COMPANY MEETING

WILLIAMS DEACON'S BANK, LTD.

THE annual meeting of the Shareholders of Williams Deacon's Bank

Limited was held on January 25th in the Board Room, Mosley Street, Manchester, Mr. Gerald Powys Dewhurst (the chairman) presiding. The Secretary read the 'notice convening the meeting and the Auditors' Report. The chairman, in moving the adoption of the Directors' Report and Statement of Accounts, said: My Lords and Gentlemen, I have received apologies for un- avoidable absence from our meeting today from several members of the Board. You will note from the Report in your hands that new branches of the Bank have been opened at Grosvenor Place, London, and at Marple in Cheshire, while a new branch at South Kensington, in London, takes the place of our old office at Brompton. Then, under a mutual arrangement with other banks in the Northern area, certain of our sub-branches have been closed for the duration Of the War.

You will also see from the Report that Mr. Alexander Maitland, much to our regret, has resigned from the Board, and I feel sure that you would wish me to offer Mr. Maitland our very grateful thanks for the valuable help and good counsel he has always placed so freely at our disposal. To his successor, Lord Elgin, and to Sir William Currie, whose appointments to the Board you will presently be asked to confirm, we offer a very hearty welcome, confident that in their respective spheres their wide experience and influence will be of the utmost value to the Bank.

On another page of the report, you will notice the name of Mr. J. H. King appears as an assistant general manager. Mr. King is fortunate in having had a wide and varied experience of the bank's activities in important directions, and we have every confidence he will do justice to his new appointment.

Taking the remainder of the Report with your permission as read, and turning to the figures of the Balance Sheet, the most noticeable feature on the Liabilities side is an increase of over 8 per cent. in our deposits, which at £41,631,302 constitute a record for the Bank. Heavy Government expenditure, coupled with increased Treasury Bill Issues, have had their effect on these figures, while a change in the method of clearing settlement has also been a contributory factor.

If we turn now to the Assets side of the sheet, our Cash, Balances with Other Banks, Money at Call, and Bills Discounted, are all appreciably higher, and these four items taken together amount to over 43 per cent. of our Deposits, which fairly illustrates the liquid character of the Bank's resources and its ability to meet the demands of War-time Finance.

There is little change to report in our total of investments, while our advances to customers show a slight reduction, the increase in demand for war-time accommodation being more than offset by the liquidation of trading stocks held by customers, which has been the common experience of the cotton trade recently.

Bank premises, after an appropriation from this year's profits, shows a net decrease of £20,00o.

Turning now to the figures of Profit and Loss, our net profit, after making the usual provisions, appears at a total of £298,865, as compared with £301,4i8 or a decrease of £2,553. This profit, with the balance of £85,635 brought forward from last year, gives us a total of £384,500 now to be dealt with.

After transferring £3o,000 to Premises Account, we are in a position to pay a dividend at the rate of r21 per cent. on both our "A" and " B ' Shares, and carry forward to next year's account £120,125 as against £85,635 brought in. Considering the extra burden of taxation and the heavy cost to the bank of A.R.P. expenditure, we have every reason to be satisfied with the results of the year's working and the growth

generally of the bank's business. To take one instance, the trustee department of the bank has achieved a record number of appointments and, to meet the convenience of our customers in Yorkshire, we have recently established a trustee department at our Sheffield office.

In September the Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced a Supplementary War-Time Budget. The estimated effect of his proposals is to increase the reyenue total for 5939-40 by £507,000,000 to £995,000p0o, against an estimated expenditure of nearly twice that figure. Up till now the Government have held their hand with regard to a new War Loan, but have financed the current expenditure of the war so far largely by the issue of Treasury bills, and in .the meantime have made an attractive appeal to the small in' vestor by placing on tap a new series of Defence Bonds and War Savings Certificates.

This is a movement for National saving to which the banks will wish to give every possible encouragement and assistance, for they realise the dangers of the inflationary spiral of increasing prices and increasing wages which such a scheme of National saving will surely help to avert. These issues have met with immediate success, and very substan- tial amounts have been subscribed, but much More remains to be done, especially by way of organising groups of subscribers, and it is in this direction that the trade unions of the country could render valuable. assistance. They, as much as any, are fully alive to the dangers of inflation, and I think that if Labour generally is satisfied that the Government measures for control of profits and

prices are effective, and further that the acquisition of War Savings Certificates by the working classes shall not prejudice them in future wage negotiations, nor be taken into account on the opera- tion of any future means test, then we should see a response to this movement which in every sense of the word would be truly National, and by voluntary methods would achieve the same pur- pose as is suggested by a compulsory blocking at the source of a certain proportion of the wage earner's pay roll. Once the necessity of saving, with all its implications, is clearly shown, and a lead given, there should be little doubt as to which method the country would prefer. The other side of the picture before the country is the problem of spending, which resolves itself into the necessity of diverting our spending power in sufficient quantity from non-essential purchases to the Government for War-time necessities, so that there may be the minimum competitive demand for necessary War commodities and similarly the minimum importation from abroad of commodities not needed for the War, and here I think the individual would welcome a lead from those in authority as to the direction in which he should allocate his expenditure, or refrain from spending.

Opportunities to expand are available through the elimination of German competition in many of our Export markets, and the increased purchasing power of the primary producing countries arising from our heavy demands on their raw material.

Doubtless these opportunities will be utilised to the utmost by all concerned in our Export Trade, but considering that such a large proportion of Imports are bought in bulk on Government Account, they alone have the negotiating power to arrange for pay- ment to be taken partly in our exports, or to arrange for quotas of our exports to be received at preferential rates.

In any case it seems desirable under War conditions that the Government act as a co-ordinating authority for the bulk of our export trade, as indeed they already do for imports, using the pre- sent organisation of the various trades so as not to weaken Overseas connexions. Such a development would appear all the more essen- tial if it were decided to carry our naval blockade further and make an attack on Germany's foreign exchange position by the supply to neutral countries of those goods and commodities hitherto drawn from Germany. Obviously such an export policy, involving un- economic rates and possibly subsidies, or even loans, would be out- side the scope of any trading organisation and could only be under- taken by the Government.

During the year under review we have seen a considerable change in the fortunes of the cotton trade. The placing of large Government orders on the market, followed by an improvement in the home trade, has brought about the liquidation of stocks and filled order books of spinners and manufacturers for some time ahead, in coping with which the main difficulty has been the definite shortage of labour.

Steadily increasing costs in other directions have led to higher quotations for yarn, until it was decided at the instance of the Government, if only to assist in the permanent extension of our export trade and place merchants in a position to quote a com- petitive price in the overseas markets, to impose a comprehensive measure of price control, prescribing specific margins between the price of the raw material and the price of yarn. This new scale of prices will impose considerable cuts in existing margins, and though arousing certain criticism on that score has been generally well received by the trade.

As a measure calculated to avert the boom and subsequent slump experiences which followed the last War, and to provide stable conditions for our export trade, this ordinance should receive the co-operation of the whole cotton industry.

We have excellent reports from our branches in the Sheffield area. Production of iron and steel has maintained a high level during the year, while foundries, forges and machines have been working to their utmost capacity, and with full order books these conditions seem likely to be maintained.

It is worthy of note that, with the co-operation of the British Iron and Steel Federation, complete control of the whole industry was established at the outbreak of War, and that since then, in spite of the rise in cost of imported materials, prices in general have only been increased by some to per cent. Employment in the colliery districts of South Yorkshire seems to have been fairly steady throughout the year, though their large export trade has suffered considerable dislocation owing to war conditions. Improvement, however, is expected here.

We have good reports from Bolton of increased activity in engineering and substantial improvement in its textile trade, which, if maintained, will be most welcome as a large proportion of the output from this district is for export purposes. In spite of the elaborate arrangements made during the year to prepare for emergencies, the outbreak of War created a variety of problems which required prompt settlement, and situations and difficulties arose, to deal with which fresh methods had to be improvised, and I would like to say here that the Staff of the Bank, in spite of their depleted numbers, have risen splendidly to the occasion.

It is therefore as no mere form of speech that I would wish to convey to our General Manager, Mr. Thomson, the Assistant General Managers and the other officers and staff of the bank, our best thanks for their efficient services and our keen apprecia- tion of the way in which the work of the bank has been carried on under difficult conditions.

The Chairman then moved the adoption of the report and accounts, which was seconded and carried.

The retiring directors, Sir William Bird and Mr. J. F. W. Deacon were re-elected, the appointments of Sir William Craw- ford Currie and the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, K.T., C.M.G., LL.D., were confirmed and the auditors, Messrs. Ashworth, Mosley and Co., were re-appointed.