INGLEWOOD BACON COMPANY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 247, 12 October 1908, Page 4

INGLEWOOD BACON COMPANY

ANiM'AL MEEXLM;. The annual meeting of shareholder in the luglewood Co-operative Dui.o.l- - Company was held at inglewood on Saturday. 1 hurt* was a fair attendance, ami .\lr. Arthur Morton, chairman of director;), presided. The directors' report (as previously published) and the balance-sheet were presented, in moving their adoption, the chairman the position of ali'airs was not as satisfactory as in the previous year, but in that respect they : were quite in common with all other j companies whose working depended I upon the milk-supply. The result of tlu» I drought was uiore serious in the baeou industry than in dairying, fur whereas it liad caused a shrinkage only in the quantity of milk supplied to the dairy factories, it hud also caused a shrinkage in the numbers and particularly in the size of the pig?. It was impossible tu handle small pigs 'profitably unless th-iv were pureliased at a very low price. It was a fact that there was more lov from shrinkage in curing a pig of fron 1101b to 1301 h weight .than in the cast of one from 13011) to 1451b. and in thpast season most oi iiie pigs were o the former description. It \wis not the fault of the supp.iers, the dearth oi i milk compelling tnem to send in tlmr pigs as soon as they had reached the minimum weight instead of holding them a little longer and putting more

weight on to them as in an ordinaiy beacon. He trusted that the suppliers would not be met with a similar ev perience this y ear, and certainly i!ie present inuicanons were noi poiuuug in tliai -direction. During the year tile directors had tried to cope Willi tlie very serious trouuie oi siirinKagc. .Mr. Alorton pointeu out UiaL tue demand ior hams was mainly ironi August oi

September till Cnristuias, tor tlie Uinstmas trade. Thus, tae buiK oi -tile ban? | cured between' Cnnstinas and tlie following August, representing a very considerable portion oi tne company a manulacture, had to be siored tor several months awaiting demand and delivery. In tlie past tlie custom had been to cure the poiK as soon as it was iceeived, and men to uand tae cured product in the store-rooms, where it slirank considerably. -Now tae company hail » complete refrigerating plant, and Hie idea was to Ireeze tne pork and then thaw and cure it in time lor the Christmas trade, thus saving shrinkage. Trials had proved most satisfactory, tue shrinkage being small and tlie quality not allceted by tlie process. The company liad now its digester plant in lull working order, ag piomiseu at last annual meeting, and the manufacture oi bones and olfal into an excellent feitilising manure had proved most proiitable. He had an idea that it \vuuld be profitable to aet up a crusher capable of dealing with all the bones they .could purchase, and-thus, by tue niauuiaetu'o and sale of manure, add to the uses and profits of the company. Jlr. Alorton referred to the increase in the working expenses, pointing out that they hau not grown in proportion io the number of pigs handled, and drew from this lit obvious inference that the shareholders would be consulting their own interests by supplying as many pigs as possible. He mentioned that tlie shareholding suppliers had received for their pigs £3]2 18s over and above the market price. it was the intention of the directors to extend the company s operations iby opening a receiving-sta-tion beyond Eltham, and they had leason to believe good support would be forthcoming. _ In answer to -Mr. Marsh, the chairman said the item "addition*, .tUBO Hi' oil,' included the digester and freezing plant. . In answer to Mr. J. Brown, the ope. 'cent, depreciation was considered suilicient, in view of the fact that the buildings and machinery were ill excellent hands and that the whoie cost ot replace parts and repairs was charged to • repairs and renewals.'' The item "exchange and discounts' was a big one as compared with dairying concerns , fr.ures. but the produce of a bacon factory- had to be -sold differently, and tlie business was subject to the usual trade usages of discounts, and s o oil. The "exchange" was mostly on the returns of their Xew Plymouth and Auckland agents. Mr. D. Todd suggested that as the profits were out of the big pigs there should be. smite sort of encouragement for'the man who brought tlieni. .Mr. Lambert thought the company might atop accepting the little pigs, but the chairman replied that they were not the only buyers in the market, and could not do as they liked. There we.e competitors who, having export aul other branches of the pork trade, would buy pigs even 601b ill weight. To Mr. Herlihy, the. chairman said ho recognised it would not be policy to open receiving-yal'ds at Eltham, whele there was already a. co-operative bacon

company. To Mr. Stevens: The proceeds of sales of manure had gone into the "pork ac-

count." , To a shareholder: The directors would consider the suggestion to small pigs to suppliers fur "topping off.'' To Mr. J. Brown: The company could not export pork without an export I*ceusc, which entailed killing under Government inspection, with its attendant expenses of about .£7 a month. He be-liev-ji. the lime was coming when the Government would insist on all bacon factories killing under Government inspection. Then this company would I e 011 a level with its competitors an 1 could cure, export, or sell frozen pork. The balance-sheet was adopted unanlmously. Upon the motion of Messrs. G. Marsii and Paulger, the number of directors was reduced from nine to seven. In a discussion upon this matter, Jlr. Chard saw no reason for the change. He advocated a policy of "leave well alone." The business liad been well managed.—Mr. Todd pointed t<? the fact that the company with its nine directors had survived the bad times a til brought the business to paying-point, j "A director here and there was a splendid thing to have" when they were re-, ceiving pigs from such a large area. Mr. Chard was beginning his economy at the wrong end of the business.—Mr. 11. King thought a big directorate unnecessary, as the success of a concern depended mostly upon a good chairman and a good manager. —Mr. Horne advocated electing the directors from as wide a district as possible.—in answer to questions, the chairman said there were 352 shareholdei's in the concern. If the motion were carried the whole of the directors would resign and allow the shareholders to start oil "with a clean sheet."—The motion was carried on a show of hand* iby 27 votes to 12, a-.il ujion a poll being taken the vote wis confirmed by 32 votes to 14.

Eleven nominations were received lor the seven seats 011 the directorate, the election resulting as follows:—Messi's. A. Morton 41, .1. Hall 40, A. Chard ■>», D. Todd 30, C. E. Dobson 30, 11. jl. Yeates 28, J. Davidson 20 (elected), J. Brown 25, W. llnrkness 10, 11. Steven--14. J. Horne 11. The seven elected candidates were directors last year.

Upon the suggestion of Mr. Capp■ *r, the chairman undertook to bring before the directorate a proposal to pay suppliers of pit's at the time of delivery. Iu clo-ing the meeting. Mr. Morton sought to inipre.-,>. upon the shareholder-, the disadvantages 10 depending upon th" 1 auction yards f(>x supplies .it young pigs. Whilst he felt, somewhat'diffident ; r. advancing his views to farmers ot inii. e longer experience than him-elf. lie poiu; ed out that he found it most satisfa torv to breed pigs himself. He had found there was not very great expense in keeping a breeding-pen. a few acres of barley supplying winter feed iu a cheaper and handier and more convenient form than the turnips usually

grown. The customary compliments couclmM the meeting.