PARAPARAUMU CO-OPERATIVE CHEESE FACTORY.

Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 17 September 1919, Page 3

PARAPARAUMU CO-OPERA-TIVE CHEESE FACTORY.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. There 'was a good attendance of j shareholders at the annual general meeting of the above, held at Wise s } Hall Paraparaumu, on Friday last, jut j L I Howell, chairman of directors, oc- _ cupicd the chair, and Mr Marley, secrc- | tary of the Wellington Dairy Farmers j Association, was also present. The Chairman reported that the d.ree- } tors had decided against the rccommen- ] Sation of the last annual meeting ot { shareholders to have a tank fitted up for the purpose of carting away the surplus whey, and decided that each ( supplier must take away his own pro- f portion. This has been satisfactorily carried out during the season. A further recommendation that facilities be provided outside the factory for suppliers to secure hot water had not been carried out, but was shortly, to be attended to. The secretary reported that tuo balance-sheet was not yet out ot the hand- of the auditors, so could not be presented, but a statement of sales and ' expenses was presented. Sales of cheese < 'and cream totalled over £7OOO, an ad- - vanco of over £IOOO on the previous vear, despite the fact that the influenza epidemic had hindered operations during tho year. An unexpected item on the expenditure side was an amount of £159 income tax, which the Government had levied on the Association for the year 1917-IS, and it was reported that a further amount would be payable on 3 Inst year' ■ operations. This item ( caused a good deal of discussion, and it f was felt that it was a wholly unfair i tax on the concern. The balance due 1 to suppliers shown on the balance-sheet 1 of the 1917-1 S season was just over 1 .£OOO, and it was on this amount that c the tax of £159 was levied. As the As- : .ociation is a co-operative one this bal- 1 ance duo to supplies was really'for pur- c chase of milk supplied and not a profit |] in the true sense of the term. f r - The working statement was received, i and the balance-sheet will be presented t to a meeting to be held at a latter date. ] The retiring directors were Messrs G. l Hillas, W. Maffey and S. Attcnborrow, < none of whom sought re-election. ] Messrs S. Cummins, P. Beckett, J. H. '. Baucke and J. P. Fortune were nomi- 1 natcd for the vacancies, and the first ] three were elected. [ Mr L. I- Howell resigned his appointment as director on the Wellington ( Pairv Farmers' Association, but on the '. motion of Messrs Attcnborrow and < Foalc was re-elected to the position. ; Opinions were expressed signifying , that Mr Howell was the right man for i the job. Several farmers expressed dissatisfac- ; tion with the City Council Milk Com- , mittee in reducing the price to Is per , gallon for the early days of September after giving the suppliers to understand that the price would be the same as in Au-ust if Paraparaumu suppliers would continue to send to town for a fortnight of September. On the motion of Messrs Potts and j Maffey it was decided that it be a re- I commendation'to the Dairy Association to ask for not less than 2d per gallonnet at Wellington over factory, prices for milk supplied to town in the autumn months. Another recommendation to the directors of the Wellington Association was "that the City Council Milk Depot be asked' to - supply, monthly a" detailed record of. each day's supply. ' [ This recommendation ;was-hearfily supported as Keii'g a means to check the "discrepancies which' at presehfare -con-. . tinually occurring between the farmers . record and the City Council's figures. Several questions relating to the working of' the factory and' also the 5 status of the Paraparaumu branch as J > relating to the Wellington D.F.A. were | 5 asked by various members and satiss factorily answered: by the chairman. * \ Mr L. I. Howell referred to'the pross pects for the present season, and stated 2 that in all probability- at the flush of '- the season it would not be possible to ! ? make all the milk "into cheise'with the V present plant, and estimated'that im--0 provements and additions to the value v of at least £IOOO would need to be made 1 to the factory, which was evennow too - small for'this rapidly growing district. I There will be somewhere near 200 addigitional cows milked in the district this

year. . . A vote of thanks to the rctiriag directors closed j&e meeting, .