N.Z. SHIPPING COMPANY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 139, 7 December 1911, Page 5

N.Z. SHIPPING COMPANY

PEOFIT OF £55,349 FOR THE YEAR. By Telegraph—Own Correspondent. Christchureh, December 5. The annual meeting of the New Zealand Shipping Company was held to-day. Mr. H. P. Murray-Aynsley presided, in moving the approval of the report and balance-sheet of the London directors, the chairman said that the accounts showed the satisfactory profit of £53,349 14s 7d, which was, however, £1345 8s 2d less than last year's profit. The homeward earnings "of the company's steamers showed a. considerable decrease as compared with the figures for the year ended June 30, 1010, and was chiefly attributed to the fal!ing-off in the export of frozen meat and the low rates of freight on wool. The outward earnings, however, had fully made up for the loss homewards. After dealing with other aspects of . the company's business, the chairman drew attention to the increase in working expenses, and said that he feared that the company's expenses this year would be greatly in excess of previous years, owing to the fact that the cost of coal, wages of seamen, wages of dock laborers in London, and of labor on this side, is still rising. Sir George Clifford seconded the motion, and said that the chief feature that was noticeable in the conduct of the company's business was the extraordinary expansion of its outward trade: but an expansion of this sort, as well as being a source of gratification, sounded a note of warning. They all knew that when an individual or a country borrowed more than the individual or the country could afford, a reaction must come, and the individual or the country •: had to pay the penalty afterwards of forced economy. He did not know thai) that was the case at present in N T ewj Zealand, but thev knew that there wertf ups and downs in that kind of prosperity, and he thought they should act with more caution than when freights were offering less freely. -^ The motion was agreed to. Messrs. F. De C. Malet, H. P. MurrayAynsley, and Hon. Edward Richardson, G.M.G., were re-elected directors. I