Minute Book: Board of Directors

Minutes of AGMs are also included in this volume, along with some directors reports and reports to the board. Some copies of minutes or reports are signed.

The board of directors met monthly for the most part, with occasional breaks.

The meetings deal with the administration of the company, directors emoluments, the payments of bonuses, the performance of the company, the state of the market, and other related matters.

The minutes also contain information on allowances paid to retired employees and their surviving spouses, and on bonus payments etc.

In between pp. 43-4 there is an organogram / list of salary bandings for the company.

It is noted that company stationery should be bilingual on p. 47 (English and Afrikaans).

An economic recession following elections is predicted on p. 81 (1953).

On p. 141 there is a report on financial record keeping in the offices in Rhodesia.

On p. 288 a note of a decision to no longer record salary changes in the board minutes as a matter of routine appears.

On p. 292 there is a note of the incorporation of a new company for Central Africa. On pp. 322-3 there is a note of assets & liabilities transferred to this company, Cooper McDougall & Robertson (Central Africa) (PVT) Ltd.

On p. 409 there is a note regarding co-operation with BW&Co in South Africa.

The effect of political instability in the Belgian Congo (Zaire) is noted on p. 453.

"It was agreed that recent experience indicated that the employment of young bachelors as field representatives was often unprofitable, whereas older men were usually more stable"- p. 453.

The effect of the boycott of South African goods following the Sharpeville killings in 1960 is mentioned on p. 457-8 - one former director is noted as being in 'financial difficulties'.

From 1961 onwards, amount of money are given in South African rand rather than pounds. Amounts in pounds appear alongside the rand amounts for a period after "decimalisation".

One set of minutes from 1957 appears out of sequence at the back of volume 3.

11 Jan 1952 - 15 Sep 1961

3 items This volume has been divided into three parts during conservation work.

Please see main WF collection description (ref. 'WF').