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TASMANIAN WOOLGROWERS'
AGENCY GOMPANY LfMITED.
Founded just six years ago to take over
the business of, Messrs Taylor Bros., and
subsequently acquiring that of the New
Zba'aud Loan and Mercantile Agency Com
pany Limited, the success of the Tasmanian
Woolgrowers' ,Agency- has. been un
paralleled in the colony. The nominal
capital of the compuny is £18,000 in .Al
shares. Of these 2000 shares are un
allotted, 1000 are paid to £1, and 15,000
are paid up to 10s, which gives a working
capital of £8500, to which must be added
the reserve fund of £6500. The record of
success is somewhat unique, for we find
that the company has paid five 10 per cent.
dividends, one at 15 per cent., one at 20 per
cent., whilst for the last three half-years
the dividends (with bonus) have been at
the rate of 25 per cent. These dividends
total an amount of eight shillings per
share, so that the shares upon which only
10s has been called up hive really cost the
holders only 2s each. The company 4s
purely a local one, the bulk of the shares'
having been taken up by the leading
pastoralists and woolgrowers in the colony,
who felt that by doing their own business
upon a co-operative system their interests
would be better served than by dividing
it amongst half a dozen agencies in Laun
ceston, and their profits would be pro
portionately greater. That anticipations
have been realised the successive balance
sheets show, whilst the extent of bsliness
transacted by the compiany say be judged
ruom the fact that two-thirds of the total
quantity of wool exported from the colony
passes through its hands. Its London
agents are Messrs Redfern, Alexander, and
Co., the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile
Agency Company, Messrs Dalgety and Co.
Limited, and Messrs J. Terry and Com
pany, in whose hands clients can make
their minds tolerably easy, and rely upon
securing admission to the best markets
upon the most favourable terms. In
addition to the usual. stock and station
agency-such as shipping wool to London
or Melbourne, and advancing against clips
-the company lays itself out to transact
every kind of business to facilitate the
operations of pastoralists, keeping a large
stook of station supplies and requisites.
The advantages of this combination of
business to the pastoxalist are at once
apparent. He can do all his business with
the one house, and if he is a shareholder he
receives his share of the profit which the
transaction of his business creates. The
company also act as auctioneers, holding
sales of stock throughout the colony at
regular intervals, and weekly sales of wool,
hides, and skins at their stores. They also
sell grain on commission, and dispose of
properties either by public sale or private
treaty. The transit to the other colonies
of Tasmanian stud sheep, whose excellence
is becoming more and more generally
admitted throughout Australia and New
Zealand, is undertaken by the company.
These sheep always command high prices,
and materially improve the flocks into
which they are introduced. Amongst the
agencies entrusted to the company may be
mentioned Bain's wire-fencing, Cooper's
sheep dip, Hall and Son's gun powder,
and the celebrated Wolseley sheep-shear
ing machine. The operations are controlled
by a board of directors, whilst the manage.
ment is in the hands of Mr Austin
Loughnan, Mr George Cragg being
accountant.
The shipping department is an im
portant feature in the business. The
company are agents for Huddart, Parker,
and Company's line of intercolonial steam
ships, which broke the monopoly that for
such"a lengthened period handicapped
Tasmanian shippers, and reduced the
freight and passenger charges to a reason
able tariff. The Coogee and other vessels
of this line possess not only a maximum
rate of speed which reduces the die.
comfoxts of a trip across the Straits-in
point of time, at any rate-to a minimum,
but they are elaborately fitted, and contain
all the most modern conveniences. In
days gone past there have been opposition
lines of steamers running to Tasmania, but
they have never enjoyed an extended
career. With the black funnel steam
ships, whose presence in the Tamar is
always welcome, the case is different. They
have come to stay, and,baving entered into
contracts of some duration may be looked
upon as a permanent acquisition to the
port, and an abiding advantage to the
trading and travelling community. The
company has aleso the agency for the Aus
tralasian United Steam Navigation Com
pany, whose ressels ply along the entire
length of the Queensland coast, as well as
to the other colonies and Fiji. The Orient
Line, the premier of the ocean.going
lines, has also entrusted its local business
to the company, at whose offices
passages to or from London may
be secured, and all the necessary
information obtained. The other agencies
comprise Lund's line (the Wilcannia and
other well.known vessels), the Anglo
Australasian line (whose fleet are named
after the various Australian ports), and
the British India Company (the Queens.
land Royal Mail line of steamships, which
make the homeward passage via Torres
Straits, and afford tourists an opportunity
of visiting Thursday Island). The follow
ing lines of sailing ships commit their
business to the company's care :-The Loch
Line of clipper packets, Anderson and
Anderson's line (Hesperus and Harbinger),
and T. B. Walker's, the latter comprising
the Westbury and Decapolis, which trade
direct between Launceston and the old
country. Mr E. V. Stackhouse is the
chief shipping clerk, and a separate staff
assist him in his duties.
The company's offices are centrally
situated in St. John-street, the building
comprising a block extending to the
corner of Cimitiere-street. In addition to
counting house and officers, there are com
modious stores, and the shipping depart
ment contains all the latest editions of
guide books, which are published for the
convenience of travellers.
Such is a brief outline of the Tasmanian
Wool Growers' Agency Company, whose
rapid strides are unequalled in the com
mercial history of the colony, and whose
success is a source of congratulation both
to its shareholders and the public generally.
The secret of its success is not difficult to
discover. It brings the producer face to
face with the consumer, and affords the
pastoralst a means by which he can
dispose of his produots to the best possible
advantage, and become possessed of the
most recent commercial intelligence, and
enables him to make his purchases in the
cheapest market. Mbreover, it builds ups
business in the profits of which he partici
Spates. The company watches the markets
in thebo interests of its olients, brings the
produce of the colony prominently under
notice in larger spheres of trade, and it is
Sonly reasonable to anticipate that as Tas
mania progresses with the development of
the sister industry of mining, the Wool
growers' Agenoy will forge ahead to even
I greater success than it has attained at
1 present. The present time, when the Tas.
manian Exhibitibn is recording the
advances made by the island colony, is an
appropriate one to quote this company
t the most successful yet floated in the colony
-as an indication that the pastoralists
are not behindhand in enterprise or power
to gauge arighlt the signs of the com
mercial times.
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