C . 4 'PANY MEETING NORTH KALGURLI DIVIDEND OF 75 13 / 0 THE ordinary
general meeting of North Kalgurli (1912), Limited, we held in London on Thursday, August 28th. Mr. C. T. Ley (the chairman), after expressing regret at the death of the late chairman, Mr. C. A. Whitfield, said that conditions r present were without parallel in the annals of limited liability corn• panies, but in spite of everything he thought he might say that they had had a successful year. The gross profit was £161,684, a drop d £15,154, and they had £57,916 available for the final dividend and carry-forward. With regard to Excess Profits Tax, although the standard profit on which their assessment was based had not yet beet finally agreed, subject to any special release for wasting assets the standard profits should be in the neighbourhood of £136,000. Profit for 1940 had exceeded that figure by a substantial margin, and du: should be the case for 1941 also. The effect was that all earning over £136,000 passed automatically to the Crown as E.P.T. Last year's mining results were most satisfactory. Development footage had been increased by 393 feet, and a feature had been it increase in diamond drilling of 5,561 feet, which was a record, 2,to of which was in Croesus Proprietary. The result of those operations had been a substantial increase in all the ore reserves.
EFFECTS OF E.P.T.
It was a great disappointment to the board, to the managers and staff, and to the shareholders that the peak of their effort as a mining concern should have coincided with a time when all private interess had to give way to that of the nation's need. That mining companies such as theirs had been hardly treated could not be gainsaid, and they known that this catastrophe was to overtake the world, them: policy would no doubt have been different. From the very ,-.6"." mencement of operations they had decided, as West Australian Mors could be worked to the best advantage on small capital, to keep ti--"" as low as possible, trusting that the shareholders would be rev,, for their patience during a slow development period by the prosP' of high dividends to come and a capital appreciation in the value ei their shares. It was rather cruel after the years of working and oil ing that the standard for E.P.T. should be on a year when their profits, were just beginning to expand according to plan and not as the teso' of the war.
They were recommending a final dividend of Is. a share-50 cent—making with the interim dividend paid last Decem 75 per cent, for the year, against too per cent, last year. Wh shareholders realised that they had had to pay in direct taxation well as the Excise Tax on gold a sum amounting altogether to ° over the total capital of the company, they would not be otherui than pleased at the satisfactory result that had been obtained.
The report was unanimously adopted.
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