NEUCHATEL ASPHALT " Road-making and its allied industries are essentially
occu- pations which flourish most in times of peace. A war might very well bring home to the authorities, if nothing else would, the inadequacy of many of our main arteries, but I think it must be accepted as a condition of the present unhappy war atmosphere that so long as it lasts the expansion of our road system will have to wait." In these words Colonel P. D. Ionides, chairman of Neuchatel Asphalt Company, showed how the company is vulnerable to existing conditions. Fortunately, he was also able to show that the true decline in earnings last year was only £8,019, and that, notwithstanding disturbed international conditions and currency depreciation in some of the company's fields of operations, the financial structure had been strengthened. Mr. A. E. Nicholson, the managing director, who also spoke at last Friday's meeting, underlined the hopeful side of the chairman's review by stating his belief that the profits obtained in recent years could be maintained. Specific plans for expansion in a number of directions are also, in his view, open to the company.
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