WELLINGTON FARMERS' MEAT CO.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 609, 11 September 1909, Page 6

WELLINGTON FARMERS' MEAT CO.

STATUTORY MEETING. DIRECTORS ELECTED AND SITES DISCUSSED. „ iDy Tolejrrapb.—Special Correspondent.! . At tho statutory meeting of the Wellington Farmers' Meat Company, liejd at Pahiatua to-day, about 100 shareholders were present representing the Wost Coast 'and tho East Const and tho districts from Dannevirke to Martinborough. ' ■ ■ Management Committee's Report. Th§ chairmin, presented the following report of tho Management Committee "Iu presenting tho ; report of the directors to tho shareholders, the Management Committee beg to stato that canvassing i for shares has been assiduously maintained from tho date of registration of' tho company.'up to August 18, when tho committee considered it ■ advisable, to suspendoperations until after' tho statutory meeting.- V.'Tho shareholders . aro 'well distributed , over' -.tho . various /districts on this side. of.,tbo'Range, ■ tho majority of tho'subscribers ibeing in the' Weber, Pahiatua, and . Castlopoint- 'Counties. Next'on'the list comes Feathorstoh, vriiilo Masterton and. South Wairarapa are. .in the minority." There' is still a. large amount of canvassing to bo done, Mauriceviilo and Akitio Counties being as yet practically untouched, while . a considerable amount of canvassing has yet to bo done in the other, counties! The settlors .on tho. West Coast so far have only subscribed £700 of shares. At tho date of this report the numbor of, shareholders is 361, and the com-' mittco anticipate .that before the lists are closed tho number will- be doubled. It is only fair to point out that , tho present tightness of money has seriously interfered .with.'the canvass. Had the financial position of" this part of tho Dominion boen a4goodias it was two'years ago, it would have been possible to raise the, whole . nominal capital ' of £100,000. The report of the committee appointed to inspect sites ■ suitable, for the works is enclosed,, together'with, the report of the engineer to'tho company. A report Wairarapa sites will be submitted at the meeting. Tho committee beg to remind ■shareholders .that at the' statutory meriting the remuneration, of directors wifl have to be fixed, arid they recommend, the appointment of a: managing director to carry on tho affairs of the. company until , the works are completed and ready. for .operations." Mr.' Cooper, who gavo a.resume of tho work -, done siiice ' the company was formed. . Some districts 'had • not . yet been thoroughly canvassbd'i and a'-.large amount of work had yet to-bo •done v in i cbnnc'ction with the organisation of the' company. Over £2800 cash applications for allotment of shares - had ' been- received and' only about £700 was from tho Wost Coast. The company was essentially a Wairarapa and Bush one. It was expected that . £40,000 •to £50,000 worth of shares would' bo disposed of . before tho canvass had been completed. , Mr.'-T. Quirke, .in:.'seconding the adoption of the report, spoko strongly on. the financial outlook,'and recommended the directors not to proceed with the works till- £40,000 worth of shares had been'applied for. •

Site Committee's Roport. The Site Committee reported as follows ,yio have the honour to roport on tho ; suitability of a number of sites ■ Visited ; ua in l Wellinctoii and Foxton, but regret ' to say that/our ,investigations were not..' very' successfulas . most of the; ■ sites ' visited-did not possess, .the ; necessaryqualifications of . railway . access, suffi- . ciont wator supply, and ■ the necessary ; ' drainage.facilities/* The' only site visited that met'with,the approval. of the com- I mittee was the land at Tawa.Flati We ':/ wish to report the fact 'that/ this'land will cost about £10,000 to: purchase the' necessary ,lapd .for- buildings/.j catchment vinaroai>.V.wa.tei'J';'!f da'mj" ! ;.wa£erj)i'pes"" and-' 1 > ■•drainag^ (;rM Ppr ( .,|he, S.itfj., Cflnj^tfe^.. / Vc? (Sigritfd),!;;Jf " :/. Chairman. As to tho enclosed roport, I wish to ■state that J in;itfy/opinion;!do not think .? .'.that the supply,' of good ' water would bo 1 ■ sufficient, in ' a dry seasoii.' .'.■■■. ■■ (Signed).-' J. C. COOPER! .v, This tag is objeoted to by Mr. 'H. J. Booth. • • 1 ■

Engineer's Report.' . Tho,report.of : the Engineer, Mr. >X : S. Mitchell, referred to by the Site Committee is as follows:— • ' '. I have tho honour, to report on the , suitability, for the purposes of.freezing works, of the various sites-inspected:by mo inioompany with your committee, appoihtod for tho sarho purpose. Aa I,have already explained'to your committee, tho ideal..site is ono,with tho following featuresl. _■ Accessibilityto railway line. 2. Good drainage. . 3. Good.watcr supply. Tho latter being the most important, as it makes the'second so much easier to deal with.', Feature No. 1 is not-necessary for. .tho operation of freezing: works,-but itis ; advisable; as it vitally affects tho' cost of handling tho produco thereon, and' unless it is available,, you'will not bo ablo to. compete with those companies having this' facility. ' In horiwith'reporting on the sites inspected, I will tab'o them in the following manner :—-. ,- 1. Fotohe. ' '. .',-• •' ■•'■ ■.- ■ •.' - ■ 2. Silverstream. . , . ! 3. Banks Meat Company's Property ■ at Ngahauranga. ■ . , . , • . ~ .4. Site under offer at.Tawa Flat. ■ Site No. 1. —Both of the' sites under offer at Petone l consider quite unsuitable for your purpose; principally because of the fact that they are situated'on that-side of tho Hutt RiVor; distant from tho railway. thus necessitating the construction of a'bridge and railway lino over the river to give access to the-works. The cost of construction pf.such a work makes the adoption of these/sites quite impracticable; Sito No. 2.^—TJio, site . inspected at Silver-' stream is. also. out of tho .question owing to its great .distance: frojn any point .at which' drainage from the works can be discharged. /- Site No. 3.—Tho site under offer-by the Banks Meat Company is well situated- with regard to drainage apd water supply, but. has the great'disadvantage of being about threo-quartors of a mile. from tho. ■ railway line. Tho cost of tho construction ■ of a sid-\ ing of this length would amount to about £5000. -Another disadvantage of this 1 ' site is the small area of. .flat land available for tho purpose of building, this area-being fur-I ther reduced by a right-of-way. through, the same to tho propertv of Messrs.- W. Bimock and. Co. ' Tho actual flat area available,' although sufficient to. build of the size you,re-' quire,, would leave no., room whatever for holding.of paddocks, as tho balance of tho' property is much too. steep for this purpose. The buildings connected with this property would bo absolutely no.use for'ith'o purpose of a modern freezing worksj suoli as you require, and would all require to ' bo demolished to carry out such a ficheme.: Sito No. i.—Since, visiting the sito untler offer to you at Taiva Flat I bave:mado .the fullest inquiries from tho firm of surveyors tfho surveyed the property, tho Railway De; partnient, .and the engineer' of the-Menial Hospital; at l'orirua, 1 .who have all kindly placed such,information's they have at mv disposal. In regard to the water supply 'I fm.iiow. quite satisfied that, with sufficient storage accommodation and pumping-appli-ances tho supply availablo would bo amplo for all your requirements; and; in tho event, of extension, there would,'l am sure, be no difficulty .in securing tho water rights,-of other streams adjacent, to tho property un"der.offcr. In regard, to drainage, : this'will present no .difficulty; as, although, the sito is distant somo 2i • niiles,.from tho . point•suitable for the, discharge.of drainage, there 1 , is a fall to tho sea of at least 110 feet, .which wjll 'be more than sufficient for your purposes. My .estimate and oost of drainagel and wator supply work in'connection''with a works situateel-a-t .this site wfuld bo about £5000.: In regtjrd to tho accessibility to the ia.ilway, I am assured by. this: Department, who havo gone very fully into the matter, that't'hero will bo wr difficulty in :this con-nection,-the cost, of -this, being oil tiio lowest scale. . The right to drain along tho railway line is, I. understood} being investigated by. tho present owners Of the property, who, no doubt; will report to you 'direct. Should you decido on tho site at Tawa Flat, it will nocossory to secure tho whole of tho

catchineut area supplying tho creek on this property in order to protect tho water supply from pollution. Tho Discussion. ' A groat part of the proceedings was taken up in discussing tho question,of site. Shareholders present from the West Coast stated that they understood that tho worliß would bo built at a seaport to suit.both coasts.^ Mr. J. Balsillic favoured securing the Long" burn works, and also to go on building works in the Wairarapa. . i • Mr.. Tiios.' stated that it would ho. hardly fair to buy tho- Longburn works, in view of tho money subscribed on the East Coast. AbouJ twenty spoke on the site subject, and it was finally decided that tho selection of a site bo left to the permanent directors, these to again inspect suitable sites, and report to shareholders. It was also decided that Wairarapa and Wellington sites only be inspected. Election of Directors. Tho ballot for directors resulted as follows Mr.' J. C. Cooper (Pahiatua), 628; Mr. G. Pain (Featherston), 430; Mr. J. A. Groves (Mastortori), 383; Mr. R. D. M'Kenzie(Kopuranga). 352; Mr.-,F. W. H. Kummcr (Mauriceville), 333; llr,' Thos. Hodg- . liibs (Pahiatua), 296; Mr. K; Clapham, (Martinborough), 265. Tho above ' were electody 'There" were fifteen nominations. ■ ; . nioeting'was b6ld afterwards; and it was resolved that the'articles of tho'association be revised:at a meeting of directors.' ■ ■ , . - '• .. Mr. J; C. Cooper was unanimously elected managing director at V remuneration of £150 a year. Ordinary directors aro to recoivo actual travelling.expenses. ' , Fivo thousand six hundred and four shares, have'.'been'allotted.to dato. /