BAY OF ISLANDS COAL COMPANY. Loss of Fifteen Hundred on tho Half-Year's Operations. (From the Auckland " Star.") February 23.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 39, 1 March 1884, Page 6

BAY OF ISLANDS COAL COMPANY. Loss of Fifteen Hundred on tho HalfYear's Operations. (From the Auckland " Star.") February 23.

The half-yearly meeting of shareholders in the Bay of Islands Coal Company was held yesterday, Mr J. C. Firth presiding. There "were nearly a dozen gentlemen present. Directors' Report. — This report stated that the sales of coal for the past half-year have been 13,349 tons coal, an increase of Sl9 tons on tho sales of the previous six months. No further boreholes have been put down, and the prospecting operations have been confined to No. 2 and No. G levels. The increase in sales above alluded to is due to the work done in No. 2 level, which has opened up more coal, and thus increased the output. Nothing definite has been arranged yet in regard to the request made to Government for assistance towards prospecting further afield. The directors have declined to take over the railway,andthelinewillshortlybeopenedtodeep water, and worked by Government. When this is done, steps w ill be taken to dispose of the steamer and barges now at work on the river. The statement of accounts shows a lo«s of L 1,500, 500 16s Id as the result of the half-year's work. The expenses in every department have been reduced as low as possible, and the directors will continue to use their best exertions in the interests of the Company. The directors retiring by rotation are Messrs Peacock and Williamson, who, being eligible, offer themselves for re-election. Twoauditorswillalso have to be appointed for the current year. For the directors — J. C. Firth, Chairman. Profit anh Loss Account. — This showed: Expenditure : Winning coal, pumping expenses, stoves, and labour at colliery, L(3,346 ' lls lOd ; railway carriage of coal to barges, L3G7 9s ; barging coal to vessels at loading ground, L64S (5s tid : total, L 7,302 7s Gd ; prospecting, LSO2 Us lid; forage, L 209 5s 4d ; freight on goods to colliery, L 25 17s; general charges and expenses, L 479 lls 5d ; interest and discount, L 451 14s 9d ; interest on railway expenditure by Government, L3lO lls 2d: Royalty fee, L 221 9s Sd ; salaries, L 520 ; sawmill loss, by fire, LlOO : total, L10,450359d ; balance, L6S5 l2s 3d. Receipts — Balance of profit and loss, old account, 30th June, ISS3, LSIS 3s lOd ; sales of 13,349 tons coal, L 5,668, 668 ; rent of cottages and land at colliery, L 95 Is 9d ; profit on stores and limber sold, and work done at colliery, LIS2 19s 2d : hulk, Bella Marina, Ll7 9d ; scrap iron sold, L 73 6s ; balance, LGSS 12s 3d : total, L 10.459 3s 9d. Balance- ski et. — This statement showed: Liabilities : Capital — 2,000 shares paid up, L 20,000 : 6Gi5 new shares, Ist issue, paid up, Lb',66o ; 334 new shares, 2nd issue, paid up, L 3.340. Reserve Fund : Debts and liabilities—Overdraft at Bank of New Zealand, L 4,204 17s 4d ; money orders issued, but not presented for payment, LS4S 5s Id; amount due to Government for Royalty, Lo, 177 7s Sd ; bills payable, L4SO 17s 9d ; debts due bj r the Company, L 751 lls : total, L 43.459 ISs lOd. Assets : Property held by the Company — lease of coal mine, L 4,505 ; freehold land, L 2.039 G-i 7cl ; leasehold land, L 10 0; buildings, L 3,207 13s od ; plant, L 19,571 14s 2d "total, L' 29,443 14s 2d ; permanent works, L 10,356 10s ; cash in hand, head office and colliery, L4O lls Sd ; debts due to the Company, LI,SS7 4s Sd ; office furniture, L 145 4s 3d ; goods and timber at colliery, L l 00' 0s lOd ; coal in hulk Bella Marina, L 295 Is ; profit and loss, balance, L6SS 12s 3d : total, L 43.439 ISs lOd. In moving the adoption of the report and financial statement, the Chairman drew attention to the 10.-s of L 1,500, 500 which had been sustained on the half-year's operations. He said the directors had endeavoured for the future to avoid the recurrence of such a deficit by reducing the wages of the men employed in getting the coal and at work on the mines. They had also raised the price of coal 6d per ton. The first of these arrangements came into force at the beginning of the year, while the second, relating to the increase in the price of coal, would take effect from the first of March. The directors hoped by these means to put themselves in the position of avoiding loss, but otherwise, if that was not sufficient, there were still two alternatives before them. He would recommend either further reduction of wages or the closing of the mine, because it was not to be supposed that shareholders would continue to invest money in an entei prise which did not give them a fair return or any return at all upon their capital. Hitherto, the Bay of Islands Coal Company had not been a success as far as the shareholders were concerned, inasmuch as they had only received a little under 3 per cent, on their investment during the last 15 years, amounting to rather more than Llo,ooo, while the workmen received over L 194,000, the total value of the coal sold being about L 305,000. It would thus be seen that the workmen had received two-thirds of the total value of the coal sold, while the shareholders go*- little more than one-thirtieth of that sum. These figures would show that if the mine were unprofitable to the capitalists who invested their money in it, it was highly profitable to the workmen who invested their capital in it. The fashion nowadays was to .^ay that capital insists on more than its proportion of the profit produced by labour, but this was not so as far as the Bay of Islands Coal Company was concerned. The speaker proceeded to point out that where capital was invested in developing resources of a country, labour should be content to participate in the losses as well as the profits, or at least to make due allowance. The closing of the mine would be a public calamity, but he did not think it right that the shareholders should be called upon to bear the whole brunt of the enterprif-e. —In seconding the motion, Mr Thomas Peacock, M.H.R., took exception to the remarks of the Chairman about the reduction of wages. There was no intention on the part of the directors to make further reductions in the wages. The real difficulty they had to face was that the coal had given out or become so thin as to render its working unremunerative. An increase on the output was the only means of a return to prosperity. An application had been made to the Government for a grant towards boring for a fresh seam, and seeing that the land was ow ned by the Government and was practically useless for agricultural purposes, and that they had paid L 3,000 royalty fees, being more than four times the value of the land— he thought it should be granted. — Mr Isaacs suggested a further increase in the price of coal. — The adoption of the report, etc., was then agreed to. Directors. — On the motion of Mr W. S. Wilson, Messrs Williamson and Peacock were re-elected directors. Auditors. — Messrs John Batger and T. L. White were re-elected. This concluded the business.

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