Pacific Commerce and Produce

What’s Good for Africa Doesn’t Suit Fiji

Prom Norman Baxter, in Suva [TAIN’S assistance to Fiji in ;he way of outright grants and interest loans has been told r times in PIM over the years, what has not been told is how bites the hand that feeds it. i takes all that Britain offers, looks for more, but when it s to buying from Britain the ims duties are loaded against British merchant —in favour of icarer markets of the Far East. ie matter received a thorough g at the March meeting of the Chamber of Commerce when as pointed out that the c.i.f. insurance and freight) method isessing duty had virtually priced y British goods out of the :et. It does not need a lematical genius to work out the insurance and freight on s from Britain would be two or : times as high as goods im jd from Japan and Hongkong, pparently when the c.i.f. method ssessment was introduced in the I’s to replace the simpler f.o.b. j on board) system, there were Is of rage from importers, and i those who considered that, as lin had been so good to Fiji, should do something in return, officialdom remained adamant — c.i.f. system was good enough for African Colonies, so it was 1 enough for Fiji. What was looked was that Africa is so h nearer to Britain and the >ht and insurance would not the same amount to the landed there, as it does in Fiji, iji importers found themselves lied with so much more paper k, and so did the Customs, but did not deter the empire ders in the Customs. Importers le it plain that they would prefer pay higher duty if the Govern it wanted more revenue, if only Government would stick to the i. method. yhen the c.i.f. system was first 3ted one Customs Comptroller sted it strongly and, according to K. Witherington, a Suva manu :urer’s agent, called it “traitorous

sabotage”. The method was not

introduced during that Comptroller’s

term of office, but his successor and the then Financial Secretary (Mr.

R. M. Taylor) were successful in bringing about the change.

Now, says Mr. Witherington, these two former officials admit a mistake was made. They now say they had no idea what the pattern of trade would be.

The Suva Chamber of Commerce at this stage is making no repre sentations to the Fiji Government on the matter. Rather, it is building up a case to show how British imports have been affected. When it has something formidable it will send a report off to the London Chamber of Commerce. What will happen after that is hard to guess, but it is highly likely that strong pressure will be brought on the Colonial Office to withdraw from Fiji something suitable for Africa.

BP Trust Company

Raises Dividend

For the second successive year, Burns Philp Trust Company Ltd. has raised its dividend. Last year it went up from seven per cent, to eight per cent, and now has gone to 10.

Net profit for the 13 months ended January 31, 1962, was £14,693, com pared with £10,178 for the previous 12 months, both after tax (£2,800 this year, £1,400 last) and depreciation (£BOO in present accounts, £l,OOO last).

The increased dividend requires £12,000.

Directors of the company are the heads of BP, Messrs. James Burns, Joseph Mitchell, P. T. W. Black and E. P. Lee.

The Misfortunes of

British Shipping

“British shipping companies today are experiencing such parlous conditions that to seek a parallel, we would have to go back to the 1930’5,” said the P & O Steamship Navigation Co.’s chairman, Sir Donald Anderson, at the annual meeting in London on March 29.

Apart from the fact that some P & O ships operate in the Pacific, his annual report is of general interest because it discounts the widely-held belief that shipping is a highly lucrative business.

“The accounts I am now submitting

to you produce a lamentable result,” said Sir Donald. ‘‘They underline the fact that when misfortune comes to shipping it comes as an epidemic.

“Last year, I said that the pendulum had not yet begun to swing in our favour and I was right; but I said also that I thought the worst was over for P & O —and I was wrong: prospects this current year show no improvement.”

Sir Donald said passenger ships had suffered most in spite of the fact that their revenues were higher. The fall in profits is due to no single trade or service but to the cumulative effect of worse trading experience and intensified competition.

“Our P & O group turnover for 1960-61 was £Stg.l3s million,” he said.

“On this there was an operating profit of £5tg.13,300,000. But depreciation amounted to £5tg.14,200,000, so that a small difference in the operating profit may either swamp the net profit or push it up to an apparently disproportionate extent.

“The group surplus before taxation, but after charging £5tg.14,200,000 for depreciation, is only £5tg.579,000 against £5tg.5,800,000 last year. Of this £5tg.579,000, no less than £Stg.4oo,ooo was contributed by profits on non recurring sales of short-dated UK Gov ernment stocks. Dividend was reduced to six per cent.”

Sir Donald said other countries were

building up their own shipping and rely ing less upon the “common carrier” flags to supply their needs. “We may be approaching a critical point in national shipping policy which can be settled only by the closest collaboration between the Government, which alone can act, and the shipping industry”, he added.

Fiji Expansion by

Century Batteries Ltd.

Century Storage Batteries Ltd., Sydney, reports that it is going ahead with its plan to expand its activities in Fiji by establishing a factory there.

Mr. A. V. Macdonald, sales manager, was in Fiji during March, checking on the progress.

The factory will supply not only the Colony but also meet the demand from New Caledonia, Samoa and other Pacific centres.

Century Batteries already have one profitable venture overseas Century Storage Batteries (Malaya) Ltd.

Carpenter's Hold to

High Dividend Rate

Though smaller concerns have been feeling the effects of the economic squeeze and cutting dividends, W. R.

Carpenter Holdings Ltd., parent of the WRC Islands commercial empire, is hold ing its dividend at last year’s higher 15 per cent. rate. It announced an interim TVs per cent, in March.

Directors said activities of the sub sidiaries and associates both in the Pacific and in Australia were carried on in the same pattern as in previous years. Adequate profits were available to contribute the usual dividends to the holding company.

The recently acquired Claude Neon Industries was doing much better.

Kerema Rubber

Profit Halved

Results from Kerema Rubber Ltd., Papua, showed net profit of £lO,BOB for the year ended December 31, 1961, com pared with £24,050 in 1960—a fall of 55 per cent.

Earnings were not sufficient to cover the dividend requirement. Interim dividend last September was five per cent.; final will also be five per cent., making a total of 10 per cent. Previous year, total payout was 12y 2 per cent.

The year’s profit was reached after depreciation £2,667 (up £57 on 1960), amortisation of plantation property £2,016 (steady) and taxation £2,145 (down £3,445).

In the Director’s report prepared for the 10th annual general meeting in Port Moresby on April 7, Mr. H. D. Under wood said the board was very much alive to the fact that the threat from synthetics and higher production costs must be met, and this would be done by planting only the highest producing clones. Great advances had been made in this field in the last five years, and some domes were now producing up to 2,500 lb per acre, compared with 400 lb per acre which was the average.

Another Papuan Rubber

Co. Cuts Dividend

Directors of Rubberlands Ltd., Papua, will recommend to the annual meeting of shareholders in Port Moresby on April 14 that the final dividend be 2Vz per cent, which, with an interim five per cent., will make 7Va per cemt. for the year ended December 31, 1961. A final five per cent, was paid the previous year.

Net profit fell from £20,832 in 1960 to £10,389 in 1961. This time directors fees are £1,500 (£1,300 previous year), depreciation £2,638 (against £2,319), amortisation of plantation property £2,287 (no change), and taxation £2,485 (compared with £6,630).

Average price realised for sale of all grades of rubber for the year was 30.23 d lb c.i.f. Australian ports, a drop of lOd (approx.) per lb against the last year’s figures. Although estate costs rose, in creased production of 43,040 lbs (to 460,970 lbs) enabled the delivered cost at Australian ports to remain at l/10d lb —the same as last year.

Rubberlands has a nursery of one of the highest yielding clonal seedlings, and a further nursery on which it intends this year to graft budwood of high quality supplied by the P-NG Department of Agriculture. It will then have its own multiplication nursery for either new plantings or replacements of old areas.

Unilever Adds a Million

To Sts Profits

Unilever Ltd. is still producing some astronomical profits.

Consolidated net profit of the Unilever group, for the year ended December 31, 1961, rose £Stg.l.l million to £Stg.s3.l million. Profit the previous year had fallen £Stg.B.l million.

Sales and profit in the second half-year were slightly below those of the first half, the preliminary report shows.

Profit is after tax £5tg.52.2 million (down £1.6 million), but includes "exceptional items and minority interests £5.2 million”.

Total dividend, Including final divi dends to be announced, is increased from 24.54 to 24.79 per cent, in the case of the English company Unilever Ltd., but Unilever NV (the European company) will pay an unchanged divi dend of 21 per cent.

Future of Sandy Ck. Co.

An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in Sandy Creek Gold Sluicing Ltd., adjourned from February 28, will be held in Sydney on April 18. The February meeting, convened to put the company into voluntary liquidation, was deferred when a takeover offer was re ceived from a Sydney stockbroker on behalf of an unnamed client.

If, at the April meeting, 75 per cent, of shareholders are for the takeover, then a tax-free dividend out of NG mining profits will be declared and the Ralph Walton & Co. deal proceeded with. The original motions to alter the company’s articles of association and wind up will be negatived.