Still Counting…
Three Quarter Length Portrait of Sir Thomas
Sutherland G.C.M.G., L.L.D. painted by John Singer
Sargent (1856-1925) in 1898.
Oil on canvas
P&O Ref: AC/02694/00
Addressing shareholders, Sir Thomas Sutherland, allayed worries about the Waratah by making "absolutely sure of the stability of the ships we have bought" from Lund’s Blue Anchor Line.
Reporting further, the P&O Chairman confirmed the Company was in good financial order and delivering value for shareholders. With a substantial investment programme of £4.5 million in new tonnage over five years, P&O steamers were faster and more commodious than ever before. The mail to India now took just two weeks - half the time taken 30 years previously.
Summing up, Sir Thomas Sutherland posed the rhetorical question that only history could answer:
"Well, gentleman, long may this continue. How long? Let us say for another seventy-five years – or, at all events, as much longer as possible."
A century later, we're still counting.