COMPANY MEETING
WOOLWICH EQUITABLE BUILDING SOCIETY
90th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
ASSETS NOW EXCEED L37,000,000
MR. FRED HOAR'S SPEECH THE Chairman said that the Society, at the conclusion of its nine- tieth year, had total assets of more than £37,000,000, whereas when Mr. Chandler (General Manager) joined the Society, thirty- one years ago, the total assets were just over Li,000poo—a sum now exceeded by the Reserve Funds alone. The Society's Branches (of which there were none when the Chairman joined the Board twenty- live years ago) now handled £2o,000,000 of capital. Here was proof of great progress ; and this year's balance-sheet was a further indication that the Society's centenary, due to be celebrated in ten years' time, would mark one hundred years of continued growth and prosperity.
SUCCESSFUL YEAR DESPITE DIFFICULTIES.
This year's success had been achieved in spite of very adverse unforeseeable circumstances. The first National Defence Contri- bution for a period of six months only, together with the increase in the rate of Income Tax, had cost the Society over £20,000, yet in the face of this, the premises account had been written down by £33,397, and Trustee securities by £29,403, leaving the amount cif Trustee securities on the books at £8o,00o less than their market value on September 30th. £100,000 had been set aside as rebate to old borrowers and £200,000 added to the Reserve Fund, making total reserves of £1,600,00o.
An outstanding feature of this year's balance-sheet was the fact that, with over £33,000,000 outstanding on mortgages, the total loss for the year on properties coming'into the Society's possession was only £4,042. This was a very great compliment to the Society's surveyors and directors who survey and value each property before an advance is made on it.
SOCIETIES' SERVICE TO THE COUNTRY.
The chairman said that, much as he admired Sir Kingsley Wood, he was sorry that the Minister, in his frequent references to the 3,000,000 dwelling-houses built since the War, did not sometimes mention that over 2,000,000 of them could not have been- built without the help of the building societies. It must be agreed that these societies did a great service to the country and deserved support, in view of the fact that practically all their assets—a total of over £65o,000,000—were devoted to enabling people of comparatively small means to own their homes.
The Society had progressed remarkably, especially in the last four years, but it seemed likely that for the time being the peak had nearly been reached. A rule of " Safety First" was therefore the wise one, and " Hasten Slowly " should be the motto for the current year.
VALUE OF THE BUILDING SOCIETIES' ASSOCIATION.
The Society was a warm supporter of the Building Societies' Association whose policy was to eliminate harmful competition and ensure safe standards of lending. It was regrettable that differences of opinion on points of detail had made the Association's code of practice less effective than had been anticipated, but it was still to be hoped that a reasonable spirit would prevail and that these difficulties would be overcome. Such an Association was essential, not only to ensure co-operation in matters of practice, but also to represent the views of the great majority of building societies. This was proved recently in the matter of the National Defence Contribution Bill. The second version of this bill would have made building societies liable•for the tax at the same rate as commercial undertakings, had the Association not taken the matter up with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and secured important concessions, which its constituent individual societies would have been powerlest to obtain.
In conclusion, the chairman paid tribute to the management and staff, especially Mr. Chandler, Mr. Smith, Mr. Meikle, Mr. Codner and the various branch managers.
The adoption of the directors' report and accounts was seconded by the vice-chairman, Sir Ernest Kemp, J.P., and carried by the members present.
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