6 MAY 1938, Page 60

CALCUTTA ELECTRIC SUPPLY PRESIDING at the annual meeting of the

Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited held in London on May 2nd, the Chairman, Lord Meston, in presenting the report and accounts for 1937, described them as indicating a year of active progress. That there was no corresponding increase in revenue was due to reductions in charges. An improvement in the industrial supply had counter- balanced the drop in domestic revenue, and the gross revenue for the year was only £8,000 less than in 1936. Divisible profits were £230,876, as compared with £211,454 in the previous year. It was proposed to add £25,000 to the general reserve, £12,000 to the retiring gratuity fund, and to pay a dividend on the ordinary stock of to per cent., tax free.

The year's capital expenditure was L620,000, largely on the new super-station at Mulajore. In addition to the reductions already made in the domestic rate, it was proposed to lower the power rates, at a cost of nearly £70,000 a year.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation had renewed its attempt to purchase the company's undertaking within the municipal boundary. The Government of Bengal, however, had refused to sanction the proposal, and had indicated their own policy of working on the lines of the McGowan Report.

The report was adopted.