Five shareholders from Rotterdam (Mees, Plate, Pincoffs, Pols and Ruys) required a change in the articles so that the directors would no longer appoint captains and shipping agencies. Their problem was that director G.J. Boelen was also the exclusive shipping agent for the company, and they wanted to see the contract with him. The board announced that G.J. Boelen had resigned, and had the contract read to the meeting, instead of distributing it in print. It showed that the exclusive contract had been made for ten years, with high penalties in case the board would end it. Such a contract was clearly not in the interest of the SMN and the shareholders. After a lot of commotion Mr. Plate noted that: "while he was busy promoting the establishment of the SMN among investors in Rotterdam, he could not imagine that one of the directors would appoint himself as its exclusive shipping agent". Shortly after the meeting Mr Plate was decorated with the Order of the Netherlands Lion. F.D. Franssen van de Putte then carried a motion to appoint a commission to investigate how the board should be formed. He was appointed chairman, and other members were C. Hartsen, N.G. Pierson, L. Pincoffs and P.H. Holzman. On 31 May 1872 the regular shareholders meeting took place. The loss for 1871 was 141,000 guilders, about 85,000 was caused by the burning of Willem III, 10,000 by the delayed first trip of "Prins van Oranje". The report by the Franssen van de Putte commission was treated, and led to more authority for the executive directors.