THE UNION BANK OF AUSTRALIA, LIMITED.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 432, 22 March 1890, Page 2

THE UNION BANK OF AUSTRALIA, LIMITED.

Paid-up Capital, £1,500,000; Reserve Funds, £1,000,000 _ r . .. Together .. .. .. £2,500.000 Reserve Liability of Proprietors .. .. .. .. 3,000,000 £5,500,000

[From the Money Market Review, of February 1, 1890.]

The half yearly general meeting of this bank was held on Monday at the offices, Bank-buildings, Lothbury ; Major Frederick Fanning presided. Mr W. R. Mewburn (the manager) read the notice calling the meeting, and the following report of the directors and statement of accounts were taken as read :— “ The directors have to submit to the shareholders the annexed balance-sheet of the bank to the 31st August last, duly audited, which exhibits a net amount of* profits—inclusive of the balance brought forward from the previous half year—of £121,787 19s 9d admitting of a dividend at the rate-of 14 per cent per annum, equal to £1 15s per share, which will absorb £105,000, and leave the sum

I of £16,787 19s 9d to be carried forward. The directors have, as usual, after careful investigation, made sufficient reserves for all doubtful dependencies. The directors refer with pleasure to the season in the Australian colonies, which has been very favorable both for pastoral and agricultural industries, whilst the good prices obtained for wool and other produce must materially benefit colonial interests generally. Since last meeting of shareholders, branches of the bank have been opened at Oxford street, in Sydney, and Banbury, West Australia; and the branch at the Thames, New Zealand, has been closed. The dividend warrants will be transmitted by post on 29th inst., and the dividend will be payable in the colonies on such date as the general manager may fix after receipt of telegraphic advice.”

“We certify that the various securities held in Landon have been produced to us, and that we have examined the balance books of the several branches in the colonies for the six months ended August 31, 1889, and the books and accounts of the London office for the same period, and, having compared the combined results with the above balance sheet, have found the same correct. “Fredk. Whinney, Chartered Accountant) . a ,. „ Albert Deacon ) Auditors.

The Chairman said : Gentlemen, I could have wished that the duty of presiding here tc-day had devolved on some one of my colleagues who, as members of this board, are •me and all my seniors, and it is really not my fault but my misfortune and yours that after so short aa interval of only twelve months it has again fallen to my lot to occupy this chair and to lean on your indulgence while I try to say a few words such as are commonly addressed to you at these meetings, and my- words on this occasion need not, I thiuk, be more than very few, and will, I fear, be very commonplace. The operations of the bank during the six months with which we are now dealing, or rather the results of those operations, are, I think, plainly placed before you in the papers now in your hands, and although these results are stared in the usual concrete form. I doubt if any amplification of details could convey to you more clearly the information you naturally desire to possess. The figures entered under the various heads in the balance-sheet differ in several instances, to some extent, from those to be found under the various heads respectively in the statement presented to you six months ago; but I do not think that these differences call for any special notice. The half-year under review was not marked by any striking incidents, but it is satisfactory to note that, if we had no extraordinary successes over which to exult, we had no losses which need disturb our equanimity to deplore. (Hear, hear). We have proceeded on the even tenor of our way, striving, and striving successfully, to retain all old connexions which we value, and seeking new business wherever thia was to be found, involving only legitimate banking risks, while carefully avoiding all such as seemed to be of an unduly speculative character. (Hear, hear.) Proceeding on these lines, we have accumulated such an amount of profit as enables us, after amply providing for every dependency over which hangs the shadow of doubt, to declare a dividend at the rate of 14 per cent., which will not, I trust, be considered unsatisfactory. In the absence of matters of unusual interest connected with the operations of the half year which ended on the 31st August last on which to remark, I might, perhaps, not inopportunely comment on subjects of more general interest which affect us as bankers, such as the acknowledged improvement in trade, the position of the wool market, and the comp 3 rati vely high prices now ruling for our most important staple, on imports and exports, on the increased productiveness or otherwise of various colonial industries; but to my mind such matters are better studied by each of us who has a taste in that direction in the quietude of his own office, with pen in hand and statistical tables before him. At any rate, I feel incompetent to deal with them otherwise than in a superficial and perfunctory manner, and, therefore, think it more respectful to you to leave them altogether on one side, and to confine the little I have to say to the subject more immediately before us. On many of the occasions on which we have met in this room the chairman has found it necessary to remark, in tones more or less doleful, on the disastrous effects of the frequently recurring droughts which from time to time uffiiot the Australian colonies, but on this occasion it is my good fortune to be able to express hearty congratulations on the fact that at the present time climatio influences are altogether in our favor. The season for months past has been, and up to the latest advices continues to be, exceptionally favorable to those engaged in agricultu raland pastoral pursuits. Speaking of the droughts reminds me of a table published not long since in the Economist, to which, notwithstanding that I have just foresworn statistics, I incline to make a passing reference. The table in question was, I think, compiled by the Government statist of Victoria, and purported to show the increase in the number of live stock in the various colonies between the end of the years 1880 and 1888. The increase as thus exhibited is, I think, in some cases rather remarkable. In Queensland alone* the youngest of that inaguificnnt

group of Imperial dependencies, the sheep, which at tho earlier period numbered only something over 6.000,000, had at the latter date increased to over 13,000,000, or bad about doubted, and this notwithstanding the occurrence in the interval of several disastrous droughts, which had destroyed live stock by hundreds of thousands, and that this under the circumstances, is so, may, I think, be accepted as an indication that the tendency to rise, to go on, and prosper is not to be suppressed in those young and vigorous oommunities either by such natural calamities as those to which I have referred or by the more artificial difficulties occasionally thrown in the way of progress in some of the colonies by legislative eccentricities. (Laughter). Before sitting down I must not omit the most pleasant part of my duty, which is to invite your attention to the high esteem in which your directors hold the services of the executive officers of the bank. (Applause.) To Mr Mewburn and Mr Carbery, and to all the members of the London staff ; to Mr Innes, who, during Mr Finlayson’s temporary absence from the colonies, has discharged with judgment and ability the onerous duties of the general manager’s office; to Mr Palmer, tbe chief officer in New Zealand, and to all the colonial staff, our acknowledgements are heartily due. Mr Finlayson, who has been absent from the colonies for some months, left London a fortnight ago to return thither to resume there the reins which he knows so well how to handle. His temporary sojourn in this country has given the board opportunities (of which full advantage has been taken) to discuss with him many important matters affecting tbe interests of the bank, and these discussions cannot fail to be productive of much advantage to your directors and to Mr Finlayson himself in the discharge of the difficult and delicate duties of his important office. For years past your directors have had implicit confidence in MrFinlayson, and by intimate personal intercourse that confidence has been abundantly confirmed, and, if possible, increased. And now, gentlemen, if I have told you nothing that is very novel or interesting, it is because there is nothing new to tell, and that this is so may also, I think, be taken as a happy omen. (Cheers.) Before moving the adoption of the report I shall have pleasure in replying to any question which gentlemen on the other side of the table may wish to put to me, though my pleasure in that regard will doubtless depend largely on the nature of tbe questions which may he put to me, and on my ability to anewer them. Mr Botly said that it would afford him on this, as on previous occasions, very great pleasure to second the adoption of the report. The report presented he considered a most satisfactory one, and the remarks of the chairman were also very gratifying, especially as regarded the price of wool being sustained i and the increase of the number of sheep in the colonies to such an enormous extent as they learnt had been the case. He thought that they might look forward to a continuance of an improved condition of things in the Australian colonics, in which prosperity an institution such as theirs must naturally share by tbe doing of a larger business, which, he hoped, would give them an increased profit and an enhanced dividend in the future. No questions were asked, and the resolution for tho adoption of the report and accounts was put to the meeting and unanimously carried. Mr Mewburn then announced that ths dividend warrants would bs posted on the 29ib Inst. This having concluded the business, Mr Botly said he thought that they could not allow the meeting to separate without first of all according a hearty vote of thanks to the chairman, directors, and managers of the bank, and also the London and colonial staff. Major General F. O. Trevor seconded tbe resolution, wbich was carried.

Tbe Chairman, in acknowledging the compliment, assured tbe shareholders that it would be the study of the board and of tbe staff to deserve, at the expiration of another six months, a similar recognition of their services at the hands of the shareholders. The proceedings \hsn terminated.

BALANCE SHEET, AUGUST 31, 1889. LIABILITIES. Capital .. ... Less : Reserve liability .. ., £4,500,000 .. 3,000,000 Paid up £1,500,000 0 0 Reserve funds— 1,000,000 0 0 Of which there is invested in Impeiial Guaranteed Four per cent. Debentures ..£250,000 0 0 India Govenment Sterling Stock Colonial Government and Municipal Deben50,000 0 0 tures .. 200 000 0 0 Bank premises and property, per contra .. 394,881 4 5 Circulation.. 380,094 10 0 Deposits (including inscribed stock deposits) .. 13,101,365 10 0 Bills payable and other liabilities (including reserves held against doubiful debts) .. .. .. 2,130.056 9 11 Balanceol undivided profits 121,787 19 9 £18.233,304 9 8 ASSETS Specie on hand and cash balances . £2,851,925 11 9 Bullion on hand and in transitu 335.369 2 2 Money at call and short notice in London 120,000 0 0 Government and Municipal securities . • 877,045 2 10 Bills receivable, loans, and other securities at London office . 1,467,941 11 10 Bills discounted, bills receivable, loans and other securities at the branches .. .. . 12.186.141 17 6 Bank premises and property .. • • 394,881 4 5 £18,233,304 9 8 STATEMENT OF PROFITS. Balance of undivided profi's at February 28,1889 . . .. £115,681 10 8 Out oi which a dividend was declared of .. • • .. 185,000 0 0 Leaving a balance of .. .. £10.681 10 8 Profits tor the past half-year, after making provision for all bad and doubtful debts ■ > Less: Remuneration to the local directors, and salaries and allowances to the colonial staff .. .. £59,834 3 2 General expenses in the colonies, including rent, taxes, stationery, etc. .. 21,583 0 7 Remuneration to the board of directors and auditors, salaries of London office staff, rent, taxes, stationery, and general £208,830 13 5 expenses .. 12 385 15 7 Income tax .. ,. 1,941 5 0 95,725 4 4 9 1 Balance of undivided profits at this date .. .. £121.787 19 9 ' " H. P. Sturgis John S. Hill K. J. Ashton Charles Pakbur? /Directors. W. B. Mbwburn, Manager. T, C. C. Saundeiu, Acting Accountant. “ London, Jan. 14,1890.”