TOBACCO MERGER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 900, 18 February 1930, Page 10

TOBACCO MERGER

NEW ZEALAND Fsfct COMBINE CO OPERATIVE CONCERN For the purpose of co-operative keting, the protection of , r throughout the Dominion, aEd *** installation of an up-to-date conditioning machine, all the v Zealand tobacco companies hav,- !* eided to combine under the titl " the New Zealand Tobacco Cm,* * Federation, Ltd. Growing and ** administration of the various ’ panics will, however, continue present. This was decided on Thursday mg at a meeting of of the Auckland district tobacco pa mes. cc c °ttThe companies involved a-e- _v Zealand Tobacco Company Ltr » bacco Growers’ (N.Z.), Ltd • Tobacco Corporation. Ltd ’t,k P ' Producers’ Trust, Ltd.. Pactdo bacco Company, Ltd. Tobacco Company, Ltd ' j'y'rt Tobacco Company, Ltd \ n company, the Tauranga Citrus .5 Tobacco Company, Ltd., is exLJS to join up within a few days work of organising the new Com*, is in the hands of Wills and bE' solicitors, Auckland. ISSOI

Growers in the Nelson. }j awv Bay and Marlborough districts not affiliate directly with the company, but will form local tions which will link up. ! The company has as its objects protection of growers genersi,! throughout the Dominion, the advar tages of co-operative marketing J lastly, the purchase and instalistw of a Philadelphia Proctor machine costing about £5,000, for the coitA conditioning of tobacco. Everythtar is expected to be ready for next Pet ruary, when the tobacco crop is ~ hand, and the new company has iteyes on some land that will enable it to spread Its operations. The Proctor machine is an essentia’ factor in the tobacco industry. Shook the leaf contain more or less than 12 per cent, of moisture it eiti er crumbles away or becomes mouldy The object of (he machine, which tie new company is buying, is tc put tie correct 12 per cent, of moisture int» tile .obacco by the aid of steamjete thus complying with the Governmer regulations in connection with the “weed.” The company is purely a co-opera tive concern, and is not out for large profits. It will draw its revenue from a levy on all tobacco passing through its hands, and will take a commission on all tobacco solj through its co-operative scheme Neither individual growers nor the companies concerned are compelled » U3e the marketing scheme, but are free to sell through other channels 8 they so desire. The tobacco will be graded by the growers and re-graded by Government graders at the premises of the proposed new plant before being pot through the Proctor machine, prepara tory to marketing, and tljn standard of New Zealand tobacco wiill thus be kept up. The directorate of the New Zealand Tobacco Growers’ Federation, Ltd., b limited to not more than eight, con prising one representative from each tobacco-growing company. Share; will be held by shareholders in proportion to the number of acres the.* have under tobacco cultivation. The objects outlined are not final, decided, but are considered essential and it is expected that other pro gressives moves will be inaugurated to place New Zealand on the tobaccn map.