NEW ZEALAND TOBACCO AND CIGAK MANUFACTURING COMPANY. First General Meeting. (From the Auckland " Star," May 31.)

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 53, 7 June 1884, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND TOBACCO AND CIGAK MANUFACTURING COMPANY. First General Meeting. (From the Auckland " Star," May 31.)

The first general meeting of the shareholders of the above Company was held yesterday aiternoon, in the office, Beach Road, Mr C. B. Stone, Chairman of Directors, presiding. The following report from the directors was submitted :— " This is, as you probably are aware, the first general meeting of shareholders held in accoi dance with the Companies Act, 1882, under which the Company is incorporated, provided to be held in the month of May. The operations of the Company having but so very recently commenced, the directors have, in consequence, no great a)nount of information to place before the shareholders. Tho factory property has been acquired on terms of lease highly favourable to the Company, and is most suitable in every respect for our requirements. The needful alterations and repairs having been ccmpleted, it is now suitable for the purposes of a tobacco manufactory. All the skilled cigarmakers who are available have been obtained, and are now iully employed under the supervision of your working manager, Mr Vollbracht. Cigars of first-rato quality are being turned out equal (in the opinion of connoisseurs) to the best imported brands ; and shortly, when properly seasoned, will be placed in the market, and will doubtless find a ready sale at remunerative prices. There being no moro skilled workmen to be obtained in Auckland, a number have been engaged in Sydney, and are now on their way hero. We are steadily receiving Now Zealand grown tobacco, nearly all of which is very good quality, and we believe, from the numerous requests from farmers in this and other districts for supplies of seed, and information relative to the beat method*

of the cultivation of the plant, that a very considerable acreage will in the future be devoted to the cultivation of tobacco, for the growth of which this colony appears so eminently suitable, and that at the annual mooting of shareholders of the Company,to i be held in January next, your directors will be in a position to present a very satisfactory report both as to the quantity and quality of raw material supplied, and the salo and returns of the manufactured article. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the whole of the directors will retire, but are all eligible for ro-election. It will be your duty at this meeting to elect an auditor for the ensuing year. — C. B. Stunk, Chairman of Directors, May 29, 1584." The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, said that the Company had begun cigar-making, most of the machinery having now been received. Though cigarmaking was a profitable branch, the directors looked to tobacco-making, plug-making, as tho branch of tho work from which the dividends would corao. They had ordered that portion of tho machinery from America which could not bo made here When this machinery was received and fixed up, the Company would get to workabthis branch in real oju nest. He was proud to say that already Auckland had its sugar refining works, iibre company, iron works, broom and brush factory, boot factories, &c, all of which employed much labour, and he looked upon tho tobacco industry with special pride, firmly believing that before long, with a moderate amount of success, it would be a grand institution, and would become not only a private but a public good. One of his reasons for saying this was because they would find a payable crop lor the farmers to produce, and they gould not enrich the country without enriching the towns. Besides that, they would save thousands of pounds now being annually sent away to America and other countries for tobacco, lie hoped shareholders would assist in promoting the sale of shares. The directors and Mr Vollbracht, manager, took credit to themselves, in tho faco of the tightness of money, for floating 2,500 shares at £5 each, out ot 4,000 shares. The motion was then seconded by Mr P. Comiskky, and unanimously adopted. MrCin.vvKS AicKiN propossd the re-elec-tion of the provisional directors, viz:— Messrs C. JJ. Stone, Seymour (loorge, M.H.R., D. H. Mclven/ie, Fianz Suhoitl, A. Houther, P. Comiskey, and Major Georgo. In doing so, he expressed groat pleasure at the energetic manner in which the Now* Zealand Tobacco Company had been started, and &o far carried on. The credit i'or this was in large measure due to the original promoter of tho concern, and now its active working manager— Mr August Vollbracht. There was no doubt thathewastherightman in the right place. Mr Aickin concluded by expressing the hopo that the systematic culture of hops would soon be started, and that a local woollen manufactory would bo established. Tho motion was seconded by His Worship tho Mayor, and carried. Mr Nutter was appointed auditor, aud on the motion of tho Mayor, votesof thanks were passed to tho Chairman (Mi 1 Stone) for his services, and to the diroctors and manager, Mr Vollbracht, In returning thanks, the Manager said that as he had initiated the industry, he confidently hoped to make it such a succosa that it would soon pay good dividends to the shareholders.