Pacific Commerce and Produce

Carpenter Group's

Assets Over

£lO M illions

A FTER various reorganisations

and capital rearrangements

—made necessary mostly by

phenomenal growth during the

last 35 years including the pur chase of Morris Hedstrom Ltd.— Messrs. W. R. Carpenter & Co.

Ltd., South Pacific traders and planters, finally settled down a year ago as W. R. Carpenter

Holdings Ltd., registered in Can

berra.

Its first financial year ended on September 30 last, and its certified balance-sheet was presented at the annual general meeting 17 days .ater —an unusual feat of rapid accounting and audit.

The published accounts do not jive much detail —but they disclose i Holding Co. profit on the year of i 326,499; which provides a dividend Jf HI per cent., and a carry forward )f £32,703.

The Directors say that the profits Jarned by the organisation (or jroup of companies) were derived :rom operations in Australia, Fiji, *few Guinea and elsewhere, in trad ng, shipping, insurance, invest nents, services, and sale of manu actured goods and of produce 'rown on the companies’ own istates. The consolidated accounts how that the group values its assets it £10,079,308; that the net income )f the group was £517,907; and that he total of the unappropriated irofits of the group as on September 10 was £2,974,633. j. The Board comprises Messrs. R. B.

Carpenter (chairman and managing lirector), C. H. V. Carpenter (vice

hairman and managing director),

V. S. Bennett, B. B. Perriman and '• D. Brownhill (of Sydney), and y. G. Johnson and H. S. Snell (of 'iji) The acting-secretary is Mr.

'• A. M. Adelskold.

Papuan Oil Search

Prospectus Withdrawn

rHE 64 dollar question at the ena of the first week in November, was whether the big partners in uistralasian Petroleum Company British Petroleum and Vacuum

and Interests, associated with each) would carry on with their earlier in tention of withdrawing and leaving the field to Oil Search, which had formed a new company, Papuan Oil Search with the object of raising £5 million new capital.

The issue was not long in doubt.

By November 9 the Big interests had announced that they would carry cn—although perhaps with bigger opportunities for Australian investors.

How these opportunities were to be created was not stated.

Under present APC construction, Oil Search has only a 10 per cent, interest.

A prospectus for Papuan Oil Search was issued on November 4 (it was drawn up before there were any indications of oil at Pun) and offered the public 20 million 57shares at par. It was later with drawn.

Whatever happens now, of course, the flow of oil at Puri can be re garded as a triumph for Mr. Kater and his directorate. They refused to throw up the sponge, and wanted to keep on prospecting in Papua even when the big fellows called “Enough”.

Papua's "Steamies"

Shows Healthy Figures

With E. V. Crisp at the helm, Steamships Trad : ng Co. Ltd., of Papua, has maintained its earnings and increased its profits, in the year ended July 31 last.

The disclosed profit was £179,749, permitting a yearly dividend of 10 per cent, on 50,000 £1 Preferences, and 121 per cent, on £741,000 £1 Ordinaries, and an addition of £75,000 to General Reserve, which now is £925,000.

With the carry-over of over £200,000 in P/L account, and the re serve, the shareholders’ funds (other than subscribed capital, £791,000) are now well over one million pounds.

It is a very healthy balance-sheet.

Even if withdrawal of the oil boring industry, and other factors, should reduce Papua’s income, the Co. is well equipped to stand up to almost any kind of recession.

The board comprises Messrs. E. V.

Crisp (chairman and managing director), L. A. Willis, R. J. Paul, G. M. Cadden, D. M. Spence and H. D. Underwood.

New Guinea Goldfields

Production

I<GC Ltd., announced on October 21 that -heir September production in New

Guinea was as follows: From the Golden Ridges Mill, 847 oz of fine gold were re covered from 4,234 tons of ore treated; 912 oz of fine silver were also recovered.

Golden Ridges alluvials produced 88 oz fine gold: and a further 61 oz came from tributes. Timber produced amounted to 188,803 super feet.

Papuan Apinaipi's

Queensland Interests

The Papuan Apinaipi Petroleum Co..

Limited, has announced that the 43,000 square miles of Authority to Prospect for Petroleum No. 54P, in Western Queens land (to the north of and adjacent to the area held by Santos. Limited, and its American associate Delhi-Taylor) will, under the new inter-company integrated policy, be developed equally by The Papuan Apinaipi Petroleum Co.. Limited, Associated Australian Oilfields, No Liability, and Associated Freney Oil Fields, No Liability.

The announcement refers to the fact that, in September, the three companies decided to pool their resources and to adopt a joint policy for future exploration. (Associated Australian Oilfields and Asso ciated Freney already have a large financial interest in Papuan Apinaipi).

Subsequent to the pooling arrangement being made, Papuan Apinaipi was granted a prospecting area in Queensland and this, too, will now be developed by the con solidated companies.

Steady Decline of

BCD Production

The net profit from the one dredge now working the Bulolo area for Bulolo Gold Dredging, Ltd., is an estimated

$61,000 for the quarter ended August 31.

Profit for the same period last year was $139,700 —but it scarcely is a good com parison as those 1957 figures included profits from cleanups from No. 4 dredge which ceased operating in May, 1957.

Nonetheless, value per yard dredged has also fallen in 1958—t0 16.31 cents for the August quarter, in comparison with 22.18 cents per yard in the same period in 1957.

An Interim Dividend of 25 cents (Canadian currency) per fully paid share has been declared and will become due on November 15, 1958. It will be paid from all offices of the company on December 8, 1958. Payment from Sydney office will be made in Australian currency calculated at the rate of exchange ruling on November 15, 1958. Dividends payable to non-residents of Canada will be sub ject to Dominion of Canada Absentee Tax of 15 per cent.

Dylup Pays

Bigger Dividend

Dylup Plantations, Ltd., which operates plantations in the Madang area of New Guinea, has increased its dividend rate to 14 per cent. (Last years’ total dividend was 12 per cent.) This is probably due to the higher than expected prices that have been maintained for copra over the period.

The company has thus lifted the interim dividend from 6 per cent, to 7 per cent.

Sandy Creek's Application

Rejected by Administration

The net profit of Sandy Creek Gold Sluicing. Ltd., for the year ending March 31, 1958, was £2,489—£2,403 from gold

mining and £B6 from other profits.

The annual general meeting of th company (held on November 6) was tol of the company’s abortive attempts t take up agricultural leases in the Uppf Watut Valley, NG. near their gold wort ings. The company, in making this r< quest to the NG Administration, ws mindful of the company’s assets alread established there —houses, buildings, ah strip, water-races and road. Howeve the company has been informed that tt local natives want the land for then selves.

The chairman of the Sandy Cree board, Mr. H. G. Hyde, said that it ap peared that the Administration encourage the natives to become interested in minin and agriculture on their own account which was “commendable in theory” bxi . . . “Would hasten the end of companh like ours continuing to be interested i New Guinea”.

The Stock Market

Probably as a natural reaction to tb extraordinary buoyancy of the last fe; months, there was a sharp downwar trend in the Stock Exchange from mi« October.

This seemed to be despite a better ton on the wool market, which has been n indication at all of the state of the stoo market this year.

A couple of months ago. when the stoo market was reaching a peak, the woe market had received a severe set-bao at the opening of the current wool sellin season. Now, towards the end of tH season, the price has recovered, to s extent, but there has been no similar n covery in the stock market, which in tl interval, had slumped.

The Sydney Stock Exchange index fH all ordinary shares on November 5, Wfl 216.83—a fall of about 42 points froc the figure for the same date in Octob© Highlight of events in early Novembc was the wild trading in Oil Search —tic 5/- shares at one stage reaching 26/ v This was exciting, but in the long-vie'j not very realistic. Oil Search has, present, only a 10 per cent, interest Australasian Petroleum Company, ai. even if the new company, Papuan O Search had been proceeded with, O Search would have had no bigg§ holding. Fantastic results would be needd to make shares at 26/- show a profit.

Sydney Sales Prices

Oct. 3 Nov. 5 Burns Philp ... 57/6 58/6 Burns Philp (SS) . . 45/6 47/- £42 £42/7a' Dylup Plantations . 14/6 14/3 Hackshalls 46/6 47/- Kauri Timbers . . . 21/- 20/- Kerema Rubber . . . 11/- 10/6 Koitaki 12/- 11/3 Lolorua 8/- 6/6 Mariboi 6/5 6/- Norfolk Is. Whaling 4/2 3/1 Queensland Insurance 69/- 65/- Rubberlands ... 6/6 5/- Sthn. Pac Insurance 16/ 18/- (sa Steamships Trading . 47/3 46/9 W. R. Carpenter Hold. 15/9 15/3 Timor Oil 5/5 7/2

Oil And Mining Shares

Fiji

July 9. '58 Oct. 3, ’58 Nov. 5, T Emperor . b5/9 s6/- NQ Loloma . . b29/b30/->

Papua-New

Guinea

Bulolo . . . b35/s40/b30/—' N.G.G. Ltd. bl/9% s2/6 s2/6 Oil Search b2/6 b2/8 bl5/lt Ent. of N.G. b7d b4d sl/2 1 Papuan Apln b9d bl/11 b4/lltj do. opt. . b6V 2 d b7d b2/llIJ Placer Dev. b86/6 S92/6 b91/68 Sandy Creek b4d b3d b3d