WELLINGTON MEAT COMPANY

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 9

WELLINGTON MEAT COMPANY

THE OUTLOOK DISCUSSED. WELLINGTON, August 25. The annual meeting of the Wellington Meat Export Company was held to-day. The report recommending a half-yearly dividend of 2 per cent., in addition to the interim dividend of 4 per cent, already paid, was adopted. In his address, the Chairman (Mr C. Elgar) said : " Your directors regret that the results of the year's operations are not such as to warant the usual 4 per cent, dividend for the half-year being : paid. The primary cause of 'the nnsuc- " cessful year's w<wk has been tbe" utterly demoralised state of the London' meat „ market, which has been going from bad to worse since the beginning of the year. Although it has been stated that the restricted purchasing power of the people {

at Home has been the cause of the glut, figures do not altogether bear this out) as it has been shown that the consump< tion has been greater than ever, although not so great as the serious drop in price* would have justified us in expecting. The real reason wonld appear to be t& enormous quantity of meat that hat found its way to the market this yeai from all quarters. This .amounts to an excess of two and a-half million -carcases v for the year ending June 30 hist, or twe hnillion carcases in excess for the jirs* six months of this year. The good season m -New Zealand meant an increased output from the Dominion, Ai> gentine and Australia also contributed, •while from Holland no less a quantity, than something like a million and aquarter sheep were shipped to London in a fresh condition, this number being very, largely in excess of what is usually senfc over. The result was that before last season's stocks were cleared off, the London stores were being rapidly filled with the new, till they were soon full to overflowing and have remained so, many, ships being unable " to discharge their, cargoes. The fact of such a large number of sheep being sent from Holland to. London is a striking commentary on the i difficulty that might be experienced irt finding a market on the Continent for our meat, in addition to the prejudice which naturally exists' against it in countries where 4 "a* large proportion of the population obtain their living by farming small areas, and who wonld be up in arras were their Governments to eve» hint at the free admission of frozen meat. The quantity of live stock purchased -byv the company and shipped to London withf such bad results has been to a certain extent reduced by numbers of farmers shipping on their own account, and atf their own risk, and the sympathies o6 shareholders are due to those- who bore their own burdens in this way, and! loyally supported the company. With 1 the London market in its "present glutted! condition, and no hopes , of a clearance before the new season starts, and thero-are-not wanting indications that Australia' will soon be starting to ship lambs mi -increased quantities, and New Zealand* having made preparation aided by ft' favourable winter, for a big output, it seems almost certain, much as it is to be regretted, .that the prices which it will be' possible to offer farmers at the opening of the season will be far below those which they have been accustomed to expect for a good many seasons, past. Th' > one bright feature in the year's operatioH« has been the improved value obtained for wool, aud while other by-products, such as tallow, pelt», etc., have not meJz an advancing market, the prices have been well maintained. The directors can only hope to retrieve the past year's bad business by finding the best markets pos--sible for tbe company's products in the future, and by running the works on the most economical lines, which will be rendered possible by the up-to-date nature of the plant and equipment, though it is to be regret-ted that there does not appear to be much chance ■of 'reduction in charges and expenses for such items as marine insurance, etc.. over which tha company has no control." . -» vSpeaking to the motion for the adoption of the .report, Mr Balcombe Brown expressed the opinion that more business men should be on the directorate. Dr Knight said all the recentf appointees had besn large producers of sheep and cattle. From the veiy nature of their calling they were biassed. The board they wanted was one that would make money tor the shareholders. Mr W. C. Buchanan, one of the original shareholders sod a director, said the company was started as a country settlers' company, and the idea was to Start an owners' account. As time went on, town investors bought into the company. They bought the shares with their eyes open, and if they were now slightly disappointed, he said deliberately that the management of the company was nob to/ blame. The Chairman said because the company had struck a x bad year it was unfair to attack the directorate. For ten years the average dividend had been over 8 per cent. Messrs H. Holmes and G. C. Wheeler, were re-elected directors.