ASHBURTON CO-OPERATIVE DAIRY FACTORY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17282, 25 September 1916, Page 5

ASHBURTON CO-OPERATIVE DAIRY FACTORY.

ANNUAL MEETING. The sixth annual meeting of tho Ashburton Co-operative Dairy Factory Company was held on Saturday afternoon, when thero was a good attendance of shareholders. Mr C. Reid presided. The directors, in submitting thejr report, stated that tho very severe drought experienced throughout the county was' responsible for a largo decrease in the turnover for the year. Tile quantity of butter manufactured was L'o2,l6oib, as against 401,2771 b in the previous year. Shareholders would noto that the expenses were reduced correspondingly. The outlook for the coming season, as far as dairying was concerned, was brighter than it ever had been in tho history of the Dominion, and tho directors were 'pleased to report that the cheese factory at Eiffelton was to be opened shortly, and tho output of cheese had been sold at the record prico of 9id per lb f.o.b. Tho surplus output of butter had also been disposed of to the end of February next at the satisfactory figure of Is 6u per lb f.o.b. Taking into consideration that last year was a very lean ono from the dairyman's point, tho directors were of opinion that the position of the company was very gratifying. The profit and loss account showed a balance to credit of £Bl5 12s 2d; This, with a sum of £142 9s carried forward from last year, made a total of £958 Is 2d, which the directors recommended shall be dealt with as follows: (1) A dividend of o per cent be declared' on paid-up capital at July 31, 191(5, £223 13s; (2) one penny per lb of but-ter-fat be refunded to suppliers who are shareholders, estimated £670 13s; (3) the balance (£63 los 2d) be carried forward. The cheese factory, which was completed in October of last year, was not opened, on account of the very dry season and shortage of feed. This entailed a loss of £ll7 19s Id. As prospects pointed to abnormal prices being paid for fat, tho directors proposed to deal with this amount during the coming cheese season. The average prico paid to cream suppliers for the year was slightly over Is per lb. That amount, with the proposed bonus, would make the price Is 2Jd'. The balance-sheet showed tho principal items in the profit and loss account to be: —Dr—To cream suppliers £9906 0s lid, salary and wages £763 16s 3d, railage and cartage £307 lis lid, coal £159 18s 2d, butter boxes £lsl 9s 2d, trade exponses £329 0s od, rates, taxes, etc., £ll9 14s 2d interest £2Ol 6s 9d, discounts £7l 17s, bad debts £34. Cr— To refund to suppliers £1193 Is lid, depreciation land and buildings £316 2s id, depreciation plant £434 8s Id, sales of butter. £13,179 13s Bd,' buttermilk £.30.

The chairman, in moving tho adoption of the report .and balance-sheet; 6aid that tho chairman of directors, Mr J. C. N. Grigg, was away at present in the Old Country, and he was sony ho was not present to preside at tho meeting, as he (-Mr Grigg) had always taken a very keen interest m the welfare of the company. It gave the speaker great pleasure in being able to place before them such an encouraging report and balance-sheet, more especially considering the unfavourable conditions which prevailed all through last tseason. Tho prospects for tho coming season wore particularly bright. Tho dairying industry was one which gave a largo amount of employment to the working man, and the country which did not provide for tne working man deserved to go to the wall. They had not found consumers for all their output hero, and considering tho high prices ruling it, had been a pleasu-e to send their surplus output to tho Homo market. He was sorry to say that owing to the way in which some of the produce was being handled at Homo it was not reaching the individuals it ought to do. Had a butter factory not been started in Ashburton, tho milk suppliers would not bo getting the good prices for their butter-fat that they were now doing. If (ill tho local suppliers would stick to the Ashburton company, the company would be able to do still better for them than had been tho. case in the past, and if tho company got a good supply of milk they would probably bo able to pay this season Is 8d per lb for batter-fat for tho new cheese factory at Blackbridge, and Is 3d per lb for butter-fat for the butter factory at Ashburton. It therefore behoved tho shareholders and suppliors generally t-o give all tho support they could to the company. The motion was seconded by'Mr W. J. Taylor. Mr R. Cleland asked why the Ashburton Company was not paying as good a price for butter-fat as some other companies were doing. Some of his neighbours in the Asbburtoc Forks

district had been getting as much as 2d and 3d per pound more for their but-ter-fat than the Ashburton Company was paying. Tho chairman replied that tho price paid was made up on the average amount of supply, and the larger the supply the better tho price the company would bo able to pay. After a little discussion tho report and balance-sheet were adopted unanimously. The following were re-elected direc-tors:-Messrs J. C. N. Grigg, G. W. Harrison, W. T. Lill, W. H. Price and D. G. Wright, and Mr A. M'Lauglan and Mr D. Shaw were elected to fill two other vacancies. Mr .T. W. Bowden, A.P.A.NZ., was re-elected auditor. On the motion of Mr G. W. Leadley, seconded by Mr J.. Tucker, it .was decided to vote a sum of twenty-five gunoas to bo divided as a small honorarium amongst the executive on the board of directors. Heartv votes of thanks were passed to the directors for the good work they had done during the past year and to the secretarv and general manager (Mr W. K. Watson) and the remainder of the staff.