account on the dividend paid in December, 1892, 2,562,980 francs, balance, 2,007,448.36 francs. We have the honor to propose to you to fix at 25 francs per share the dividend for the year 1892, an account of 10 francs having been already paid. If you see fit to adopt our suggestion, the balance of 15 francs, which would be placed at your disposition June 1 next, would represent 1,800,000 francs. By the terms of the statutes, article 39, you would owe the legal reserve 160,372.40 francs, and there would remain to carry over for 1893 a remainder of 47,075.96 francs. Total balance, 2,007,448.36 francs. Adverse influences, epidemics, financial crisis, political disturbances for three years have affected your business in the far East, as well as on the Atlantic and Med. iterranean. Your receipts which were reduced by 1,666,000 francs in 1891, show in 1892 & still further reduction of 3,088,000 francs. Our receipts for 1892 are 4,755,000 francs less than 1890. To pay a dividend of 30 francs per share on your capital, as has been customary for some years, we must have available in profits 3,600,000 francs, after we have set aside the sums necessary to maintain on the normal footing the reserves for depreciation, insurance, etc. This reduction of 4,754,000 francs in receipts presented accordingly a very difficult problem. Your directors determined to solve it by reducing expenses. Compared with 1889 the economies effected each year for three years on the expenses of the preceding year reached a total in 1892 of 4,900,000 francs; by this means we have offset the reduction in receipts. In 1890 we made a saving of 1,170,000 francs compared with 1889; in 1891 we saved 1,820,000 francs over 1890, and in 1892 we saved 1,972,000 franes over 1891. These results show our perseverance in economizing, and credit is due to our colaborers at Paris, Marseilles, La Ciotat, Bordeaux, to captains and officers of every grade in your fleet and your agents. At this moment 58 steamships suffice to do the work formerly done in 1889 by 62. Lines of the company. ATLANTIC OCEAN. Mail line from Bordeaux to Lisbon, Dekar, Rio de Janeiro, and La Plata (sailing from Bordeaux 5th of each month). Three steamships. Free line to Lisbon, Dekar, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and La Plata (sailing from Bordeaux 20th of each month). Five steamships. Commercial line to ports in north of Spain, Lisbon, Las Palmas, Brazil, Montevideo, Buenos Ayres, and Rosario (sailing from Bordeaux once or twice a month, according to the demands of trade). Seven steamships. MEDITERRANEAN. Mail lines from Marseilles to Alexandria and Beirut, and from Marseilles to Piraeus and Smyrna, forming a round service for Thessaly, Syria-Egypt, and Greece (sailing from Marseilles each Saturday). Five steamships. Commercial line from Marseilles to Constantinople and ports on Black Sea for Greece, Smyrna, the Dardanelles, Constantinople, and sailing alternately to Odessa and Batoum (sailing from Marseilles each Saturday). Commercial line from Marseilles to Havre and London (sailing from Marseilles each Friday). Ten steamships for these two lines. LINES BEYOND SUEZ. INDIA-CHINA. Mail line between France, Egypt, Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Saigon, Hongkong, Shanghai, and Japan (sailing from Marseilles every two weeks). Nine steamships. Annex line (mail service) from Colombo to Pondicherry, Madras, and Calcutta (making the voyage every twenty-eight days). One steamer. From Singapore to Batavia, prolonged to Samarang (sails from Singapore and Batavia every two weeks). One steamer. Colonial lines chartered by the General Government of India-China from Saigon to Singapore (one trip every two weeks); from Saigon to Manila (one trip every twentyeight days); from Saigon to Tourane and Haiphong (one trip every fourteen days, connecting with the ships of the principal line). Colonial line free between Haiphong and Hongkong (one trip every two weeks). Five steamships generally on this service. AUSTRALIA AND NEW CALEDONIA. Mail line between France, Egypt, Aden, Mahe, King George's Sound, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Noumea (sailing from Marseilles first or third of each month). Four steamships. Free line from Sydney to Noumea (making one trip a month). One steamship.' EAST COAST OF AFRICA. MADAGASCAR-ILES MASCAREIGNES. Mail line between France, Egypt, Obock, Aden, Zanzibar, Mayotte, Nossi-Be, Diego-Suarez, Sainte-Marie, Tamatave, Réunion and Maurice (sailing from Marseilles 12th of each month). Annex lines from Réunion and Maurice to Mahe (Seychelles), to connect with Australian line. These lines are served by four steamships. From Aden to Kurrachee and Bombay, steamship La Seyne; from Nossi-Be to Majunga and points on west coast of Madagascar, as far as Nos-Vey (Bay of St. Augustine), steamship Mpanjaka. (These annex lines make one voyage a month.) The personnel of headquarters, agencies, and officers of workshops and shipyards comprises 1,019 men; officers of fleet, 520; crews, 4, 932; engineers, foremen, and employés in shipyards, 2,713; in all, 9,184 men. Proposed division: Reserve of 5 per cent on 3,207,448. 36 francs to legal reserve fund. Total balance... 4,570, 428.36 1,362, 980. 00 3, 207, 448, 36 1, 200, 000, 00 2,007, 448. 36 160,372.40 1, 800, 000, 00 47, 075.96 2,007, 448, 36 7325 NAV-11 The report of the Societa di Navigazione Generale Italiana has been selected as the best and most fully illustrating the modes and extent of Italian steam navigation, considered from the economic point of view. The company was organized in 1881 by the union of the Florio and Rubattino companies. Its operations are on the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and via Suez Canal the Indian and Pacific oceans, and its lines connect Italy with North and South America, Africa, and Asia. The report is for the year ended June 30, 1893, when the fleet of the company consisted of 105 steamships of 171,174 gross tons and 43,778-horse power, the most powerful steamships being the Orione, Sirio and Perseo, of 1,146 gross tons and 1,940-horse power each. The Bureau of Navigation is indebted for the copy of the report to the courtesy of the director-general, Rome, and Messrs. Phelps Brothers & Co., general agents, New York. NAVIGAZIONE GENERALE ITALIANA. Following is the report for the year ended June 30, 1893, dated December 29, With the greater distance traversed by our lines have come increased receipts from passenger traffic, larger than last year by 1,789,552 lire, chiefly due to increased travel on lines to North and South America, but with reduced travel to the Levant, the Red Sea, and on minor lines no less important to European commerce. Receipts from freight, on the other hand, are reduced by 4,874,792.37 lire on account of low rates and limited traffic, particularly on certain lines, the South American lines being an exception on account of increased voyages. The postal se vice, in consequence of reduced mileage, shows receipts lower by 188,591.22 lire, attributable to partial modifications of certain branches of the service before the new postal contracts go into effect. Our English postal contract, which brought in 27,000 lire last year, has been discontinued. Our expenses show the usual variations with a marked tendency to increase, proportionate to the increased burdens of additional passengers and freight. But the greatest increase is under the head of maintenance and repairs of the fleet, which exceed by 500,000 lire last year's expenditures for these purposes, in consequence of increased work at shipyards to make ready for the new postal contracts, which naturally require our corporation to furnish improved vessels to meet the increased requirements of the Government and the country. The fund of 4,000,000 lire remaining from last year on former insurance accounts is intact; there remains a small note of 20,193.49 lire for a floating policy, which will be put in the accounts next year. Our fleet last year consisted of 105 steamers, and remained the same on June 30, 1893; but instead of a value of 57,793,000 lire on our books to-day, it is valued at 54,293,000 lire, a decrease of 3,500,000 lire having been allowed for depreciation of the fleet. Other changes in assets show merely the ordinary fluctuations of daily transactions. The amount owed by Uruguay, of which we spoke last year, is still on our books, but we hope that it will soon be satisfied. We entertain like hopes concerning the amount on our books on account of services to Zanzibar, not yet settled by the Government. Our liabilities are limited to a balance of 6,040,000 lire, amply covered by assets, on the old loan to take up the Florio Company. The new postal contracts, which were accepted by the Government on the guarantee offered for the performance of specified duties and for the construction of new vessels, are in effect on November 1. These contracts help to guarantee us satisfactory business up to June 30, 1908, and in order to receive fair profits for the services rendered to the Government and the country we shall devote our attention and that of the whole administration to the improvement of the service. In conclusion, the net profit of the company during the fiscal year 1892-'93 is 2,559,171.24 lire. Of this amount the directors applied 340,000 lire, as authorized by our laws, to the fund for improvements and repairs of the fleet, and assured of your approval we made a contribution of 12,000 lire to the fund for relief of our employés on land and sea, thus reducing the net profit to 2,207,171.24 lire. The dividends of January and July amounted to 1,650,000 lire, and there remains to be distributed 557 171.24 lire, from which we suggest be voted 5 lire on each of our 110,000 shares, payable January, 1894, leaving a balance of 7,171.24 lire to be carried to next year. |