526 



REVIEW Ot REVIEWS. 



markets. But regulation may take the 

 form of requiring the Company to fur- 

 nish full statements of accounts, much 

 the same as those required by law from 

 the chief N.S.W. gas companies. 

 Whether such accounts will help the 

 cause of the Company's enemies -is open 

 to question, but one thing is clear, that, 

 assuming the Directors' case to be a 

 good one, the publication of full ac- 

 counts should not hurt it. 



* * * 



So far as the accounts as at present 

 published are concerned, there is very 

 little ground for useful comment. The 

 March, 191 3, half-yearly report shows a 

 net profit of £233,530, about £4000 

 better than that of September last. 

 This increase was contributed by the 

 Fiji and Xew Zealand profit, which 

 rose by £6000 to £116,000, while the 

 Australian earnings fell away by about 

 £2000 to £117,500. The profits were, 

 of course, ample to meet the half-year's 

 dividend of £187,000, and to allow 

 £46,000 to be added to the profit and 

 loss account, raising it to £249,700. 



* * * 



In the total assets there was a growth 

 of £66,000 to £5,156,000, contributed 

 by current profits and by an increase of 

 £8000 in the sundry creditors and sus- 

 pense accounts to £967,900. The em-' 

 ployees' provident fund, now £117,000, 



was responsible for £12,000. Concern- 

 ing the composition of the assets, there 

 is little on which to remark. The chief 

 asset — refineries, etc. — £2,511,000, is a 

 little higher, as is also the tramways 

 item of £354,000. The stocks have risen 

 by £127,000 to £433,000, while the 

 sundry debtors, £959,000, are about 

 £50,000 greater. In the cash, £615,000, 

 there was a decline of £85,000, and the 

 shipping asset, £146,000, and working 

 accounts, £83,000, also decreased. 

 These changes convey little meaning, 

 chiefly because nothing is known of the 

 depreciation provided each year. There 

 is a depreciation reserve of £500,000, 

 but that is a provision of long standing, 

 and had not been increased for years. 



On the balance-sheet as it stands, and 

 treating the depreciation reserve as a 

 set-off against depreciation not written 

 off, the surplus assets are only 

 £3,249,700, securing the paid-up capital 

 of £3,000,000 (150,000 £20 shares fully 

 paid), and the profit and loss balance 

 of £249,700. But the Directors have, as 

 already stated, paid for much plant, 

 machinery and other assets out of 

 revenue, and have thus created solid 

 inner reserves. So that the Com- 

 pany is probablv very much stronger in 

 reserve power than appears from the 

 balance-sheet. 



THE COLONIAL BANK OF AUSTRALASIA LTD. 



The net profits of £29,000 disclosed 

 by this Bank for the March, 191 3, half- 

 year were only slightly above those 

 of the previous summer period. Xot 

 of much importance this perhaps, for as 

 a rule a bank does not admit to all it 

 earns, which ma}- be the case with this 

 one. Yet these earnings easily suffice 

 to pay a dividend of 7 per cent, per 

 annum for the half-year on the ordin- 

 ary and preference capital, a rate paid 

 regularly since March, 1 909, inclusive. 

 This requires about £15,300 half- 

 yearly, and of the balance £10,000 is 

 usually transferred to the reserve fund 

 and £1000 given to the Officers' Pro- 

 vident Fund. This time the balance 



remaining of about £2600 was, with 

 £2400 from the profit and loss account, 

 used to write down the bank premises 

 account by £5000 to £194,000. 



Though the profits were somewhat 

 better in the past half-year, the Bank 

 did not grow in regard to its general 

 figures. Its. assets of £5,085,000, 

 though about £229,000, above those of 

 September, 191 2, are, on the other hand, 

 £156,000 less than they were a year 

 ago. This latter decrease is chiefly due 

 to a reduction of £100,000 in the bills in 

 circulation to £311,000, though the de- 

 posits, £4,092,000, were lower by 



