STRATFORD DAIRY COY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 74, 27 July 1915, Page 7

STRATFORD DAIRY COY.

ANNUAL MEETINC. At His Majesty's Theatre yesterday morning there was an attendance of eighty shareholders, the chairman of directors (Mr R. Dingle i presiding. The report and balance-sheet (already published was taken as read, on the motion of Messrs S. J. Rawlos and J. Clemow.

Speaking to the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, the Chairman remarked upon the few shareholders present. Ho said there were 245 cheques made out vvevy month, hut there ,wore less than 50 shareholders present. For this, he was sorry, as it was the duty of shareholders to attend til, annual meetings. It was the only day they had to come and applaud what had been done, or growl when something had not been done during the year. Proceeding, the Chairman said he was always pleased to meet the shareholders tat the aunt I meeting, and he looked forward to seeing thorn. He said he felt rather proud of the position of the Company as disclosed by the balance-sheet before thorn. They had had a splendid season, and th n price was excellent. This was not accomplished by looking at the busi ness, and he assured them that the directors had watched every item care fully, and were to be congratulated on the position coming out so well. They had paid out 1.2(1, and on the '2oth were going to payout another sixteen Ji of a penny. They had thought it wise to get a certain amount of butter in stock, and for this they had realised 15d, which meant about £-100. ■ which belonged to last season's sup plies ,and they felt it their duty to pay out same. There was. besides, a small amount of £l-10 to carry forward. The Chairman pointed out that this year there was a good deal of extra expense to lie met. They had vote£3oo for the Empire Fund, which wa> paid out of butter-fat; extra war risk. ran into £1638 3s 5d ; the water lion cost £IOO, making a total of £1568 3' sd, all of which did not appear in tin balance-sheet previously. It was rathe ii surprise to all to find that they couh pay out 1 kl. Tn a resume of the doings of tlr affairs of the Company during th< year, Mr Dingle referred to the resig nation of their independent tester, M' Ogle, and the appointment in his plac of Mr Grey, who was giving ever-. satisfaction. Then, as the preview manager, Mr Kirkman, had had f motor bike of his own, the director felt that to enable Mr McDonald t get over the ground as quickly and al- - they should provide him with a similar means of transit, and this had been done. There was also the position with regard to the Fltham Box Co. and the Moturoa Freezing Works. The increased output" had necessitated them taking up extra share >• each year. They would remember the accommodation at .Moturoa was Ml up at the time of the strik". Th--directors had decided to spend £4OOO lin increased accommodation, and he believed they would agree that it was a wise course, as they would have to make provision for storing butter and cheese. Then the price of feed and requisites had also gone up, and next year they might be heavier. He did not say these things to frighten them but he. also believed the test and price would go up accordingly. Freight, had cost them £2608, but next year with the price at 6d per box extra, it would cost them £'s2o extra, or perhaps more. During the year the Company had been cited together with two other companies by the Taranaki Painters' Union, but owing to their efforts he was pleased to state that as usual they would be able to emplnv their hands in painting during the n'i season when required. Only for them [none of the companies would have been allowed to do this. As to the butter sales, the Chairman said that the directors considered it would bo a wise (plan to take their own risks in war | time. At the beginning of tho season, things did not look too good, as 10d only was sticking out, but prices went up. It would seem that the idirectors wore either wise l or they knew something. Then, taking the quality of the butter: Even when tho suppliers got a bad lb, they immediately said "rotten stuff!" Customers also expressed their annoyance on every opportunity. With the exception, perhaps, of the time that some suppliers were .sending bad milk at the end of the season, the butter was the very best—it was so good, in fact, that the factory had got second in grade in Taranaki.—(Applause). One small company had beaten them. Of course, a certain amount of praise

was due to the staff, but lie was qxiite satisfied no st..li could make good butter out of some of the milk that was sometimes scut along. As to the reason tor had butter, he wanted the public to know, beeau.se whenever they got a bad lb ho got "rats" from them, and all sorts of horrid things were said about the butter. It was bad milk sometimes, and then, perhaps, a lb was kept too long in a box. It was not the fault of the factory in these eases. There was another thing which lie was very proud of, and that was the winning of a gold medal for their product which they had sent to the Panama Exhibition.—(Applause). He mentioned that for some of the last Hitter which was sold to go to Pallnerstou North, they could not get irec/jng accommodation, and it was sent to the "other side" as general ■argo. That was rather risky, ho adnitted, but it stood the test very veil, and arrived in the best of order. He was not a prophet, and considered it would be very unwise of him to

prophesy what was going to take place—he felt that if one could do .hat, no one would be milking cows! If they could have known what cheese was to bring, they would have been making immense fortunes. Of the stock in hand in March, April, and May, every lb was sold at lid or over. ,VhVn he was offered 13 9-16 d and reused it. he was told he was a fool. V Iter wards he learned that the man vho said that had wanted 1000 boxes ,f butter and did not know where to 4 et it! All this was by the way, but t showed them that the directors had ,aken the proper course. The pros>ects for the coming season were very rood, and he believed butter was going "o keep up. notwithstanding that Margarine could he obtained at the ■atW'ol" lid per lb. The demand for nargarine was increasing, but still mtter was keeping up. which to his nind was a most remarkable thing. Margarine was not bringing the price >f butter down, and there was always , ready sale for their product. One lung he wanted to impress upon them ,a S "that they would have to increase he capital of the Company. They vere working on a basis of 16011) but-ter-fat, but they had to take up exra shares, and no provision was made or it These extra shares were a

aeeessity, and no provision was made ~ meet that liability. There was ;700 last year, for which they were retting six'per cent. He had not discussed the matter with the directors, »t they would have to reduce the mount'from 160Hw to HO or 130. A'hether it would be wise to issue hese to the dry shareholders was hard i say. hut provision would have to >e made, as they had to meet their lability. The Company. a s they knew, iad been assisting them a lot with manures and horse covers, and were loing a great deal of business. Ho reminded them that the time was ■tuning when it would bo very difficult to 'get basic slag, in which connection ,Ih>. Government and the .Hoard] of Agriculture hud been' looking round : rjfej Ata W'hwt:-eo\tld rcpluH? it. He -had ibtained from the South Island a tori ,f manure which was fairly expensive, jeing a shilling off £7 per ton, but ho round it had a wonderful effect upon ids paddock. Mr Dingle referred to i shipment of phosphate manure which ,vas coming from Sufaj Island in the Red Sea, about 300 miles from Suez. He had seen the agent in Wellington for the manure, and learnt that all that :ould be got was' 500 tons, and the igeut was very anxious that the consignment be distributed over as many .arms as possible. The price was £•* l2s (3d f.0.b., on trucks, Wellington. According to the- analyst, the stuff was Oct tor than basic slag. He was going co get three tons for himself, and he advised all the suppliers to order home )i it for next season. The price would ie £5 10s to £5 12s (id delivered i" .Stratford. They must remember that aiey had been'using bas.c .slag for a ~jng Lime, and they wanted a cluwige. Tlie Company was prepared to Lako orders, and did not ask for the money, but would simply charge then) bank interest. Ho knew that there would always bo .somebody ready if the directors went back JJiOOO to remark that they were "not lit to feed pigs!" But chey had a duty to perforin. His opinion was that they should not calculate

a s per cow, but at per acre. If they could not got £1 per acre with their nutter at Is 2d, they were not getting, the best results out of the laud, he was very pleased to see the test going up. it was not up to l-'J, but in itself it was enough for him now to know that it was going up. It was the test and not the quantity of but-ter-fat that counted, which was the real test. As a member of the Board of Agriculture, he had been asked to report to the Board on the state of the farms, and ho was very anxious to get some returns. The Jersey men, especially, had given returns to him without much trouble, but he would like to get them from other breeders. He wanted a good and fair return of I what they got off their land. The 'Chairman said their liabilities and assets were very similar to last year's. Depreciation was about the same, and the Working Account was also about the same, stores tins year Mere down 1 by £4O, cartage and railway by Col, tlie horse account by £ll, fuel by £SO, repairs and renewals up by fl. water down by £7, manager's travelling expense-, up by £B, printing and advertising up by £B, freezing and shipping charges down by £l2l, a lot of stuff did not go through the works but byrail, sundries ami office about the same, cartage and railway and freight 'up by £.'!•"), discounts and exchange ii]) by £42. They bad to remember, of course, that more business was done this year than last. On the other side of the balance-sheet, the sales r were considerably more, to the extent J of £II,OOO. In the Interest Account | there was £B3 1.2 s ].o<.| due from the

Box Co., and they had paid to the hank £7l l's 3d, ■-•-> that thy interest account was in credit £I"J 10s <d. Alto-ether, it was a very good position. Some years ego they had been overdrawn £13,000, but now they were in profit on the same account. In his opinion, it wa s a question whether non-sharehold'ers should not pay a Pentium on the shares. It was done in neighbouring companies. As to manures and covers, which item was £8 6s, the Chairman mentioned that there was a little charge on these. There was also the raising of the manager's salary by H 25. and the secretary's also ov the same amount.-^Applause). A conference had been held with the Midhirst directors, and as a result, they had agreed to raise the wages ol the men by £lO a year, and the creamery managers by ten per cent.- (Applause) I'lus was by way of war bonus lor the next twelve months. They all realised the question of the extra cost ol living in these days, and as the Company had had a very good year, the directors had agreed the men should participate in the good things. Ihe Chairman then moved the adoption ot the report and balance-sheet. The motion was seconded by Mr S. J. Kawles.

The Secretary said that the export charges were as follows. Discount £605 5s 4d, landing etc £539 3s 9d. marine insurance £5Bl Is hi, war risk CIIGB 3s sd, freight £2OOB, commission £lßls 10s 3d. The manager (Mr McDonald) read a report on the water bore at the factory, which was shortly discussed in committee.

The secretary read the cost of running the creameries. They were as follows: Cost per 1000 gallons: Skinner Road lis 2d. Robson Road Ms 3d. Toko 13s lid. Toko Road 15s lid, Gordon Road 13s lOd, Douglas 19s 9d, Makuri 275. Huiakama 17 s 3d. The average cost of marketing in the Old Country was Ms per uwt.

In reply to Mr Rawles as to the casein account, the Chairman said that the amount (£l9 10s .Id) appearing on the balance-sheet was the amount the Company bad paid, representing the difference in the cost bust year and the actual amount(£Bo)of the running this year with the additional plant. To save any trouble with the Wangamii Co the directors had decided to pay the jitem. They had got their experience 'at a very cheap rate, he considered.

' The Secretary, in reply to a question as to what "Unclaimed Final Payments" meant, said the amount £7l Is 3d was the accumulation of years of small amounts which suppliers who had left the district had cot claimed, and the amounts were carried forward from year to year. There was only £1 0s 3d added this year. The fact of the matter was, it was a liability, as it might be claimed sorao day, and they had to show it hi the balance-sheet.

The motion for the adoption of IV report and balance-sheet wa.s then put and carried.

ELECTION OF OFFICE-BEARERS

A hearty vote of thanks was passed to the' directors on the motion iif Mr Rawles.

On the motion of Messrs Fincham am] Pattison, the retiring director (Messrs Milne. Were and Bowling') were re-elected. The usual honorarium (£o0) was voted to the chairman.

It was resolved to in.vo.ise the directors' payments from 7s fkl and mileage to 12s (id per mooting and mileage.

The opening day for the season wa ixed for Monday next.