News and Comment.
Page 10
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This journal has a genuine circulation, genuine advertisement support, and an Editorial staff whose members have practical experience and knowledge of the construction and use of commercial motors.
Good Driving.
The second meet and parade of commercial motors, in connection with the C..M.U.A, prize scheme for good driving, is to take place on Saturday, the 3rd proximo. Particulars will be found on page 34, and our comment on the project forms the subject matter of our first Editorial.
Bridge Restrictions.
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company has recently put up certain notices on a number of bridges carrying roads over branch lines in the neighbourhood of Bromley and Chislehurst. If any readers of this journal are inconvenienced by the operation of these or similar notices, we shall be pleased to hear from them.
Halley Deliveries and Orders.
The works of Halley's Industrial Motors, Limited, at Yoker, Glasgow, continue to turn Out in large numbers the machines which the manufacturing company has termed its " Highly honoured " vehicles. One of the latest Scottish buyers is the Dunfermline Co-operative Society, Limited, and we illustrate the 25-cwt. bread van now in -its possession. These two-cylinder Halley vans have earned a high reputation for economy and reliability, since they were first put on the market at the end of the year too.
It is from the company's London office, however, where Mr. D. McN. Sharp is in charge of the company's sales, that recent successes have to be chronicled on a distinctly encouraging scale, and one which must confute those who say that there is no trade in business motors. The Civil Service Co-operative Society, of Haymarket, W., has ordered a 25-cwt., i6h.p., worm-driven chassis, with box-van body; Selfridges, Limited, of Oxford Street, W., has ordered six 25-cwt.
vans with Ifih.p. engines and worm drive, and bodies of special and unique design ; and the Army and Navy Cooperative Society, Limited, of Victoria Street, S.W., has ordered eleven tilt vans, made up of both /6h.p. wormdriven and 20h.p. chain-driven chassis.
General Motor Cab Company's Meeting.
Mr. Davison Dalziel presided, at Salisbury House, E.C., on Monday last, at' the second annual general meeting of the shareholders in the General Motor Cab Company, Limited. At the 3ist July last, the profit and loss account shows a profit on trading account of 4;182,222, to which has to be added the amount of sundry items totalling ,4:3,648, OT .4,185,870 altog-ether. 7. deductions, before carrying a balance of 4168,438 to the balance sheet, are : directors' fees and travelling expenses, 42,529; general expenses, including rent of offices, salaries, audit fee, etc., 47,954; advertising, £2,623; French taxes, £2,753; law charges, 4892; and interest, 468]. Turning to the balance sheet, we find. —Assets : freehold land and buildings, 4114,898; rolling-stock (cabs and cars), £454,855; plant, machinery, fittings, fixtures and furniture, 49,156; stocks on hand, 4.16,096 ; interests in other companies, ,439,333; teaching suspense account, £4,569; sundry debtors, .44,904; unexpired licenses, insurances, rents, rates, etc., £'7,399; underwriting and preliminary expenses, £38,063; and cash at bankers and in hand, 429,029. Liabilities : capital authorised and issued, £499,4S6; loan from bankers, 420,161; sundry creditors (of which 4'61,497 has since been paid), £90,113; special reserve against rolling-stock, £36,150; unclaimed dividends (of which 46,724 has since been paid), 411,590; profit and loss account, 4'70,802. The transferred amount of .4'168,438, from profit and loss account to the balance sheet, is reduced to a net sum of .470,802 thus : balance at debit at 13th May, 1907, .49,682 ; special reserve against rollingstock, £33449; written off underwriting and preliminary expenses, ,47,000; dividends on preferred ordinary shares, £47,505. The balance of £73,8432is then disposed of as follows : final dividend of three per cent. on the preferred ordinary shares, 4"14,910; a dividend of JOS. 7d. per share on the deferred shares of Is. each, £31,750; ordinary reserve account, £7,065; bonus to directors, £7,724; and carried forward, 49,353. The chairman's task was obviously an easy one, and the report was unanimously adopted, together with the directors' recommendations in regard to the disposal of the amount available. Mr. Davison Dalziel reminded the shareholders that the capital of the company had recently been raised to .41,600,000, of which .41,000,000 was in 4i shares. The board might shortly ask the shareholders to effect the consolidation of those it,000,000 shares in 200,000 shares of 4.5 or 250,000 shares
of each, with a view of facilitating transactions on the French market. He expressed his willingness that the names of the directors should be printed on future reports, the omission on the present occasion having attracted some comment. He expressed the view that small companies could not live.