FARMERS IN TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 596, 26 August 1909, Page 8

FARMERS IN TRADE.

WELLINGTON MEAT EXPORT COMPANY. THE ANNUAL MEETING. . AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION. ->At tlio annual. mooting of tho Wellington' Moot Export Company, hold at tho Chamber of Commorcp yesterday, nil unfavourable year was reported, duo chiefly to tlio glut " l 0 London market, and tho question was asked by several shareholders, whether tlio directorate of tlio company, which consists solely of country producers, not benefit by tho' inclusion of 0110 or moro city business men. 'l'ho, present constitution .of tlio company was strongly defended from tho othor side, and though an interesting discussion' took placo upon this subject, no motion >\'as proposed. About thirty shareholders wero present at the meeting, ; and Mr. C. Elgar presided. Tlio chairman's opening remarks woro 09 follow:—' ! Tho Chalrmanls Statement. "Your directors regrot that tho results of tho year's operations nro not such as to warrant tho usual 4 por oent. dividend for the half-year boing paid. Tlio primary cause of tho unsuccessful year's work' has been the utterly demoralised stato of tho" London meat market, which has been 1 going from bad to w.orso sinco tlio beginning of tho year. Although, it has been stated, that tho restricted pitrciiasiug power-of • tho'-. people ut Homo hasboon tho cause of tho glut, figures do not altogether bear this out,, as it-has. boon shown that the consumption lias been greater;'than over,.although not-bo'great .us the serious drop in prices- would have,justified us in expecting. Tho real reason would appear to bo the enormous quantity of moat that, has found-, its way to tho market this year from all quarters. This amounts to an excess of 21 million carcasses for tho year ended June'-3t) last, or -tw;o million carcasses: in ; exoera for the first six months of this year."The.'good seasoix in New, Zealand, meant an increased output from tho; Poniinion. Argentina and Australia also contributed, while from Holland 110 less a ,quah ; tity than .something 1 like a million, and a quarter,sheep.' were shipped to London in a.fresh condition; this nu'mlie'r-.being, very largely in' excess, of -, what is.iusually • sent', over. , Tlio' reLb'uit. was 'that beforo hist 'season's stocks Wore cleared' off tho London'. stores wero being rapidly filled wit.h('tho' new, till they -werosoon full to overflowing, and have remained so, many . 6hips being unablo to discharge their' cargoes. . Continental " Market ' ' "The . fact of such .a", lajcge;- number of. sheep being sent from Ilolland-to London is a striking commentary on the difficulty that might bo experienced in-.finding' a market .' on the Continent , for our ;nieat, ...in addition.to the prejudice 1 . which : naturally exists' against it in.:countries where a largo .proportion of'..the population ' obtain their ■" living by ' farming small areas,' and who would be up in arms wore their Governments to event hint at the fi"ee admission of frozen meat. Tho quantity of livo stock; purchased by tho company and shipped to London',\vith;such bad results, has been to a certain extent reduced by numbers of farmers'shipping on their own. account and at their, own risk, and tho sympathies of shareholders are due to • those' who bore their own :burdens in this \yay arid loyally supported tho company. i'",

' - Reduced Prices to be Expected. - j "With, the London market, in its .present glutted condition, and;no' ; hopes of a clearance before -the.new season' starts,-the while there, are not wanting indications that Australia will' .soon be .-starting to ship lambs., in ..increased lijuantijies,'- and \Newf' Zealand Having'• made -preparatiob, aided by a-favourable'winter,:for a ;big output, <it seems almost 'certain, much' as ;it'is. to' Kb.regretted, that the prices which it ; Will. be possible' to" offer" farmers N at' thev opening of the season .will* be ' ftvr below , those which .they have been accustomed to expect for • «'• good maiy/seasons.Vpast; ;'The: one bright feature in the year's operations' -has .been: the improved value obtained for wool,;;and. while other by-products, such as tallow, pelts, etc.; have hot- met an advancing market . the, prices have been well maintained.' :Directors ; can .only hope to .retrieve . the : past year's'' bad. business by finding : the;best markets' possible for the Company's products :in' the 'future';'' and by, running the work's:; on.'the most 'ecdhomical lines, which will be' rendered possible'by: the '.up;to-date nature.'of, the, plant and. : eqilip'ine'nt,: though it is to. be'reg'rotttd ithat" thoro does, not appear, to much chance.of reduction ill charges' and expenses, for such: items' as marino insurance,'etc., over which tho.company. has-no' control.".' " •/The chairman 1 moved' the -adoptipii - ';oftlie" annual report and statement' of . acco'u'nts (al,ready.published).•:l • . ' '

■ Question of.Constitution. Mr. E.- Balcombo Brown, in:>seconding tha motion, said he thought, and many business' men in' Wellington thought, .that'.'it.-was'unfor-.tunate; .thjit a,:big-company like-theirs '.Should be, controlled entirely .-.Jjy, directors , who ivere fanners, ' andf! not ' .business v men.: .He .'admitted th,e' capacity .'of the men . who cbn'trolled ,it,' but" a' man could" not bo a Jack of all trades.". He suggested to the directorate that they should consider whether, when a vacancy occurred, some well-known iocal business man should not be appointed. Ho would have the advantage of being .in close touch with the nianagement, which the present directors, living at a distance, could not be to the same'extent. The principle that there was never to bo a business man on the .board,- but that it was to consist exclusively of farmers, who! could not know the ins an'd outs of business to thg fullest extent, had induced one man to sell out his shares. The Gear Company, which was composed entirely of. business men, presented a much better annual balancesheet than tha Meat Export Company, though the latter was well equipped with all. the most modern devices, and. there was-no'reason why it should not be as successful as theGear^Company. He admitted that the;past year had been a very special and: that the directors must not be blamed for ife' results.. . -' Dr. on. the "Shepherd. Kings."

Dr. Knight said ;he-recognised that,the com-: pany had been seriously handicapped that' year* Uy the breakdown of Mr., Foster- general man'ager. ( 0f two .'companies doing the same ;business as their- own, 'on© had been;able to. the usual half-yearly and in the,caso 0f,.-the. other ihe "public .were offering a 'premium of lis. oh its shares."- The small.set ■tier , was not-satisfied witlr the local position, and was going to try to sta;t a rival concern. Probably be would, lose his money,'but that did not affect' them; the dissatisfaction was evident; It appeared to him. a\yery dangerous, practice to be continually increasing the amount :oii deposit. Th,e amount of JE15,000 had been added to the deposit debt of 'M 1,250 existing on June.3o,. 1907. He thought that .the. directors should seriously consider tho advisability of reducing that sum. Mr. Brown was not singular :in his dissatisfaction'with the composition of the directorate. Dissatisfaction had existed for 'some-'time, and had'been expressed to the board, who had;, continued to mako appoint'ments in the same style. All the'appointments ,wero of, men who Were large producers of sheep and cattle; and who were biased, however unconsciously, towards, the upkeep of high prices of the article they produced. They wanted a, .board Who would have no bias either way, but Hvhose simple aim would be to make money for their shareholders. -To succeed against, , the growing competition, of the "Argentine they would need tho very best business' talent available.' Out of 35,000 shares the company 14,000 were owned by town residents,;who hau no voice, iu the control of the company. He considered that three out of tho seven directors should be town residents. . It was essential, while the'meat business was in such .a critical condition, that the directors should be able to meet and confer .with the man in charge; thatlie should not have to telephone , 200 miles to Halcombe, or another GO or 70 miles to Featherston. It was high time that they came out from the bondage of the Shepherd Kings. Each director/ as an individual, aid his utmost for the company, but it''was out sufficient that only one class should be represented on tho board. •

The Rev. H. Van Staveren instanced a case, in which he was informed 3s. a head more was Riven for sheep than they were fetching in England.. If that was so it was a very strong argument for having business men oil the directorate. ' ! Mr. Martin Kennedy asks Questions. Mn Martin Kennedy said he would like to bo told Whether the company did better out of its freezing-operations on .behalf of exporters or out of its own purchases'of stock for ...export. 'Also, he would ask the director whether there was uniform treatment meted out to all who exported on their own account, in the mattor of by-products. In the time of the late general manager, when, fat was £52 in London, he received £4 a ton more for the-fat' than the present manager gave', and lie had had no notice of a change of rate. If treatment like that was meted out to many farmers, how'could they be expected to have confident in the company? It seemed a condemnation of 'the management thi)' they should not be able to continue • tho jliiV *Ufl bsfiftjisfi tkergjiad Xoi

ono season. If tho plant had been written down in tho past ns much as had been said, it should not havo been necessary to writedown another .£BOOO.

Mr. W. C. Buchanan in Reply. Mr. W. C. Buchanan M.l'. a director, and 0110 of tho original shareholders of thocompany, said that it wns started as a country Bottlers' company, not to buy stock, but to ship stock on owners' account, nnd so badly was tho company supported at first that tliero was no option but to freeze for country settlers. Later on moro capital was-got in—from the country settlers, not from tlio town—to,enable tho company toincreaso its freezing power. As timo went on, town investors, finding shares in thoj market, bought them. They did so with their eyes upen, they knew tho Object with which tho company was started, and'if thoy wore now slightly disappointed that tlio returns, for instance, liad not been equal to those, from the Gear Company, 110 said deliberately that tho management of tho company from >'0111' 'o year had not been to blame. Tin! dincrencca 111 tho returns botweon the Gear Company anil their own compnny nioso mainly from the fact that at the time, when tho Meat Export Company had 110 capital with - which ■ to buy, tlio Gear Company had the field to■ itsolfy and made profits that had never beoiv' poswblo since, Outside of its freezing business tho flew Company had 6ourccs of incomo that had never been in tho possession of the, Meat 13xport Company. Tho directors of tho hitler company recognised its responsibilities to tho lown shareholders, and they had done their bout Id make tlio business of tho company it IiUCCfiM from the .business point of viow., A Creditable Record Sale. ' ?Ho thought that tlio record of dividend* fr.olll year to year for a goo'd timo punt had not ' been a bad record for non-business men. Ho thought that tho directors as a wholo from timo to time could offer 11 very fair eoiripuri-, sijn to the success of many of the town business riicn. ; There was toothing so very special :iri the business of n meat export; company, as to call for the experience of city men. Ho whs a little surprised that Mr. Martin Kennedy should have asked if shippers on their'own account were all treated alike. Tliero never had been any differenco between shipper nnd shipper, whether thoy sent away ICO sheep ,or •10,000. There was no; company in New; Zea-' land that gave owners lower or better terms. The company whose shares were now at lis. ; premium ho supposed to be a; Canterbury company, and Canterbury had liad an advantage in sending few sheep forward in tho early part of the season. Moreover, there ".were only two coDipanies in Canterbury, while . here, there •were practically seven. He thought th'nt the reference to tho Shepherd Kings .was uncalledfor, seeing how, mtach Wellington owed' to the »po-called Shepherd ;Kings. He did not think . that tho town (shareholders liad very' much to complain of, seeing what • the' history of the. company had been. (Applause.) \ ■ ■■ Further. Discussion.

;; Mr. Martin Kennedy explained that, he had: not implied: discrimination between large and small shippers. He had pointed out that the, prico of. fat hadbeen dropped a ton, though the London price had .increased, and that no explanation had . been "given.; ■'The chairman said liedid-■ not' know : the particular, case, referred :to, 'but-'the.. rule'' tho. company was:, to giyo the shipper' on his •own account the' ; full; benefit of tlie. by-products.' They could only give him the parity of London prices,' arid these prices might have altered very much by tho time/the produce reached: Homo.' V". •' 1

The.motio\i was then carried unanimously.

i ELECTION OF OFFICERS. . , Messrs. H., Holmes and G.'C. Wheeler were re-appointed directors without.' opposition. ; Dr. Knight moved that the-remuneration, of the directors be the same as last .year—namely, JCSOO. • i ;v:'t " • Tho.Rev. H. van Stavoren seconded the motion, ..which.'was supported ,by-,-Mr.; .Martin Kennedy, and adopted. ; ' ". ... ;. The fpllowing were nominated for the position of/ auditors Messrs. Kember 'and Sons, Watkins,: B.\ W. Hunt, Rowley, and Gill, and. A: S. Biss. It' was decided that a; ballot be held tit', the Chamber of. Commerce .on Thurs-f day, September 2, from 2,t0 5 p.m. .Auditors'; remuneration was fixed at .£75 each, .the ; amount being the; same as for last year.' The meeting closed with' a vote, of vthanks to ..the directors.