MASTERTON INVESTMENT AND SOCIETY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1482, 13 September 1883, Page 2

MASTERTON INVESTMENT AND SOCIETY.

The annual .meeting of the. above Society took place last evening, and was well.attended by shareholders. The following report was placed .together with the balance sheet in the hands of the shareholders:— I bbtoht.v ■ ■ ' The directors have the pleasure of sub-! mitting a balance sheet which thoy believe' will be regarded as satisfactory; they have, however, again to utge upon members the advisableness of brining tho advantages of investment in the Society more prominently under the notice of their friends, with ut vitw of increasing the number of shareholders, After providing for the Reserve Fund, in accordance with the rules, and writing off the wi.ole of thesuspenso account, tho sum ot £ll9 8s net profit has been divided amongst 72 Bbores—equal to £1 13s 2d per share. '

During the year Messrs Godfrey Russell aud Job Vile retired from the Directory, and, Massrs James Macaraand Joseph I'ayton were provisionally appointed by the directors to till the vacancies, which appointments do not require confirmation by the shareholders, owing to the fact that the gentlemen in question now retire by rotation. They are, however, eligible for re-election, J, C. JBoddinotoh, . Chairman.

Mr J. C. Boddington, chairman of the Directors, said he had great pleasure in moving the adoption of the report. No doubt the members present had studied the balance sheet and made themselves familiar with its salient poiuts. They would be pleased to notice that the position of the Society was steadily improving.; .The /profits, which' were usually the most important feature in a balance sheet, were very large for the, past year. There had been a falling offin subscriptions on investment shares. In 1881 the receipts were £692, iii 1882 £572, and in 1883 £539, They had been called I upon to repay to some large holders of shares the amount of their interest. This transaction, however, had been favorable to tho Society as far as profits were conoerned, but he would sooner have seen tho revenue increasing. In fixed deposits they had £3197, as against £1147 ;last;'year, which! Bhowed the confidence : which outside capitalists had in the Society. Hud they required it they might have obtained a still 1 ,rge sum on fixed The interest received for 1881 was £249; _ 1882, £305; and 1883, £460. Their transactions in loans in 1881. were £,2225; in 1882, £1,800; and in 1883, £1,925., During the past year shares to the amount of £854 had been withdrawn, as against £402 for the.previous one.. t Their turn over In 1881 was £3,128; in 1882, £2,895; and in 1883, £5,381. This,shewed the magnitude of; their transactions, is compared with former years. The net profit for appropriation in 1881 was £lB9, for 1882 £247, and for 1883 £309. The amount held in fixed deposits at the end of 1881 was £695, at the end of 1882 £1459, and at the present time £2809. Turning to the assets he pointed out that they had lent on mortgage in 1881 £3031 in 1882 £4028, and in 1883 £4834. The amount so advanced might have been larger, but the directors pursued a safe course, and rejected all applications on which a good margin of security , was not available, The reserve fund stood in 1880 at £37; iri,lßßl at £56, in 1882 at £BB, and in 1881 at £l2B. The Society had now passed its seventh year. . He did, not think; that its ..b'usiiiess was as large as it should be, considering the position that Masterton held in the colony. Ha Loped the members present:-would bring the advantages the Society offered under the notico of their friends, so that they, might Jib' induced to take shares in the society. Though they had made satisfactory profits, their society, did not, as it ought to do, take a premier.position in the Wairarapa as regards the amount, of its business, transactions. TheQreytownSociety was taking in arid around Masterton more aupport than the directors of their own institution considered it was entitled to,draw. .Their balance-sheet shewed that their own society was equally good .for investment with.. either the Greytown or any of the Wellington ones, 1 •' ' , ■-.:...'■

Mr (jlodfrey Russell seconded the adoption of the report, ; and. balancesheet.

The motion was put to the meeting and carried unanimously, The election of two directors was then'proceeded with, - : • On the motion of MrGrundy; seconded by. Mr. DeOastro, Mr James Macara was re-elected j and on the motion of Mr Fannin, seconded by Mr Ingram, Mr Pay ton was re-elected. The Chairman pointed out that the sum hitherto' paid to their auditors, viz,: two guineas 'each, was hardly commensurate with the increasing business of the Society, and with' tho careful manner in which the duties of the office had ..been - performed ; by Messrs Sellar and Mcintosh. On the motion of Mr Maxton, Messrs

Sellar re-elected Auditors, the fee being increased to |h|e«giiineaa. ; .■ \

V'Wx Grundy'moved a cordial vote of thanks'to the Directors and manager ■for. their v serviceß during/the past year. He was only a young'member of the Society, but as far as he was able to judge there was no better investment to be found than the Society offered. ""The vote of thanks was seconded by Mr Fannin and carried unanimously. The chairman in acknowledging it said that the directorshad regularly attended the; meetings of the Society and carefully considered all business brought jieforethem. Heconfirmed MrGrundy's statement that the Society was a good investment, A share taken up in 1876 waß; valued now at- £3O, the amount paid on it being £'2l,'giving : the very satisfactory profit of i 9. He was particularly gratified on the. present occasion to see so large a number of shareholders present, Mr ■ Brown, the manager, acknowledged the compliment paid to himself. He agreed with tho.chairman that the Society ought to be the premier one in the district, and .with the assistance of the shareholders he thought it might be made so. The balance sheet for ; the past year was the most favorable one yet shown, Ho might state that energetic steps were now being taken to increase the number of investing shareholders.

Mr Fannin suggested that existing members might in many instances take up extra shares ; for their children, Youths, 'too, earning money could eauily pay the five shillings a month to take up a share.- ! Such investments were more profitable than savings banks.

Mr. Maxton suggested that notice should for the future, be given as to the time when nominations for vacancies on the directory should be received. The Chairman replied thut their rules did not provide for this, but that the directors would favorably consider the suggestion, aud probably adopt it for the future.

Mr Godfrey Hussell thought that members withdrawing from the Society should not be made to forfeit any profit which had accrued on their shares. .The present rule was hard in the case of a man leaving the district. The Chairman thought that tho present rule might be relaxed, and asked Mr Russell to give, a notice of. motion on tho subject so that it might bo dealt with at a general meeting. '[ . A vote of thanks to the chair terminated the proceedings.