REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Z^i 



ances, bankers, mortgages, and conlin- 

 gencies /;56,ooo. This grouping of 

 trading liabilities with borrowed money 

 IS not at all satisfactory, for it prevents 

 shareholders from knowing how much 

 of their debt has arisen in the normal 

 way of trade, and how much has been 

 borrowed to keep the business going. 

 To make it clear the liabilities should 

 be set out in nt least three groups, trade 

 creditors, mortagages and bank over- 

 draft. 



* * * 



The company's capital, ^,162,591, is 

 made up of 40,000 ^,"1 ; per cent, cumu- 

 lative shares and 122,591 £\ ordinary 

 shares, both fully paid. The invest- 

 ment )-ield on the former is at present 

 just under 6 per cent., for the latest sale 

 was at 24s. A higher price than this 

 is not warranted, for the preference 

 shares have no interest in the assets 

 beyond the ]3ayment of their dividend 

 and their cajiital. Buyers are offering 

 25s. for the ordinar}' shares, which re- 

 turn 8 per cent., quite a fau" \ield for a 

 companx- such as this, especially as the 

 goodwill in the price is only 5s. 8cl., 

 which 111 the aggregate is only about 



/,3 5,000, not much more than last year's 



proht. 



* * * 



Fhe ordinary shares are rather attrac- 

 tive, for they are lower in price than 

 they were a year ago, and the prospects 

 of the comjDany are still encouraging. 

 There is, moreover, a great deal of ac- 

 tivity in the building trade, with its 

 consequent demand for tiles and ceil- 

 ings, which form this company's princi- 

 pal source of revenue. At the same time 

 there is keen competition in the trade, 

 which must have had some effect on 

 the past few years' earnings, and cannot 

 be without some restraining influence in 

 the future. 



From the balance-sheet of the Colo- 

 nial Bank it will be seen that the net 

 profit on the half-year ending March 

 31 was i^29,o02 4s. 8d. The directors 

 are paying a dividend of 7 per cent, on 

 both preference and ordinary shares, 

 and are carrying ;{^i 0,000 to reserve 

 fund, swelling it to iJ'200,000. The bal- 

 ance brought forward from September 

 30, 191 2, was ^^6266 1 8s 3d., and that 

 now being carried forward is ^^^894 6s 

 8d. 



A DARTMOOR COMEDY 



Wide('<)in}if I'tin . Bv Kden IMiillivott.s. 

 (John Murray.) 



This delightful comedy of Dartmoor 

 was planned more than twenty years 

 ago, Mr. Phillpotts tells us, and both 

 country and characters are, in a measure, 

 familiar. There is no particular plot ; 

 It is not tremendously exciting, but no 

 one would wish it to be shortened by a 

 line, foi- it IS as if the reader were car- 

 ried back lo a loxecl birthplace, and 

 there met and gossiped with all sorts 

 and conditions of men and women about 

 all the ])eople who have ever li\e(l there 

 during his lifetime or had had an)- in- 

 tention of living there. The dying man 

 whose one idea was to have a chance of 

 killing something before his life ends. 



and the serio-comic tragedy which 

 ensues ; the marital troubles of the 

 Pierces and the village punishment of 

 the woman ; the Shillingfords, father 

 and daughters, and the suitors of the 

 latter ; the widower who thinks he has 

 onl\' to throw the handkerchief to get 

 again a submissive wife, and then vainh' 

 throws it and is ulterl\- dumbfounded, 

 all belong to Wilecombe ; and Mr. 

 Phillijotts has not discovered them — he 

 has only just reminded us of their exist- 

 ence 111 his mnnitable fashion. As for 

 Tr\-phcna, who ought lo be the heroine, 

 she just forms a charming background 

 and serves the |nirpose of her creation 

 bv being the cause of our making an- 

 other i(nn-ne\' to Dartmoor. 



