Board of Directors and the chairman terminated the : meeting. Y ' T •'' ; •' .■ " ' '