ready to act, and this has caused the "bears to cover, and the dead set made against Brazilian things in certain foreign quarters has proved futile. ARGENTINE MAIZE. bond and share holders firmly left the island some time ago, and negotiations for a settlement proceeded more smoothly as a result. His return to Cuba recently has instilled fresh life into the opposition to the settlement, as the gentleman in question has a strenuous personality, and has the ear of the President, The better weather conditions in Argentina have raised ex-who does not appear to be capable of taking a strong line, howpectations as regards the maize crop, harvesting of which has already commenced in the northern areas. One decided indication of the expectations has been the brisk chartering of shipping in the Argentine trade, especially for the April loadings from the Argentine ports. A big crop is looked for, and the change in the weather conditions has come in time to secure splendid results. One feature is reports of weakening quotations for maize, owing to the big crop expected. Foremost amongst the markets which have been showing exceptional strength this week has been that for Argentine Railway stocks, substantial rises having accrued to leading issues in the ordinary list. For the buying which is taking place the reason is advanced that the long series of traffic decreases is about to come to an end. The maize harvest being so good, increased traffics are in sight. With 5 to 61 per cent. offering upon good-class securities, it is worth while to set out in tabular form the yields that the principal Argentine Railway stocks pay at the present time: 71 5 3 5 5 2 10 O O Buenos Ayres and Pacific . CENTRAL URUguay. The recent reduction in the interim dividends of the Central Uruguay group was in accordance with expectation, seeing that traffics were poor for the six months ended December 31 last, and the weekly returns continue poor. As regards the parent company the interim report shows a substantial reduction in working expenses, for although gross receipts declined by £36,700, the net revenue was only £23,800 lower. The outlook is not really so bad despite the weekly traffic decreases. Uruguay and Argentina alike have suffered in business depression from the financial stringency of last year, but as we have before stated this has been partly offset in Uruguay by an excellent cereal harvest, while the country is rapidly recovering with the advent of very cheap money on the European markets. Moreover we understand that even more marked economies have been possible on the railway during the current half-year than were possible last year. The only fear in connection with the future of the Central Uruguay is that tariffs may have to be reduced materially as the result of the Government's expressed intention to construct State-subsidised lines of a competitive character. The scheme has not yet gone far, and it may never come to anything serious, but there is the danger. It is possible that the dividend for the whole year 1912-13 may have to be reduced from 63 to 6 or even 5 per cent., but at the present price of 94 there would seem to be room for a substantial appreciation in capita! value as soon as traffics turn the corner. Last the stock touched 106, and in the year previous year 1153. CUBAN PORTts. We referred briefly last week to the formation of Cuban Ports Committee No. 2. It is composed very largely of representatives of Stock Exchange interests, and is apparently working in harmony with Committee No. 1, a joint meeting having been held the other day. Strong representations have been made to the President, and the support of important banking interests has been enlisted. But Congress rises in about a month's time, so that there is little time to waste. Our information is that the outlook is none too bright. The most bitter opponent of the proposals to treat the Cuban Ports ever convinced he may be of the justice of the Cuban Ports case. Unfortunately, too, this leading opponent acts for certain prominent British interests, and hence there is nothing "antiforeign" of which he can be accused. The British interests to which we allude are not of course taking any part in the matter. There has recently been a sharp recovery in the Cuban Ports common shares from the low level of 24 touched about a week ago. But we see no inducement to buy them even as a speculation, and, as we have repeatedly pointed out, the longer a settlement is delayed the worse does the position become for the common shareholders, owing to the necessarily heavy expenses the negotiations have entailed and are entailing. The bonds are in a different category, as even the opponents of the settlement proposals recognise the justice of their claim to receive in Government bonds. AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS. 66 par " The outlook for holders of Australian securities is remarkably good. We hear that the bountiful rains, which have been reported from time to time, have been pretty general over the pastoral areas of the various States, and abundant feed for the flocks during the forthcoming winter is assured. Prices of wool, dairy produce, and meat are exceptionally high and the outlook could scarcely be better. There is no doubt that many investors are deterred from putting their money into certain Australian securities owing to the liability on the shares, naturally a great risk in view of the possibility of a drought such as tried Australia so severely many years ago. The Commonwealth has enjoyed good seasons for a long time past, but a failure of the rains at the proper seasons would be disastrous, though, owing to the measures taken in recent years to minimise the effects of a possible drought, would not be so disastrous as at one time. Still, we can understand the reluctance to put money into Australian issues with a liability. The market is talking very hopefully of the prospects of the Australian Pastoral Company, which last year raised its dividend from 7 to 8 per cent. and for years has been rapidly building its reserves, the amount allocated last year being no less than 450,000. Recently the price of the fully paid ordinary stock has risen to 1063, the highest in the history of the concern. is thought that the dividend may be further advanced to 9 per cent. for the current year. It viewed favourably in the market, is the Australian Agricultural Another Australian undertaking, the prospects of which are Company with its varied interests. It holds a large amount of land in important districts, and conducts cattle and sheep farming and coalmining. The 5 shares are now fully paid, and having regard to the fact that the interim dividend was recently increased from 4s. 6d. to 5s. per share it is thought that the dividend for the year will be at least 10 per cent. and possibly more, against 9 per cent. for 1912. At the present price of 8 the yield is by no means unattractive. The Van Diemen's Land Company's shares too are worth watching in view of the strong position of the company and the coming plans for reorganising the capital of the concern, as a result of which holders should do very well. SPIES PETROLEUM. Occasion was taken here some time ago to show the scope for improvement in price afforded by Spies Petroleum shares. At that time the quotation was about 25s., and its subsequent fall to a guinea came about as the direct result of a new issue of shares, the arrangements for which were bungled rather badly, Within the last few days Spies have been one of the features of the oil market; and a recovery in the price to 24s. has aroused eager interest as to what dividend is likely to be announced next month. The profit for 1912 came to £248,000, and the dividend of 22 per cent. absorbed £167,296, both these figures showing improvement over 1911, although in that year the production of oil was three and a-half million poods more than it was in 1912. The production for 1913 showed a further falling away of two and a-half million poods, the total production being 13,867,905 poods. But the people who are best qualified to speak are expecting the dividend to be maintained at 22 per cent., because of the higher prices obtained for the oil. The steady fall in production since 1910 has been a great disappointment, but Stock Exchange expectation looks for a very large increase in the near future, as some of the seventeen new wells which are being drilled are in excellent positions. The company's new contract for the sale of its oil came into force last January, and from this alone an increased profit of £15,000 for 1914 is expected. The company too is about to bring into operation its new electrical-power-station, which would effect a saving of £40,000 per annum. The shares are of 10s. each, so that at 24s. a dividend of 22 per cent. gives a yield of £9 7s. 6d. per cent. on the money. We have shown the optimistic side of the proposition. On the reverse there is the risk which attaches to all oil companies, rendering them as speculative as most gold mines. GOOD COPPER POSITION. The copper position as indicated by the recent statistical returns is a strong one. Apparently consumption continues good, and in the United States there have been better results in this regard. If the American figures next week make another satisfactory showing there may easily be further progress, the market responding more to the statistical position. The Rio Tinto directors pointed out the other day that as visible supplies of the metal have recently been reduced, and the demand continues on a substantial scale, the outlook is far from discouraging. It is early no doubt to forecast results for next year, and copper has a way of upsetting calculations, but on the whole the feeling is optimistic for 1914-15. STOCK EXCHANGE COMMISSIONS. Many members of the House, prompted by the bad state of business have been asking whether something should not be done to alter the commission rules. The increased burdens on the public certainly tend to check speculative business in normal times, and on speculative business the House really depends. It is known that the Committee is fairly equally divided on the subject, but many members are afraid to deal with the matter. The broker in a small way of business naturally clamours for the high commissions, though his clientèle very often cannot in any case go elsewhere, unless to their bankers, where they are no better off. In these bad times the broker in a small way of business only ekes out a livelihood by the unnecessarily exacting rates. But those with wider experience and a greater clientèle see that the business of the House is injured and the freedom of markets impaired by the existing rules. In the provincial centres there is a good deal of complaint among brokers on the subject of the London Stock Exchange commission scales, and the manner in which business is hampered thereby. FINANCIAL JOTTINGS. One of the silliest points raised about the new Bankruptcy Act is that it will interfere with Stock Exchange business. This is merely due to the provision that rash and hazardous speculations within two years previously to the bankruptcy may be an offence. But "rash and hazardous" speculation of a person standing on the verge of bankruptcy is one thing, and ordinary speculation by one who is brought to bankruptcy by a combination of adverse circumstances is quite another. leading London gas companies are a great point for these comThe more satisfactory coal contracts secured by the two tion is as much as 25. per ton-indeed rather more. They will panies, and of good augury for railway proprietors. The reducassist the year 1914-15. It is estimated that the saving to the two great companies concerned will be over £400,000 for the twelve months. There is tall talk of 400,000 men coming out in November in the railway world. Quite a healthy dispute. But to predict trouble of this kind is to lose sight of two things. First, a conciliatory discussion is arranged between the men's union and the representatives of the railways. And, even more important, slackening trade and reduced employment do not render the conditions propitious for a big labour dispute of the kind. The rise in the price of rubber has been very interesting. Certainly the trade position is good, and the recent auctions have borne testimony to its soundness. But the latest rise in rubber is due primarily to covering by speculators for the fall, who had apparently gone too far. So that it is well not to be too confident that it will be sustained. For when the "bears" have covered, prices may fall back. The negotiations to which the chairman of the Ottoman Railway (Smyrna-Aidin) referred the other day are interesting. But the interests of the Italian and British groups are only part of a bigger question in Asia Minor. France, Germany, and the should be a settlement which will strengthen the various foreign Turkish Government are all discussing matters. The outcome enterprises in this prosperous and hopeful region, and lead to good conditions for the various companies concerned. Naturally, the better news in regard to Brazil and the prospects of financial assistance cause the markets to show improvement in the various securities which depend so much on the prosperity of the country. Given more settled conditions, so that the powerful financial groups can give assistance, these various securities would quickly rally. Mexico hampers the American market, but there has been distinctly more confidence as regards the outlook. If the eastern railroads were allowed to advance their rates to a moderate extent there would be a big fillip. American railroad rates are among the lowest in the world, despite the high wages and other bills, and some concessions might reasonably be granted. Naturally, with the prospects of improvement in values of the leading investment securities during the coming year or two, as a result of slackening trade and cheaper money, there is a continued demand for investment trust issues. The severe writing down of investment holdings in recent years will strengthen the position of these companies enormously when the revival sets in. West Indian crops, now being reaped, are good, although the price of sugar is low. The Colonial Bank, which enjoyed a prosperous year in 1913, seems likely to show a very satisfactory result also in 1914. Tea is still selling remarkably well at the auctions, and shareholders in plantation companies have every reason to be satisfied with the results and the prospects. An American technical report on the Cobalt fields and their prospects makes some interesting assertions. While new discoveries may be looked for, the future production and profits of all the mines, it says, will depend to an increasing extent on the efficient and economic handling of the large tonnage of lowgrade ore. Costs are increasing and profit rates are being reduced. Cobalt is being metamorphosed from a high-grade to a low-grade camp. CITY OF SINGAPORE. THE London City and Midland Bank, Ltd., Threadneedle Street, London, E.C., and branches, and the Mercantile Bank of India, Ltd., 15 Gracechurch Street, London, E.C., are authorised to receive applications for £300,000 City of Singapore 4 per cent. sterling debenture stock. The debenture stock is redeemable at par on September 30, 1963. The price of issue is 92 per cent., at which figure the yield to the investor is about 4 (four and three-eighths) per cent. The proceeds of the loan will be applied to sewerage scheme, gasworks, new markets, and other public works, and the repayment of existing indebtedness. Singapore is the capital of the British Dependency of that name and has a population of about three hundred thousand. It is the most important trading port in the southeast of Asia, and is the world's ninth largest port. The stock forms a first-class investment and may be applied for in multiples of £50. Principal and interest are payable in London in sterling. THE G.W.R.'S EASTER HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS. THE Great Western Railway's holiday arrangements for Easter are on the usual comprehensive and generous scale, and provide for every class of traveller an opportunity to pay a visit to most of the towns and districts upon its system. The excursions, details of which may be found in the pamphlet which is to be obtained at all the company's stations and offices, range from half-day trips to periods covering the whole holiday, and are run at fares to suit all purses, so that if the weather should prove fair, as we have every reason to hope and even believe it will, the number of holiday-seekers leaving Paddington next week is likely to be a record even for this most attractive line. The excursions start on Wednesday next and continue daily until Easter Tuesday. FIRE RISKS.-THE LEADING INSURANCE COMPANIES ACCEPT OUR VALUATIONS FOR BASIS OF POLICIES. INVENTORIES OF ART COLLECTIONS, FURNITURE AND ALL OTHER VALUABLES SECURING PROTECTION TO OWNERS ARE PREPARED IN ALL PARTS OF THE KNIGHT, FRANK & RUTLEY, Holiday Haunts. Season 1914. The G.W.R., 3d.).We have received from the Great Western Railway Holiday Haunts for 1914, a portly volume of some six hundred pages, which deals descriptively and practically with the delectable parts of England, Wales, and Ireland covered or served by their BOOKS, ANCIENT AND MODERN, BOUGHT, SOLD, AND EXCHANGED, line. We have had occasion to praise this wonderful compilation in former years, and can only say that it is the most admirable work of the kind we have met. It is in fact advertisement in its highest form. We have heard it said of popular publications as a term of reproach that they are "all advertisements." May we say of Holiday Haunts that it is an advertisement "all reading matter "-and excellent reading matter too-while the illustrations from photographs are as good as they are numerous? 'As a guide to delightful resorts, and to the various accommodation to be obtained there, the book is invaluable. Capitals of the Northlands, by Ian C. Hannah, M.A. (Heath, Cranton, and Ouseley, 6s. net). With few outstanding exceptions literature on the cities of the northlands of Europe is comparatively meagre, and Mr. Hannah is therefore to be congratulated on a capable presentation of an intelligent study. of the past and present characteristics and attributes of half a score of these capitals (the old and their successors), which are full of interest. Those so happily dealt with are Thorshavn, Faroe Islands; Reyjavik, Iceland; Trondhjem and Christiania; Roskilde and Copenhagen; Visby, Gothland; Upsala and Stockholm; and St. Petersburg. With the exception of the last named they were all built by country-loving folk to whom spaciousness and parkland appealed more than streets of huge buildings enclosing hackneyed squares, and the foundation, histories, and numerous other particulars of each are limned in an easy and lucid panorama, clearly conveying to the reader their manifold charms and attractions. The sketches of the matchless sagas so neatly interwoven into the descriptions of these northern capitals give Mr. Hannah's book a particular fascination to all who study folklore, while the pen-and-ink drawings are almost photographic in appearance and reflect much credit on the artist. Monthly Catalogues Free. THOMAS THORP, 93 St. Martin's Lane, W.C. [And at READING.] BANK OF AUSTRALASIA The combined nutritive qualities of rich milk and the finest malted cereals form a perfect and natural food, and with these as its constituent parts Horlick's Malted Milk appeals to one and all, meeting in each case the special dietetic needs of the individual. Readily assimilated with little tax on digestion, Horlick's nourishes, sustains and invigorates, supplies strength and vitality, and builds up and maintains health, fitness and stamina. To the Business-man the regular use of Horlick's is especially valuable as it prevents fatigue and restores energy, and the Athlete finds in it the best training diet. In the home Horlick's is a valuable and delicious foodbeverage, suitable for all and more beneficial than tea, coffee, cocoa, etc. PREPARED IN A MOMENT WITH WATER ONLY. REQUIRES NO COOKING. Served in Hotels, Restaurants, and Cafes, Hot or Cold. HORLICK'S MALTED MILK LUNCH TABLETS. A delicious food confection to be dissolved in the mouth. Of al Chemists and Stores in Sterilised Glass Bottles at 1/6, 2/6 and 11/Liberal Sample for trial free by post on request. HORLICK'S MALTED MILK CO., Slough, Bucks. COMPANY MEETINGS. VICKERS, LIMITED. A RECORD YEAR. THE Forty-seventh Annual Meeting of Vickers, Limited, was held at the River Don Works, Sheffield, on Friday, March 27, Mr. Albert Vickers presiding. must be ready and able to seize it and turn it to the best advantage; otherwise, while the world moved on, they would be found not merely standing still, but going back, and their business would very soon cease to be what it now was. He then proposed the resolution, which was seconded by Sir Vincent Caillard. The resolution was carried, and a vote of thanks was accorded to the Chairman. WARING AND GILLOW, LIMITED. THE PROGRESS OF THE NEW COMPANY.-Loss or £50,000 TURNED THE First Annual General Meeting of Waring & Gillow, Ltd., was held on Monday at the premises of the company in Oxford Street, London, W. Mr. Kennedy Jones (the Chairman) presided. The Secretary (Mr. Joseph Ritson) having read the notice calling the meeting and the report of the auditors, The Chairman, in presenting the reports and balance-sheet, said that when he had the pleasure of meeting them last year he stated that he saw no reason to expect that the year 1913 would show less favourable results than its predecessor. As a matter of fact, it had proved to be the record year of the Vickers Co. The highest profit level reached previously was in 1906, when the figure was £879,904, and the past year exceeded that by £32,091. That fact in itself formed a more effective reply than any words could provide as to the wisdom of the increase in the company's capital agreed to at the last general meeting. The company only had the full advantage of that increase for about six months of the year, while the net earnings of the company increased by some £40,000, or at the approximate rate of £80,000 per annum. They would thus agree that when they said last year that the situation was perfectly sound and satisfactory, since additional expenditure meant additional profit-earning capacity, they were merely stating a fact which had now become self-evident. The directors had restored on the asset side of the item "marketable securities," which had not figured in the account presented to them for the last few years. The income earned by these marketable securities was highly satisfac-struction and reorganisation of the business in all its branches; yet tory, and, as the auditors informed them in their report, they were taken in the balance-sheet at a lower aggregate value than their market value. As to the subsidiary and connected companies themselves, the shareholders need have no doubt whatever that they formed, as a group, an exceedingly valuable asset in the company's business-an asset, indeed, of distinctly higher value than the figure at which it stood. It is not, I hope, on this occasion a matter of disappointment to any shareholder that we are not proposing a higher dividend than 121⁄2 per cent., and I think it would have been a profound error to declare more. We do not wish you to suppose that we are conveying a hint to you to prepare for diminishing prosperity. The balance-sheet itself is enough to show you it is not so. Stocks and works in progress, for instance, have increased by upwards of £500,000, and we can assure you that the condition of our order books is entirely satisfactory. So far, indeed, as one can foresee, the current year will again show excellent results. He then moved the adoption of the report and balance-sheet and the declaration of the following further dividends for the year ending December 31: 21⁄2 per cent. on the preferred five per cent. stock and five per cent. preference shares, less income-tax, and 1s. 6d. per share, free of income-tax, on the 4,440,000 ordinary shares, making, with the interim dividend, 2s. 6d. per share, or 12 per cent. for the year. Sir Trevor Dawson seconded the motion, remarking that they had every reason to congratulate themselves on the successful work of the year. The report was unanimously adopted. PROPOSED ISSUE OF £1,100,000 ORDINARY SHARES. 46 An extraordinary general meeting was afterwards held to consider the following resolution : That the capital of the company be increased to £7,050,000 by the creation of the issue of 1,110,000 new ordinary shares of £1 each, ranking in all respects pari passu with the existing ordinary shares, but entitled to rank for dividend as from January 1, 1914, provided that all calls and instalments as are due and payable on or before June 29, 1914, as specified below, on such shares should have been duly paid on or before June 29, 1914, and that such new ordinary shares be disposed of in manner following: viz. (a) That the said new ordinary shares be offered rateably at £1 8s. per share to the persons who on the day that this resolution is confirmed shall be the holders of the existing ordinary shares, and so that each such holder who within the time or times to be limited by the directors accepts the offer made to him shall be entitled to the allotment to him or his nominee at the price of £1 8s. of one new ordinary share for every complete number of four existing ordinary shares held by him and/or of such fraction of a new share to which upon a rateable allotment he would be entitled in respect of any number of existing ordinary shares less than a complete number of four on payment in proportion therefor, and that every allotment to be made under the provisions aforesaid be made on the terms that payment shall he made for whole shares and proportionately for fractions of whole shares as follows: 10s. on April 30, being on account of capital; 5s. on May 30, being on account of capital; 5s. on June 29, being on account of capital; 4s. on September 30, being on account of premium; 4s. on November 30, being on account of premium; and that discount at the rate of 4 per cent. be allowed on payments in advance made on any instalment date; (b) that the directors are hereby authorised to allot any of the said 1,110,000 new ordinary shares as shall not be allotted under the provisions aforesaid at such times, to such persons, and on such terms as they shall determine, provided the same be not allotted at any less price than £1 8s. per share." The Chairman said: The situation described to them last year had become intensified, in spite of the considerable accession to the company's cash resources following from the increase of capital to which they then agreed. Exceptionally large orders had been reach ing the company from many quarters-orders of a magnitude which no foresight of the directors could have foretold, and which affected the whole of the main factories of the company. Should the opportumity arise to build up a prosperous future for the company they Mr. Kennedy Jones said: I do not propose to weary you with a prolonged examination in detail of the figures of the balancesheet which you have before you. Personally, I suspect a balancesheet which requires an elaborate explanation from the Chairman. In my view the accounts presented to shareholders ought to be capable of easy and quick understanding, and so far as your directors are concerned they, together with the auditors, laboured to get the figures of your very large and exceedingly complex business into a simple yet comprehensive form, which would enable you to at once grasp the position in which the company stands. The balance-sheet before you covers, as you are aware, a period of seventeen months, a time almost wholly devoted to the recon we have emerged with a net trading profit of £51,000, which represents a progress that will be best understood when I tell you that the loss made during the last seventeen months of the receivership is reckoned to have totalled to about the same figure; so that we can claim in our first period to have transformed a £50,000 loss into a profit of £51,000. That, I trust you will agree, is not unsatisfactory. After paying the debenture interest and directors' and auditors' and trustees' fees, we are left with £15,000, which we propose to utilise in writing off the whole of the preliminary expenses incurred in the formation of this company, and to carry forward the sum of £4,000. Having regard to the fact that for most of the seventeen months with which we are dealing your board were occupied in dealing with the wreckage of the old company, we are tempted to regard the results as being at least of good omen for the future of your business. There are two or three sets of figures in the balance-sheet to which I think I might draw your attention, and which perhaps are not without significance as to your future. The first is that you as a company owed on January 31 a matter of some £97,000, and that on the same date you had in cash and in book debts owing to you a sum of £390,000. I have heard it suggested that the amount of book debts seemed large, but if you keep in mind the fact that the turnover of your business in the last twelve months amounted to over £1,000,000-indeed, to close upon £1,100,000-the book debts will be found to represent not more than three months' trading, and that, in a business where by reason of the many and considerable contracts you have, where long credit is taken by your clients, is not a term to which any reasonable objection can be taken. The other live assets of your business and stock-in-trade, which total about £690,000, have been taken into your balance-sheet on the most conservative basis. Absolutely new stock has been taken in at cost, and in the case of stock which has been in the showrooms for any period of time with considerable depreciation, while the freehold and leasehold premises, plant, and machinery, stocks of time and material have all been set down by outside valuers at figures well within their value. I think it is of importance to recognise that the live assets of your business in value cover almost two-thirds of the whole capital of your company. The goodwill figure on the balance-sheet is, of course, a purely arbitrary one. It is accounted for by the fact that we have among our liabilities taken in the shares which we issued fully paid at their face value and not at their nominal value, at which they were accepted by the holders. No one who took preference shares in lieu of the old debentures imagined that the preference shares were worth anything like their face value, and those to whom the ordinary shares were given as a bonus received them as pieces of paper which might in the long, and I hope not too distant future be of some value, but which certainly had no value seventeen months ago and have no particular value even to-day. There is just one point in connection with the preference shares which has given rise to some misconception in the financial columns of some newspapers. The preference shares only became cumulative as to dividend on January 1 of this year. You will remember when the scheme of the reconstruction was before the Courts we who represented the new debenture holders fought hard with the committee of the old debenture holders to make the dividend on the new preference shares cumulative as from the beginning of 1915. We felt then, as indeed we feel now, that it will take every bit of three years or so to improve the position of this company so as to enable it to reach that stage of profit at which it will be capable to meet in full the liability of the preference shares; but Mr. Jennings, who represented the old debenture holders, was equally as strong that the period during which the shares should be noncumulative should only extend over twelve months, and ultimately we compromised on the period of sixteen months, and so fixed on January 1 of this year as the date from which the preference shares had a right to claim the dividends of the company. Consequently we began our new financial year on February 1 with a debt merely of one month's preference dividend against us-a debt which is covered by the amount we have carried forward. I have every hope for the future of this company, but I have no ABRIDGED PROSPECTUS. The Register of this Debenture Stock will be kept at the London City and Midland CITY OF SINGAPORE. expectation that the progress during the next twelve months, considerable as I expect it to be, will be great enough to enable the directors to meet the whole of the preference dividend in twelve months' time. That opinion is also the opinion of your board, and though our prophecy may be falsified by results, yet I deem it only right at this meeting to warn you against indulging in the hope that we shall be able in twelve months' time to pay out of the profits a matter of some seventy or eighty thousand pounds. Even if our success is greater than we anticipate it will be, it will be much Offer of £300,000 Four per Cent. Sterling the wiser course for this company to build up large liquid cash reserves, which can be made remunerative by reinvestment in the growing business of your company. That, however, is a matter which we shall all be better able to deal with twelve months hence. Well, gentlemen, your board so far are satisfied with the progress which has been made. They are satisfied with the report and the accounts they have been able to present to you at the end of this their first period of management. They believe that the present year will enable them to show further and, perhaps, considerable progress. Every branch of your business, with one small exception in Canada, shows a profit a profit which in every case we have reasonable hopes of improving this year. The whole of your business has been reorganised from top to bottom. We have almost rebuilt your factory at Hammersmith. We are rebuilding your factory at Lancaster, and we intend when we are through with the factory at Lancaster to take in hand the complete reorganisation of your factory at Liverpool. The fact that we have made profits, however small, in every detail of your business with the one slight exception I have spoken of shows that we have chopped out almost all of the dead wood which we found in the concern as it came to us, and we naturally expect that we shall reap greater benefit in the coming year from all the alterations we have made, but we are conscious that it may still be slow work getting to that pinnacle of prosperity which we hope ultimately to achieve. In addition to perfecting our business methods, in addition to perfecting our workmanship, our methods of handling contracts, whether large or small, with efficiency and economy, we have to regain and this is always a slow process-the confidence of the public in all that Waring & Gillow does a confidence which was sadly shattered by the mistakes of the old company. I think I may say without exaggeration that we are renowned throughout the world for our taste and our craftsmanship. We are now seeking, and I hope that we will achieve, an equal renown for our efficiency and our economy. It is our desire to have your firm known not only as the most perfect furnishing house in Europe, but one to which people of all kind and degree can come in the confident knowledge that they are not only going to obtain the best material and the best workmanship, but the best value for money in England. Personally, may I say that I am extremely satisfied not only with the progress we have made, but with the help which I have received from all my colleagues on the directorate and from every worker in every branch and detail of your vast business. Without exception, they have laboured unceasingly during the last seventeen months to help in the work of reconstructing and reorganising the business and placing it in the position which it holds to-day. I am grateful to them. For myself I have the personal satisfaction of being, as chairman of your company, at the head of operations which I feel certain are going to result in the permanent and the prosperous continuance of a business which, established so long ago as 1693, has influenced the taste and comfort of homes not merely in this country, but has carried the English feeling into practically all parts of the civilised world. I beg to move that the report and accounts as presented to you be approved and adopted. Mr. Japhet seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Messrs. Shemy Japhet, William J. Jennings, and Henry W. Weaving were re-elected directors of the company. It was proposed and carried unanimously that the election of auditors be left in the hands of the board. The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the chair man. THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the ORDINARY GENERAL HALF-YEARLY MEETING of the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada will be held at the Cannon Street Hotel, Cannon Street, London, E.C., on Wednesday, the 29th April, 1914, at Twelve o'clock noon precisely, for the purpose of receiving a Report from the Directors, for the election of Directors and Auditors, and for the transaction of other business of the Company. NOTICE IS ALSO GIVEN that RESOLUTIONS will be submitted to the Meeting to assent to and to accept two Acts of the Parliament of Canada, entitled respectively "The Grand Trunk Act, 1914," and "The Grand Trunk and Canada Atlantic Amalgamation Act, 1914," and to authorise the Directors to exercise the powers conferred by the said respective Acts. NOTICE IS ALSO GIVEN that the TRANSFER BOOKS of the Company in London, except so far as regards the Transfer Books of the Perpetual Four per Cent. Consolidated Debenture Stock, will be closed from Saturday, the 4th day of April, to the day of Meeting, both days inclusive. 1 Debenture Stock, 1913. London in Sterling. PRICE OF ISSUE 92 PER CENT. The above Debenture Stock has been created in pursuance of the with the sa contained in the Singapore Municipal Ordinance. 1913, and the sanetion of the Legislative Council of the Colony of the Straits Settlements, and of the Governor in Council, and forms part of an authorised issue of $4,500,000, portion of which has been sold in Singapore. The Municipal Ordinance, 1913, provides for the creation of Sinking Funas for the repayment of the above Debenture Stock at par on the 30th September, 1963. Interest will be payable on 31st March and 30th September in each are authorised as Bankers for the Purchasers of the above-mentioned Debenture Stock to ... ... 936,783 $4,034,717 (= £470,717) Add: Borrowed from the Government of the Straits Settlements under Ordinance III. of 1907 4,484,460 (= £523,187) Total Outstanding Loans $8,519,177 (= £993,904) Singapore is the capital of the British Dependency of that name, and has a population of about 300,000. It is the most important trading port in the south-east of Asia and the world's ninth largest port, the tonnage of ships entering the port during 1912 having reached nearly 8,000,000 (Port of London about 11,co0,000). The following table shows the gross value of imports and exports, excluding treasure, for the five Imports. years 1908 to 1912:— £24,761,029 25,588,771 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 ... The official figures for 1913 are not yet available. For the financial year ended 31st December, 1913, the revenue of the town of Singapore was $3,250,000 (= £379,167), and the expenditure $3,500,000 (£408,333). Under the Municipal Ordinance, 1913, the total indebtedness of the Commissioners, after deducting from such indebtedness the current value of all sums credited to the Sinking Funds to Loans, may not exceed double the annual value of the houses, buildings, lands, and tenements liable to assessment within the Municipality. Double the annual value of the property mentioned on 1st July, 1913, was $16,863,790 (= £1,967,442). Apart from the rateable value, the City's assets, which include Gasworks, Waterworks, and Real Estate, are stated to be worth about £1,980,000.' Application will be made for an official quotation of the Debenture Stock on the London Stock Exchange. Prospectuses and Forms of Application may be obtained from the London City and Midland Bank, Limited, Threadneedle Street, E.C., and branches; the Mercantile Bank of India, Limited, 15 Gracechurch Street, E.C.; the British, Foreign and Colonial Corporation, Ltd., 67 Bishopsgate, E.C.; or the Brokers, Messrs. J. & A. Scrimgeour, Hatton Court, Threadneedle Street, E.C. LONDON, 2nd April, 1914. No. H. E.C., together with a remittance for the amount payable on application. As Bankers for 10 per cent. on £................ of the above Debenture Stock, I/we request that the Purchasers will sell to me/us that amount of Debenture Stock at the price of 92 per cent., and I/we hereby agree to accept the same or any less amount that may be sold to me us, and to pay the balance due on 8th April, 1914, in conformity with the terms of the Prospectus dated 2nd April, 1914. Date............April, 19:4. Cheques should be made payable to Bearer and crossed. Applications must be for £50 or multiples of £50 of Debenture Stock. |