NEW ZEALANDLOAN ANDMER CANTILE AGENCY COMPANY (LIMITED).

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1340, 30 March 1883, Page 2

NEW ZEALANDLOAN ANDMER CANTILE AGENCY COMPANY (LIMITED).

The eighteenth annual ordinary general meeting of the shareholders of this company was held on February 2nd at the offices of the company! Queen .Victoria-street, Sir E. W. Stafford in the chair.' The report having been taken as read, the Chairman said the figures in it spoke for themselves, and hardly required any explanation from him. It was a marked feature of this company that without intermission there had been paid, .almost from the second year of the inception of its operations, the same dividend, and every year, with one single exception, for the last 16 years they had made a large contribution to the reserve fund. It was a matter of,. some pride to., all of them :tb!atit!had - been the case that througffgobdf times T ; and through bad times they' 'bad:'been--able to observe: almost regidated clock,,the even tenor of their^^ ; ; way; and:althbugh they; mighty lear ; - that times were getting bad in "iNewv : Zealand, I and; (again, ; that; overytln^g; 'i was flourishing there, it really affected. .- them very little,. because that they were able to make the I Jamb' dividend, and during the last 16 years; they had built up ;a reserve; fundvpfr .£210,000, which-Was at the: £13,125 a year during the whole of that period. The accounts.from colony up to the very latest moment ;,-■. were of the most gratifying, character., The temporary depressionvwhich some.■; two years ago;' or two yeara and a half; ago, existed had entirely, d%i)ekred.l The operations »of tbe settlers in every branch of business were being prosecuted with an amount of vigor and heartiness which had ; ; hardly over before obtained, and many;old colonists who had visited tMs ! - country had been 'delighted on' -their; ■;■■ return .with.;the amount of 'progress!; which they had noticed in the interval'; of two years -which! had taken place! ; Large tracts of land had been brought} into cultivation, particularly 7 in the 1 northern ! island. Progress; in the northern island was for a long time, : retarded owing to the dense forests,', and to rivers of an impetuous •; charac- y ter; but it had long'been, his opinion;: that the : northern island, from the*, nature of its soil and climate, WOuldin';;. time carry a larger population than.:; the middle island. That they were re- * taining the confidence of their clients'; who had dealt with them for, many; years was proved by the amount of the!. consignments of wool which they continued to receive from tlie colony. l Last year, as uniformly for many preceding years, they were the largest! consignees of wool from the island of New Zealand, and they were nearly the largest from Australia also. In that they fluctuated from being the largest to the third largest, but from New Zealand they were uniformly the Urgest, They looked forward with ; great interest to the development of., the refrigerating process, which ap-; peared destined to effect a great revolution in regard to our meat 'supply. Hitherto the colonists had only to look to the consumption in the colony for the disposition of their t meat, but by the refrigerating process the meat jould be sent in a perfectly' good conlition to the London market, and the irocess was applicable not only to meat'. .nit to dairy produce, which could be lelivered in a sound and. marketable? 1 itajehere. They believed that the" levelopment of that trade would open ip a large field for the operations of ihis company, which would greatly inirease their profits. He thought in wnnection witli the immediate future' le should best servo their purpose,by ■eading a telegram received a couple of lays ago from their managing director it New Zealand, which was to the owing effect:—" Jan, 26,—Australia,' -Pastoral season best known many ' Agricultural prospects good, deld slightly below average. New Zealand—Harvest very abundant. Clip fair average. Trade sound. Money in demand. Full rates." That showed

that up to the latest date the prospects of the colony and of the business which this country transacted in it were sound and satisfactory. With regard to the amount carried to tho reserve fund, ho might state that it would have been considerably larger if they had notlast yearto pay outof profits a large sum' exceeding £IO,OOO, for property-tax in New Zealand. In conclusion he moved that the report and' statement of accounts be adopted, and that a dividend.' at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum and a bonus of 5 per cent, be declared,'' and that £IO,OOO, be added .to,:the', reserve fund, and- that, the- balancei : (£4,849, 5s 5d.) be carried forward,— Tho motion was seconded by -Mr ; Boutcher,—-In reply to Dr. Drysdale, Mr Larkworthy, the managing director, stated that the Property Assessment Act in New Zealand had, wft' been passed within the last two pfcfl, but a small tax existed before, lliey had-' supposed that tho company . would • simply be taxed ontlieii- capital employed ' in the colony, but under the new Act they were obliged to pay also on the amount of the debentures which were the property of others. If they tried to deduct it from the holders of debentures the result might be that the money they got from them would go elsewhere, and they must therefore bear the burdens as best they could, and look upon it as an extra charge on the money they borrow. Last year they did not make sufficient provision for it, and consequently about £B,OOO, which thoy ought to have paid last year, had come into charge this. In the future it would not be so serious a matter.—The Chairman, in reply to , other questions, said advances 'to 4 consignors was a lucrative branch ot business. Up to the end of last year the amount recioved on their Four per Cent. Debentures was £221,615, and Mr Larkworthy said a .quotation for thoTjebentures had been obtained on the Stock Exchange.—The motion was then unanimously agreed to, the retiring directors were re-electedp as were also the auditors, and tho proceedings closed with votes of thanks to > the staff in England and'in the colony' 1 and to' the chairman and.directors.