DAIRY SUPPLIERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 73, 29 August 1947, Page 5

DAIRY SUPPLIERS

RANGITAIKI PLAINS MEETING .SUCCESSFUL YEAR COMPLETED The conclusion of another successful year was marked by a representative gathering of suppliers to the Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Company, at the annual meeting yesterday in Bell’s Hall Edgecumbe. Mr W. A. McCracken (Chairman of Directors) presided and announced that a total of 4934 tons of creamery butter had been manufactured against 4266 tons for the previous year. A total of 23,040,087 lbs of cream were received and graded as under: Superfine 70.56 per cent., First Grade 29.16 per cent., and Second Grade .28 per cent. The meeting was one of the best attended in recent years.

Opening proceedings the chairman said that most suppliers would re-

alise that the Dairy Marketing Com-

mission had now been set up, and representatives had gone overseas for the purpose of negotiating the price of produce to be supplied to

Great Britain. The Commission it-

■self would be commencing its work this week. Many things were before the industry today. Chiefly the intention of the Government to drop ■ all subsidies which had been paid in the past such as Farm Costs Allowances, Factory Wages Allowances and others. However he understood that this withdrawal was offset by an increase in the ‘KHkanteed price. A clearer picture would be given when these details were officially announced. .In his report the chairman said as under:—

Buildings and Plant: Additions to

buildings include two new dwellings .at the pig farm, a new blacksmiths’

shoeing shop and a ne(v office for the garage department. The expen-'"-■di/ure on plant purchased and put into operation amounted to £287 7s 2d. Two new boilers were ordered some time ago and plant associated with the installation of these boilers has been coming to hand. This

plant has been debited to “Equip-

ment New Boilers” and the sum of £2794 8s 9d is listed on the Assets side of the Balance Sheet.' Rig Farm: The nett return for the sejson is £1584 7s Id, representing approximately 6s 5d per ton of but-

/ ter. The acquistion of additional k land and the necessity for additional and more up-to-date farrowing - houses made it necessary to incur | heavy expenditure so that the pig

farm can ultimately be operated to best advantage. The sum of £5312 4s 4d, under the heading of “Pig Farm Development,” has been spent to date, on new* 11 farrowing houses and development work.

Factory Store:' The turnover for the year was £108,877 7s 7d an increase of £11,232 Os 7d on the previous year. Rebates, at a rate of 6 per cent, on all purchases, were paid to suppliers and amounted to £SBIO 17s lid. The sums charged to the Trading Store, Mechanics’ Shop and locksmiths’ Shop, by way of ReIme Allowances were £5563 13s 6d, £lls 19s and £l3l 5s 5d respectively.

Payout Season 1945/46: The actual payment to shareholders for the previous season, excluding Farm •Cost Allowances, was 16.779 d.

Cost Allowances: The Farm Cost Allowance was increased from 3.904 d to 5.185 d per lb. butterfat as from Ist August 1946 and was included in advance payments made during the season. The Factory Cost Allowance remained at .316 d per lb. butfor the 12 months July 1946 to June 1947 inclusive and amounted to £11,941 16s 6d. The Factory Wages Cost Allowance was increased from .095 d per lb. butterfat to .145 d per lb. butterfat as from ,Ist August 1946 and amounted to £5450 3s Id. The number of pounds of butterfat on which the Farm Cost Allowance was claimed was 9,069,773.4 lbs.

Payout Current Season: During this season an average advance of 14.159 d per lb. butterfat was made -over all grades. A further Id per lb. butterfat over all grades was paid for the 12 months ended 30th June 1947. The balance in Appropriation Account will allow a further payment of L7l9d per lb. This

when added to the advance pay-

ments already made, will bring the 'season’s average payout up to 16.878 d. With store rebate added the apayout is 17.032 d per lb butterfat. 'The Farm Cost Allowance of 3.904 d per lb butterfat for July and 5.185 d for August to June inclusive (averaging 5.165 d) increase the total y&verage payment to 22.197 d per lb butterfat.

Butter Grading Results: The average grade for the season was 93.694

as against* 93.420 for the previous season. This average grade of 93.694 points is a record for your company, and undoubtedly is due, in the main, to the outstanding enthusiasm and untiring efforts of Mr J. J. Becker, Factory Manuager, and members of his staff. For the 1945/46 season your company ranked as one of the highest grading butter factories shipping through the port of Auckland. It is fairly safe to assume that the company has gone up at least one step on the grading ladder for the 1946/47 season.

The report and balance sheet were discussed at length and in commenting on items, Mr J. Mullins took the oportunity of congratulating the Directors and staff on- the year’s operations. He produced figures for the N.Z. Co-op. Company which compared very favourably with the Rangitaiki Company. He instanced manufacturing costs, cream collection, wages, depreciation and administration. The pig farm venture had again been disappointing but he trusted in view of the secretary’s information that the suppliers would reap the benefit in the future. There were several other speakers before the report was' finally adopted.

Appointment Of Auditor

Mr T. H. Morgan Was reappointed to the position of auditor at an increased salary of £250. The matter was closely contested, Mr Mullins considering that the increase of £145 in one year was too great. He moved an amendment that the fee be £2OO. This was seconded by Mr McCready but on being put to the meeting was lost by 2 votes (44 votes to 42)'.

The fixing the chairman’s honorarium and directors fees likewise found differing opinions. The general impression that increases be made was unanimous the existing fig ures being £2OO (chairman’s honorarium plus £6O travelling allowance and one guinea per meeting (directors) plus all out-of-pocket expenses.

Motion and amendments ranged from £350 plus £IOO travelling expenses for the former and 2 guineas per meeting and expenses for the latter to a general increase of 50 per cent. The meeting finally adopted the motion of R. W. Dunning fixing the chairman’s honorarium at £275 plus £6O travelling expenses and directors fees at \\ guineas plus all out-of-pocket expenses.

The reports of the Veterinary Surgeon (Mr Alan Thomson) and of the Bacteriologist (Mr F. S. Hodson) were read and received.

""The meeting closed with a hearty vote of thanks to the chairman, manager and staff.