NGAERE CO-OPERATIVE DAIRY CO.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 22, 18 September 1912, Page 5

NGAERE CO-OPERATIVE DAIRY CO.

AN'. I!AL meetl g. The annual meeting of the shareholders of the Ngaere Co-operative Dairy Company was held yesterday afternoon. Mr. W. Morison (chairman of directors) occupied the chair. I lie report and balance-sheet were, on the motion of Mr. B. Fryday, taken as read, and the following discussion ensued.

On Open Consignment. Mr. J. Thomas said he understood that the directors had this year decided to sell on open consignment, whereas in the past they had always consigned on guarantee ■ without recourse. . The Chairman said this was so, although they had in the past on one occasion sold on open consignment. The company had to pay a half per cent more commission under the system which they had adopted in former rears, and this had cost thorn thous'fndfe of pounds in the course of the six years. Mr. .Morison stated tuat the company was really taking very little risk iii dealing with the same reliable firm with which they had dealt in tho past. . Mr Y Coleman spoke m favour ol the action of the directors, remark; ing that the half per cent, addition*. cost the company £l5O a year. Mr. Thomas, however, claimed that it "was better business to keep to the old svstem. Mr. Taylor held that tins was not so He quoted Mr. Ellison to the effect tiiat if the selling company accepted a system of advances without recourse then the buyers were liable to sell as soon as they could obtain a 'li'dit margin, over their advances. Mi" W. G. Harkness had condemned the advances without recourse straight out, and said it was a rotten system.

"Disappointed!" Mr. Jones said that lie was awfully disappointed in,the price-they got for' their cheese. (Laughter.) "i was talking," he said, "to my friend Mr. Tho-mas,-and J. told him that J. would Like to knife the man who had said we do not earn every penny we got, even up to Is (3d." (Laughter). If they got Mis, the price should work out at an average of is -Id. Why did fcnoy not get tnat price? If they looked at the oalance-sheet thoy wouid see Lli.u their expenses were low. That was as it should lie, because they were right alongside the railway line. All tueir expenses wero very UttleC ■'the Chairman: They ought to he! Mr. .Jones continued that ho saw no reason wiiy Ngaero should not pay out not only the highest price for che cheese factories.in l'aranaki, but one Highest price for the cheese factories of the Dominion. Since their cheese was first grade, and 'the expenses so low, why did they not got the topnotch price?. The Chairman: There's the whey butter, and some have got U\ out of that, ■

Mr. Jones went on to say that Lowgarth had .sold their output and got nearly as much as Ngaero had done. The question arose as to_ moisture, and , Mr. Taylor interjected that he flatly cjontradieted -the statement that cither Lowgarth 6r Cardiff put anymore'moisture in their cheese than did Ngaero. Mr. Jones concluded with the nii'mirk (that he did not think the compLry.'wns doing the best for, i .self in continuing to consign thrdugh the present firm.

Lowgarth v. Ngaero. Mr. Thomas said he had been paying some attention to balance-shoots an/1 had jS/PPh that, one company had paid out as much as 10 1-lUd per lb for fat. Ngaero, however, had not done-JUp well as that. When he was CWin of directors he had been up against the fact iliat Lowgarth was h'ojpng.them hands' down, but lie had sucebVs'tully applied himself to the problem and had srilvod it. Mr. Coleman rejoined that the Lowgarth Company had paid out on a *J.f'3 test, and sold on open consignment, which was what Mr. Thomas had been condemning. Mr. Thomas contended that Hie test was of little moment, and he would not advocate following any unfair test.

Mr. Coleman remarked that from the time Ngaere gave up butter-fat it caught upon Lowgarth. The principal difference between ■ Lowgarth and Ngaere last year was that Lowgarth made 2.74 lbs of cheese from lib of butter-fat. and _ Ngaere 2.65 lbs of cheese from a similar amount of but-ter-fat. He was aware that the Lowgarth people started the season with the intention of putting into their cheese the maximum of moisture

Mr. Thomas: Water is fairly cheap in this country, and it's worth while to put it into choose and sell it. (Laughter.)

A Comparison. The secretary read an interesting comparison between Ngaere and eight other factories in Taranaki, and the Wairarapa, as follows: The Eight. Ngaero. Average test ... 3.8 .'1.89 Cheese to fat ... 2M 2.6,1 Average pay out .* l'ifd .15$d Average cost of manufacture, wages, requisites, and repairs .'.. 1.339 1.287 Average price, i'.o.b. for ch'eese New Plymouth ... 3.23 d G.52d Election cf Officers. The retiring directors—Messrs. H. C. Taylor and 11. Orr —wore the only gentlemen nominated, and were declared duly re-elected. Both Mr. Orr and Mr. Taylor briefly returnee! thanks. Mr. .1. 11. Thomas was re-elected as auditor. New Buildings. The question of the erection of new buildings was brought up by the Chairman, who said it would bo necessary to put up new buildings for the separation of whey butter. The point arose whether or not it would bo advisable to replace the present factory, sime portions of which were getting old.

Mr. Thomas: I object. This subject comes to us a surprise.

In answer to a quest ion the (Thairman said that ohout £ISOO would provide a building; and machinery for whey buttor making, a new factory in concrete would cost approximately £3BOO. It was not absolutely necessary to re-erect the factory, but it \\n? advisable; the awkward part of the business was that they wanted the new factory on the site of the nresetit one. Mr. Thomas made the suggestion tint a concrete building could be erected around and over the old "no. Mr. Taylor stated that tf»»ir late manager had said that in his (the manager's) opinion ( lu> company was losing as much as GGOO a venr, hoonua* of rot erecting an up-to-date curing roe*".

Mr. J. M. Falconei-, the manager of the factorv. said that apart from losses by shrinkage, the flavour suffered. Cheese cured in a cool euring room "-as holier than that cured in -i room like lli.it which ihoy were using, with a temperature running ui> in lite summer : :, ". n 'e ?S decree? F. It was 1111-

possible to turn out the fines;, cheese with the present curing room. To properly insulate the present curing room would cost as much as a new one. A cool curing room insured a moist cheese, a better flavour, and a less

shrinkage. On the motion of -Mi'. Fryday it was decided to hold over further daeussion of the matter until three mourns' time, whet) a meeting will be called for the purpose of considering tne question. Votes ef Thanks. In addition to voting the directors and their Chairman tho usual Honorarium, it was decided to pass a hearty vote of thanks to these geutlon en. and also a vote of thanks to the stall for their loyal and other service,. ISerd Teslins. The matter of herd testing was brought up, and Mr. Thomas said that the testing should certainly be carried on. Let those who were not enterprising enough to go in for testing pay the cost of the work, of which tne enterprising man was reaping the benefit. It would certainly be an inducement for him (the speaker) to go m for testing. During the last ten years-, he had improved his herd by nearer 100 than 50 per cent., and had done this without touching pedigree stock. [:r this connection he thought the Trade cattle had many claims in their favour as against the pedigree animal. Ho certainly was in favour of going ahead and keeping ahead, and movec. that the testing bo continued as usual. Mr. W. Taylor seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.