FREEZING WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 90, 2 September 1912, Page 8

FREEZING WORKS.

ANNUAL MEETING. a C( About twenty shareholders were present at the annual meeting of the Tara- n naki Producers' Freezing Works Co., Ltd., .which was held in the Town Hall h on Saturday afternoon. Mr. A. Morton, 1 ( chairman of directors, presided. i r ' I NTH EASED CHEESE PRO DUCT lON. \ e In moving the adoption of the: report tand balance-sheet, a precis of which has already appeared in this paper, the. w chairman commented on the very satis- 1 factory nature of the operations of the 11 past year. There had, he said, been a decrease in the quantity of butter put through the works, but a more than cor- u responding increase in the quantity of I cheese bad been handled. Had it not 1 been for the fact that the spring ex- c pcrienced last year was a very bad one c there would have been a substantial in- ' crease in butter as well. The autumn fortunately was very much better than c the spring, and enabled the companyj very largely to make up the deficiency 1 I and owing to the very large stacks of I butter stored during the autumn fori* winter sales the amount received on ac- j' count of storage was heavier than for some time past. To his mind the increase in cheese was going to be very much more marked in the future than in the past. This year the company ' was going to feel the effect of two or .' three of its large shareholding factories ! going over to cheese. Unless there was ! a big natural increase in the quantity of butter manufactured the butter handled this year must necessarily show a decrease, but he did not think any increase would be sufficient to make up for the decrease occasioned by some of the companies going in for cheese. In consequence. the company would have to consider the question whether or not the charges on cheese, and, perhaps butter, should not be increased to make up some of the loss of revenue occasioned by the dropping of butter in favor of cheese. However, that was a matter for the future and not for the present. Mr. Morton then went on to say that the revenue received on account of freezing last year compared with that of the prelast year, compared with the previous year, showed a slight decrease, viz., £7OO. Against this, 'however, the company had received an increase of £l5O on account of charges for cool storage. As a matter of fact, at the end of June there were between 7000 and SOCK) boxes of butter in store, as against only 350 boxes the previous year. Owing to the very little hot and dry weather experienced, last summer was not a very profitable one for ice-'making, the receipts from this source being consequently less than the previous yeaj\ Ice was largely required for town consumption. During the year £3864 was expended on additions to the works, and there had been a considerable increase in the company's overdraft. Acting on the resolution of the last meeting of shareholders, the directors had taken steps to call in some of the unpaid share capital. Except in the case of one shareholder the whole of the share capital asked for had been paid up. It wa9 most gratifying to note the way in which, the shareholders had responded, thus showing that they had every confidence in the future of the company. No doubt the same course of calling up the unpaid share capital would be continued m the future, with the result that in a short time there would be no share capital ' owing. Besides the additions to the buildings a sum of £250 had been expended in payment to the Railway Department for the construction of a railway siding. There had, continued the chairman, been a slight increase in the cost of running the works. Wages were somewhat higher than the previous year, and the coal and ammonia bills, were higher, as owing to the very large amount of butter in stock the machinery had had to be kept running for a much longer time than usual. A contributing factor was the unsatisfactory quality of the ammonia supplied, but steps were being taken to remedy this matter. PROSPECTS OF THE PORT. With regard to the future, Mr. Morton said that it seemed to him that unless there was going to be a very big increase in production the company was not going to progress very much further, that was, unless, the improvements which were now being made to the port of New Plymouth were going to be of such a nature as to ensure having direct ship- 1 ments from Moturoa in a short time. Personally, he had great faith in the port, and he believed that within a comparatively short time New Plymouth would be able to have direct shipments. When that came to pass, quite possibly the company's works would be found to be on the small side, and it might therefore be necessary to make provision for the much larger quantity of produce tkftt would be sent away through the port. 11c believed that the improvements ' being carried out by the Harbor Board were so substantial and of such a thorough nature that within a short time direct steamers would be calling at the port. 11l his belief the whole nf the pro- > duce of Taranaki would then be concentrated at the port of New Plymouth. Concluding, the chairman paid a high tribute to the services of the late Mr. Swadling as a director to the company, a»d said that he had little doubt that his successor (Mr. Hollard, of Kaponga) would worthilv fill his place. THE DISCUSSION. The motion to adopt the report and balance-sheet, was seconded by Mr. Hollard. and a short discussion ensued. Mr. Richards asked why the resolution of last year directing the profits to be paid out as interest had not been effect to?—ln reply Mr. Morton stated that as was usual the profits had not < yet been paid out, and so the directors had not had the opportunity of giving effect to the resolution. The cha rman spoke in high praise of the services of the manager, Mr. D. K. Morrison. The company had every reason to he satisfied with his work. He had succeeded in running the works very) economically, and his economies had, at trie same time, been consistent with good i results. I Mr. .Tones raised the question as top whether the amount (5 per cent.) charged to depreciation was sufficient— The chairman replied that it was ample,i seeing that many renewals were charged 1 to wear and tear, not to the capital ac- ; count. The machinery was in lirst-class I' order, being as good as new. lie also reminded shareholders that the full's value of the land held by the company 11 was not nearly set down in the assets. 1

It was written in as being £370 10s, the price originally paid for ii. It comprised five acres of freehold, ;.u<l to-dav if any one wished to buy a similar area at Moturoa he doubted whether they could get it for £4OOO.

The motion was then carried unani- 1 mously. On the motion of Mr. Jones, seconded by Mr. Adlam, the retiring directors (Messrs. A. Brow and R. Dingle) were re-eleeted. Mr. C. S. Rennell wag reelected auditor at the same remuneration as last year. Mr. Morton and his fellow directors were heartily thanked for their services. The chairman was voted the usual remuneration. BRIGHT PROSPECTS. Returning thanks, Mr. Morton touched upon the bright prospects of the company, whose future was largely bound up in the future of the harbor. So long as the Harbor Board continued to work on the same lines as at present and made the same satisfactory progress, it was going to bring prosperity to the i company and to the district. I A hearty vote of thanks was accorded I the manager, secretary (Mr. J. S. McKellar), and the staff, who, according | to the chairman, had at all times carried out their duties in a most satisfactory manner. Mr. Morrison returned thanks on behalf of himself and the staff. In acknowledging the chairman's remarks on the progress of the port, Mr J. B. C-onnctt (who is chairman of th. Harbor Board) said that the Board was determined to make provision for the largest of steamers. As an instance of the progress that was being made, he said that the week before last 11,000 tons of spoil were dredged, and the folI lowing week 8400 tons.