ATLAS MILLING COMPANY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 7076, 23 February 1893, Page 3

ATLAS MILLING COMPANY.

Tho fifth annual meeting of the Atlas Mill* ing Company (Evans and Company, Limited), was held at the Gas Works office this morning. Present —Messrs W. Evans (chairman), H. J. LoOren, A. Young, M. Gray, B. It. Taylor, W. Priest, G. Collier, Jno. King, J. Venning, ®. G Kerr. , After the confirmation of last year’s minutes, the chairman read tho following report; — | ‘’Your directors, in presenting the fifth yearly balance sheet to shareholders, have to 1 report that the past year’s operations have not * proved ao successful as they anticipated when tho year commenced. This is principally ( owing to a dropping wheat market all through the season, and extreme competition both in , buyinz end selling grain und products Our nett profit of £1249 I6s 9d with £ISOO equal* 1 isation of dividend fund on hand, will enable * us to pay the usual 10 per cent dividend,” The balance sheet showed that the paid-up < capital is £27,080; there is a reserve fund of 1 £6847, and an equalisation of dividend fund ' £ISOO. The included stock of flour 1 and grain £10,794, and land buildings and • plant wore set down for £l7 479* The profit ] and loss account showed salaries and wages < paid, £3776 12s lOd ; shipping, freights and * cartage, £2127 Ila 7d; interest, £1474 ; ( discounts, £1349; corn missions. £1185; sacks 1 and bags, £IO2O 17s 3d ; coals, £680; main- 1 tenanoe, £384 ; storage, £209 13a , insurance, ■> £417 12s 9d ; rents and rates, £ll7 7s 6d ; 1 bad debts. £lsl 8a 3d ; miscellaneous ex t peneor, £929 13a Id. On the Cr side there t appeared, merchandise account £ls 084 5s <■ lOd. Tho balance to profit was £1249 16s t 9d. On the motion of Messrs Gray and Taylor, y Messrs Evans and Kerr were re-elected director?. # £ Mr A. Montgomery was elected auditor. i The chairman in moving the adoption of ] the report and balance sheet said he regretted ( the directors were unable to place so satis- j sactory a balance sheet before the meeting as i hod been done on previous occasions. The I past season had been a most disastrous one for i millers, not only in Now Zealand, but through- j out Australasia. Large stocks of wheat bought j at high values were held at tho commence- ] ment of the season, and instead of prices 1 firming, as was generally expected, owing to | the rumoured Hussion famine, and other < circumstances which tended to warrant the i English market continuing firm, the values of ( wheat from day to day, and month to month, j ( kept receding, until millers were in some cases absolutely selling flour at less than the cost of | tho wheat Sow however that tho Home ( market had fairly ete*riied, and prices were at ( about the lowest on record, they hoped to have , belter times for milling. Tho new crop coming ( forward, be was pleased to have to inform ; them, was much better and sounder in con ( ditiou than that of last year, and if j farmers would only make a practice ( of thatching their stacks directly they , were built, prime good conditioned grain could be relied upon the year through. At | j present, much trouble to millers and loss to j farmers was caused through badly built and ] unthstohed stacks. Ho merely mentioned ( this in a friendly way for the information of . the local agriculturists. Referring to the * financial position, as a large amount had been j written off tho mill and machinery at last and | previous balances, tho directors did not consider it necessary to write down this year. The Company’s premises and plant were in first-class order, and as tho shareholders . j would observe from the balance sheet tho bad i debts were light. The balance sheet would I abow that they had £27 080 paid up capital, and a reserve fund of £6847 6* 9d built-up, | besides an uncalled capital of £l2 920 ; and they owed no man anything. The matter of storage accommodation had been always kept in view by the directors, and as thty found it would not be advisable to postpone this matter any longer, they would lay before the meeting plans for a now grain and flour store they prop.sod to erect on the section i adjoining tho mill on it® south sido. i A her paying the usual dividend, the financial | position, the directors thought, warrante < this expenditure. The past year had been an us-satisfactory one for the company, their employees and all interested, and th'-y could i only hope and trust that the coming year | would be more prosperous. ; VThe’ chairman also read a report by the auditor, Mr M. Gray, which stated tnat he found the books had been kept remarkably neatly and correctly ; that the collection of accounts had beou vigilantly attended to so j that the amount ou’standing at the end of j the year did not amount to much over two months’ sales; that the accounts, with but few j exceptions, were of short standing and good, ' and the b*d debts written off were email i r: j proportion to tho business. No depreciation on buddings or plant had been allowed for j this year, the large amount written off last j j eg,r being considered sufficient for I be present. ( Mr LoOren asked how it was that oyer j ! £IOOO appeared among the expenses for racks ’ I and bags ; wore not sacks and bags an asset ? ! —The chairman said (hoy unid a quantity of scutt 1 -lags for winch t-ey gut nothing. | The chairman said th-r- was only abou 1 100 tons of 9 tur on band and as they did not 1 feel inclined to buy in the meantime, the new { wheat not being in a fit condition for milling, ; they orppored to shut ■' own for a few weeks. ■, • Mr LeCrea suggested that a smaller divi- 1 ' dend should be paid as the profits were so much left? than usual- .

The ohoirman replied that ho had consulted many of the shareholders, and the general opinion wa 5 that as they had rq equalisation fund they should use it. The whole of that fund will be absorbed. This year, he continued, their prospects were good. Last year they started with a large stock <,t wheat, 30,QU0 sacks, bought ofc 3a 6d, and though they wrote off 9d per bushel they still lost money. Starting this year at 8s 6d would make all the difference } wheat could not go lower than that. The motion for the adoption of the report and balance sheet was seconded by Mr LeCren and carried unanimously. Plans for a new store were then produced and explained—providing for a briok store of two floors, separated from the mill by a railway track, estimated coat about £2COO—and on the motion of Mr LeOren, seconded by Mr Gray, it was resolved that the question of providing further storage be left to the directors. The chairman mentioned that tbe previous year they paid over £IOOO for storage, and over £2OO this year, so that the store would soon pay for itself The directors also thought of spending a few hundreds in erecting more wheat bins. Oh the motion of Mr H. J. LeOren seconded by Mr Young a vote of thanks was unanimously passed to the Directors and staff for tbeir services daring the year. The chairman briefly acknowledged the vote and tbe meeting terminated.