FARMERS’ U.T. CO., LTD.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 771, 29 September 1922, Page 5

FARMERS’ U.T. CO., LTD.

(.Published by Arrangement). MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND RESIDENTS. The above meeting was held in the Oddfellows’ Hall on Monday evening, September 25th, There wew'e 122 shareholders and residents presen/t. There were itd’b 'di'rectolrs present— Messrs and BdU, also Mr W. Mackay tfte head'office representative., ‘“TVIr) John Russell was voted $0 the chair and he intjrodluced the speakers to ,the meeting. Mr Mak'gi then gave a lengthy address on the new policy of the company. New System of Pricing. In the pastt T with the market fluctuating violently, sometimes a store has just been supplied with a line of goods when the bottom would drop out of the market ' (The Auckland warehouse would ’ land) fresh goods at a lowie/r price, but the branch would sttll have the high-priced goods .on hand, and rather than face the loss would endeavour >to sell them at somewhere near/ their cost price. In (future, tits will be .done away with entirely. The head office cash catalogue will be the basis of all pricing, a definite plus charge being abided to pay local expenses and freight. The matter will be gone into definitely with your local committees as soon as i/t has been, formed and a mutual arrangement agreed upon, as we wish to keep it well in line with all competition. Mjr Makgill then explained/ a new method of “Standardised stocks,” whereby complete stocks of all merchandise will be kepft at the branches according to .the turnover. Credit.

This has been a matter; of great concern to us. We know the farmers in genera! have been through a hard 'time* and many of them with perfectly goqd (farms, and who ate sound financially, require only time to re-ad(just their affairs, but some of fthefse owe the company so much and not been able tpi pay us for so many months that we have hern compelled to stop their dredit. Now, many of •Wiese good) customers ofi ours, instead of bringing their cash to us, when we could, give them no further credSiit* have taken -ft elsewhere. p|rofoalbly feeling rather backward about coming into the store with cash for goods when they still! owe: a large unpaid! account—or. perchance they have opened a strictly monthly account with some competitor, and, are 'taking their business past our cor-operative. We want to evolve

a scheme, which, while iit secures 'the company,,’ will also help these farmers to be loyal to our company and commence trading wi'th us again. Auckland versus the Local Branch. There is another point of considerable interest. Many shareholders and customers seem to think 'that our wanehouse in Auckland is In competition with our local branches, but I want tto assure you that is by no means the position. Our head) office and! branches are In the; closest cooperation, . The prices Qf the loca£ branches will. ? of course, be slightly higher, as we must pay the freight and have some small margin to help pay local expenses, as all the goods have to be .double-handled and) warehoused in Auckland first, and treated' in more or. less the same way as 'they would be ijreatieid> if they came through an outside wholesale warehouse, only

that ou.r expenses in wholesaling the goods for o;ur branches are very ", much lower than those of 'the ordiny ary wholesale warehouse. When you purchase from the branch you have the goads landed in your? own home town, -.for personal selection and immediate delivery at this small plus charge. When you \ ordqr direct from our Auckland warey house, ;you have to buy in advance—you have to wait for the goods—you j. have to, pay the freight, and you have to get them from the station yourself or hire a carrier to do so. I , Now we want to make it perfectly plain that those customers who are willing to do this for the saving are welcome to buy whichever way they v choose. Full credit will be given to Uhe local store for all orders sent from that district by shareholders, ~ whether} they go through the local , store or go idirect to the Auckland warehouse. For indentification purposes numbered stickers or stamps will be issued in each district so \ ithalt immediately an order arrives at our Auckland warehouse* it wih be t crejdftteid to the branch district from which it came. Customers may therefore order’sometimes at the local branch and sometimes from head *■ office. Often they will order necessities from ithe local stpre, and large items which their branch does not' carry, direct,, from our Auckland warehouse. We want you to feel absolutely free to use whichever method of purchasing you like, and to feel that in either case "you are equally loyal to your company, and that. the credit will go to your local ’■ branch although you send the ordei direct to Auckland. v In conclusion let me say that I believe the farmers in general and the Faitmers’ Uflkon Trading Company are on the verge of a great era of prosperity, and I believe you will see, inrthe rough outline I have given you, fhe possibility q£ the farmers so combining, that they will present q solid frpnt to private enterprise and thus take into their own hands itfe absolute control of their merchandise with its attending- profits, Moreover, we believe this great organisation we are now building up. will ’ some day stand the farmer in good stead. The Farmer is the true) wealth producer of this Dominion but his interests are not always safe in the hands of either Governments or other sections of the community, and white we believe the farmers will never combine to do aught against the interests of our Dominion, we may have to combine to protect our own interests, and this great commercial organisation of which we are members* will put a power into our hands which we hope* not only to use for self-pro-tection but to weMd for the good of all.

Constitution of Local Committee. It has been arranged that a shareholders’ committee be set up in each district where we have a biranch, and later /the whole, North Island be sub-divided into suitable areas and similar committees elected. The committees will be known as the tF.U.T. Co. Local Committees, prefaced by the name of the place in' which the respective branches are situated. Committees will be composed of not less than five or more than seven members, elected by the local shareholders at a general meeting, the first meeting to be held as arranged, buit thereafter to be held! in the month of July or August of each year. The committee wtfl elect a chairman and if possible a secretary from its number and will have power to elect an outside secretary if thought advisable in which case such,secretary shall not have a vote, {The 'local manager and any head office representatives, who may be in the district, shall attend the ordinary meetings of the committees; but shall have no vote. Directors of the company shaljl be ex officio members of committees. Any-''vacancies on the committee occuring during the currency of the year may be fillqd by the committee itself. Three shall for a quorum. The committee shall meet once a month fcrr ordinary meetings and the chairman shall have power to convene a special meeting at any time by notifying all members. During the July following the election of tth‘e first committee, the three members whose nameis came first in alphabetical olrder will automatically retire and this retiring of the three or four members who have been sitting two yeafrs shalll be continuously observed frsom year to year, but all retiring members shall be eligible for -re-election,, if not otherwise disqualified. Any shareholder in the district who has no unpaid calls on his or her shares and whose credit is in good standing with the company, is eligible far membership on the committee If more nominations are received for membership on the. committee than there are vacancies, a ballot shalll be held and a ballot paper showing the names of the candidates in alphabetical carder shall be issued to each shareholder in the district along with the notice of the annuai meeting, and shareholders shall signify theiir preference by striking out the name of those they do not wish to vote for. leaving not more names than there’are vacancies.

The date in July of the annual meeting shall be decided by the committee. and notice shall be not less than seven days in advance of such meeting, either by advertisement in the district paper or be for-, warded to each shareholder by post \ except that if a ballot is necessary, notices and ballot papers must be posted and newspaper announcements shall hot be considered sufficient. 1 Any two shareholders elibible to vote in the district may nominate. The nomination paper, with the candidate’s signature accepting sucn nomination, to be mailed, to the committee not later than 30 days in ad. vance of the annual meeting, Shareholders who are located near to two branches may nominate which district they will register in for voting purposes and. will have the option of changing their district registration at any time on written notice. but they shall not vote for the committee in two separate districts in any one year. They may of course buy at any branch irrespective of where they are registered far voting purposes. Minutes of each meeting, shall be kepit by the secretary and copies of same shall be sent to head office in Auckland if required.' All recom_ mendations from local committees shall be forwarded to head office in the form off remits, and if same cannot be dealt, with by the management they will come before the board at the first ensuing monthly meeting. If any remit coming before the management is not dealt with to the satisfaction of the local committee, such committee may return same and all returned remits shdll be definitely presented to the boqrcL As the capital invested in each district is supplied by the whole body of shareholders in the company, ‘it is obvious that the Board of Directors elected by the whale body of shareholders, could not rightly delegate- complete control to local. committees yet it is felt by the inter, change ‘of remits, by advice on local matters tendered’ by the committee to Ithe board, affecting the welfare of the company, by collaboration, the interests of each district and of cooperation generally. v&U be greatly advanced. Fanners Uunion article 3 Without entering into detail, there is a great deal of vefry important work that local committees can undertake in the supervision and efficient corjduat of the company’s affairs in their districts, and tt is obvious that the /remits ’ forwarded to the Auckland Board of Management will be of great value. Profits Distributed in Districts Where Profits Earned, As the company is entirely a cooperative one in that the dividend on capita/l is limited and the whole of the balance is available for distribution as bonus on purchases or as the shareholders at the annual meeting may decide, it is obvious that the first duty of all shareholders and all sections of the business (is to join hands in making good out of future profits the loss ithe company has made through the fall in the value of its stocks, but after this has been made up the company is again paying ordinary dividends, it is the intention of the Board, after meeting ail necessary charges to have the balance of profits made in each district* distributed in that district as a bonus on the local branch purchases. Mr Bell., 'the other director present. then addressed the meeting, and stated his speech would be of short duration owing to the previous speaker having covered thq ground so fully, but he (the point

strongly on the matter qf co.operation of all shareholders to make their local branch a success under the new r scheme previously outlined! by Mr Makgill.

The chairman then called for nominations for the local committee, which resulted as fdllows : —Messrs John Russell J, W. Robinson, H. D. Wily. C. Hodgkinson, J. W- Johns. C. K. Lawrie, M. Cronin. "We.musit no'!t omit to mention that after the directors’ speeches several questions were ‘ asked by shareholders, and replied ito by Mr Makgill, aJlso -the head office representative (Mr Mackay) and Mr J. G. Russell, the local manager.