Further Year of Progress

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 203, 23 August 1940, Page 5

Further Year of Progress

RANGITAIKI PLAINS DAIRY COMPANY " ANNUAL MEETING OF SUPPLIERS DIVIDEND OF 3 PER CENT. DECLARED Labour shortage, and benzine re"strictions were probably responsible for the noticeably smaller attendance at the twenty-fifth annual meet ang of the Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Company's suppliers which took ! place at Edgecumbe yesterday. ' About eighty attended and the meet- 1 Ing occupied the space of 3% hours 1 :after which an interesting address was given on Herd Improvement by 1 Mr G. H. M. Whitman, an officer ] of the Department of Agriculture. In accordance with the Directors' ? recommendation a dividend of three per cent, absorbing the sum of £1557 c ,\vas declared. v IPv, : * 0 Chairman's Resume. c The chairman of directors, Mr W. ? JA. McCracken, in an interesting resume, said that the year marked the : silver jubilee of the company and * though the directors were at first : inclined to mark the occasion by Issuing a special publication, pressure of work and shortage of notice t

. liad compelled them to the less prevention idea of a few pages of past history which were included in the annual report. From them suppliers would see that the earlier pioneers i of the company had &t one stage had a very severe struggle. After the first four years however the • to butter had been made and the company had never looked '.back. Past Year's Operations. "Dealing with the current year, he said that the output was 4606 tons <3cwt lqr 271bs pf Creamery Butter, compared with 4058 tons lOcwt lqr 231bs for the pervious season, an increase of 547 tons 16cwt Oqrs 41bs. JA disappointing spring and early : summer production was more than ■compensated for by good returns • during the autumn and! . winter .months. This was very satisfactory when it was considered that last spring was very backward and the actual increase occurred from the end of October to the end of June. The in'crease amounted to 12 per cent, .against the Dominion increase of 10 per cent. •Speaking of quality, he said that.

"21,387,339.5 lbs of cream were received and were graded as follows: Superfine 77.10 per cent, First Grade 22.31 per cent, Second Grade ..59 per cent. The butter manufactured therefrom graded: Finest '78.47 per cent, First Grade 21.47 per cent, Second Grade- .06 per cent. During the year additions amount "Ing to £2316 lis 3d had been made to Edgecumbe buildings and plant :■until provision had been made lor ■adequate depreciation. The company • commences the 1940-41 season with first class buildings, plant and equipment valued at most conservative figures. Factory Store and Payout. The year's turnover, of £80616 15s lOd suggests that suppliers fully appreciate the value of the store. Goods were available at competitive prices and the delivery arrangements a boon to purchasers. Suppliers who loyally assisted the Trading Store Avere rewarded with a rebate of 5 per cent on all purchases. 'The increased turnover was £1901. The estimated . average payment last season exclusive of cartage and interest was 16.195tl per lb and this [figure was sustained. The rate of advances to suppliers over the whole of the.''season was 13.874 d per lb of ; over .nil grades. During the financial year the sum of £35,286 7s 2d was distributed to suppliers representing a deferred payment of Id per lb over -all grades supplied during the season. A final payment of £45,972 9s was made during August and was • equivalent to 1.303 d per lb of butterfat over all grades. This made, a total cash payment of 16.177 d per lb of butterfat at farm gate over all grades. Store rebate, dividend, cost of laboratory nncl veterinary departments account for a further .183(1 per lb, making the total effective return to suppliers 16.360 d per lb over all grades. With the addition of cream cartage .239 d per lb of butterfat, the total return to suppliers was 16.599 d per lb of butterfat over all grades. This, lie said, compared very favourably with other companies.

Fuel Question. The question of fuel Avas one which had exercised the mind of the directorate very eonsiderablj% and upon an investigation it had been discovered that the steam pressure had only been maintained by forcing the boilers so much that it became uneconomical. An order for a larger boiler had been placed but he did not anticipate its installation this season. Pig Farm Management. The pig farm, said Mr McCraekco, had shown a return of £2333, or an equivalent of 10/1 per ton of butter. The total number of pigs sold [ was 1853 1 averaging £-1 Is per pig. The company had purchased 580 pigs and from these were produced 1353 Avhich were sold from the farm. The 130 sows on the farm had averaged 10% pigs per sow. Mr Lambert offered some criticism of the management of' the farm, which he said was in his opinion] overstocked. There was not a blade of grass showing when he had visited it recently, and he suggested that if there were less pigs there they would be healthier and better marketing propositions. Blacksmith's Shop.

Mr F. J. Reynolds, speaking to the report, suggested that the directorate might do something by way of putting on an apprentice or two in the blacksmith's shop. At the pre-

sent time he said, the staff seemed to be unable to cope with the work and suppliers were compelled to go elsewhere. He was supported by Mr W, Sullivan. Mr McCracken said this department was faced with the difficulty of replacing men who had enlisted. He thought that a fully qualified man was needed in preference to an apprentice, and would undertake fo keep in. mind Mr Sullivan's suggestion of initiating a shoeing forge. Guaranteed Price and Costs. In output there had been some recovery, said, Mr Lambertj, but a reference had been made last year to costs from farm to f.o.b. and it had been pointed out that on the conn parable output of the previous two years the overall expenses had risen bv £12,000, or nearly J /ad per \b. and the chairman's contention at that meeting was that the increased output would remedy this. It had not been borne out, continued Mr Lambert. Total expenses were down by only .013 d, being 1.927 d as against 1.940 d last year, 1.7G4d in 1937-38 and 1.456' d in 1.936-37. "This shows that high costs have come to stay," he said. x Referring to the Hon W. Nash's last broadcast on the guaranteed price, Mr Lambert said: "What he was careful to keep from the public was that when, by increased efficiency or output, or both, factories in general showed a decrease in charges, the allowance made for them in the guaranteed price was promptly reduced, and has not since been increased despite meteoric rises." • Standards.. There had been a reference last year to picce-work rates, said Mr Lambert, and these had been set at

figures based per labour unit and per cow. The figures were known to be in excess of those attainable by the average farmer and they had since been proved, on last year's figures, to be SOlbs pei cow above the average. Wi ,; « the urge for greater production there had been an agreement Avitli the Dairy Board not to raise the standards for two or three years if those at present fixed were exceeded. "So avc arc to have introduced into the dairying industry one of the worst abuses' of the sweat-shop," said Mr Lambert. "A high standard is set, above that which the average worker, can attain, but one that ha must attain if he is to make the minimum wage (in the case of the dairy farmer, £1 10s per week). Then, when by increased efficiency too many workers reach the standard, a higher one is set. The very thing that is anathema to these Labour politicians, as applied to industrial union labour, is to be the policy in relation to farmers, so that the maximum earning power of the majority is kept at the same figure, and that of the most efficient, who can hardly hope to inci-easc thfclr output, must be reduced." Quality in Cream. Mr Lambert also pointed out that though there was an increase in quality thy; year, it was still far behind that attained in other years when the company had not possess-

Ed half the pasteurising and testing deviccs now in the factory. He blam ed to some extent the short-sighted policy of the Government in setting such a high standard.

Mr McCracken agreed that the grade had been higher in the past, but said it was beyond] him to give an explanation. Rangitaiki was iiot alone in these fluctuations. It was common throughout the Waikato, and possibly might be influenced by the type of feed, the conditions or the cows themselves. He could not accept Mr Lambert's suggestion that the Government was in any way to blame and pointed out that the best returns locally occurred in February and March. General Business. The chairman announced that Messrs W. R. Boon and J. Jamiesoiv had been re-elected unopposed for a further term of office. Both directors expressed their thanks. | Mr Miles Hamill was re-clected auditor at the usual fee of £105. The chairman's honorarium was reinstated at £260, andl the directors' fees at a guinea per day plus out-of-pocket expenses. The date for the annual meeting was left to the discretion of the directors and the venue fixed at Edgecumbe. A hearty vote of thanks was passed on the motion of Mr F. J. Reynolds to the chairman andl directors. Mr McCracken in replying moved a further vote of appreciation to the members of the staff, mentioning in particular, the work of tho. secretary. Mr Blair, and the factory manager, Mr Rutherford.