INGLEWOOD BACON CO.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 125, 14 October 1912, Page 7

INGLEWOOD BACON CO.

ANNUAL MEETING. Very little interest was taken by shareholders in the annual meeting of the Inglewood Bacon Company which was held at t'he Parish Hall, Inglewood, on Saturday, as out of a total of 511 shareholders fewer than forty put in an appearance.

Mr, Arthur Morton, Chairman of directors, presided, and in presenting the report, which has already been pub lished in the Daily News, drew the at tention of those present to a paragraph in last year's report, which referred to the outlook for pigs being very promising. The directors, he said, did not pretend to be prophets', but when they put that paragraph before shareholders, they fully believed it, not only from the indications at the time, but their experience in the bacon industry, and they, at the same time, did their best to urge ' upon their shareholders the necessity of producing pigs to take, advantage of' the high prices. Results had proved, he said, that their prophecy had been fulfilled! I rices had been obtained such as they had never had before, and he questioned if they Avould ever see again. He regretted, however, that the fullest advantage of these high prices had notbeen taken. One reason, perhaps, was the extremely unsatisfactory pad Lion of the -bacon-curing industry, not from the curing point of view, but in the way the business end of the work was carried out. It would he -better if -a regular figure was maintained from the beginning to the end of the season, instead of .prices going up and down as at present. This could be done, if some systematic -method was adopted by bacon companies in unison. But at present, if one company was short of stock they at once bumped Up the price, got quickly crammed with pigs, and then down came the price. This was a very unsatisfactory system to the farmers, and his directors believed it should be possible to run on lines which wouM make the industry more stable than it was to-day. They endeavoured to avoid so much fluctuation of prices, and aimed to run more on the lines, of co-operative dairy factories, i.e., at the end of the year pay out the balance by bonus or otherwise. This would avoid extreme fluctuations. As an instance, he pointed out that when some of the companies raised the price to (id their directors -declined to give more than 5%d and next day the price came down again, proving that 6d' was not warranted. Again, in April, when -the price came down to 4il, their directors thought the reduction was not justified and continued to pay sd, which price had continued until the last few weeks, and but for the businesslike methods existing in the industry, might have l>een still paid. Reverting to the balance-sheet he remarked that a considerable sum had been spent during the year in improvements to the factory and water-power. 1 This was the first amount spent on the < water-power since the factory was builf thirteen years ago. The increased' pow-et - was necessary and should show a dimunition in the expenses. The alterations to the factory were of a permanent nature, having been carried out in concrete. In bacon-curing, as in dairying, it was necessary to keep up-to-date, and if they found that progress of the baconcuring industry necessitated the spending of money to bring them up-to-date the directors always considered the matter. During the yea-r they had spent £230 to £240 in this, way, and were now in as good a position as any of their rivals to turn out an up-to-date article. There had been, he continued, a substantial increase in the capital. The, shares had increased by 783 and now totalled 7833 hold by 511 shareholders, of whom 55 had come in during the year, either -by transfer or by taking up original shares-. The unpaid capital had risen from £3329 to £3(505, but when they considered the extra share capital taken up, this was not unsatisfactory. In conclusion, he said that the position of the company was much skonaer than ever before. The profit and "loss and trading account showed that almost every item oil :tlve expenditure side, except wage's, had been substantially reduced. Although the number of' pigs handled was only 15 less than the previous year, viz., 438!) as against 4404. This showed that the factory hud been run,upon most economical and efficient ■lines.

So far as the future was concerned, Mr- Morton was- doubtful if they would see the same high range of prices as last year. In fact, he did not consider'such in the best interests of the industry. It would be far better to receive a steady price remunerative both to the -producer and the owner. He was.satisfied, •however, that they would receive a ii'emunerative price, as the outlook was as good as it was twelve months ago, and if the company .received the same measure of support as last year, they would have a successful Tear.

1-Ie then formally moved the adoption of -the report and balance-sheet. This ..was seconded by Mr. Davidson. Very little discussion ensued, the report and balance-sheet being unanimously adopted.

ELECTION OF DTIiECTOfe. On the motion of Messrs. Shocmark and Houlahan, the retiring directors, Messrs. J. Brown and J.. Hall, were reelected unopposed. Mr. M. Ilopson was also - reappointed auditor at a fee of £S Ss. CONDEMNED PICS.

The Chairman brought up the question of dealing with -condemned pigs. It had, .he said, for a considerable number of years, been the practice of the company to take the -whole risk of condemned pigs. Recently, however, some of the bacon companies operating here had notified that they would only purchase pigs subject to inspection, and that the supplier would receive compensation for any condemned from the Agricultural Department. Personally, he, did not care to adopt that system, but it was necessary to do something, and, as the principle of cooperation was to help each other, he thought a much better method would be to establish a fund to which every shareholder should contribute, and that should be held as an insurance fund. Their loss, he said, was

comparatively slight; last year 30 pigs had been condemned —less than I per cent. This miglit be set down at from £l2O to £l5O. That was home by the company as a whole. Tie suggested that one shilling should be deducted for every pig delivered, and paid into an insurance fund, as it were. At the -end of the year it could be seen how much had been absorbed, less the amount received from the Government. 2d per lb. . Any balance miglit then he paid back in the form of a rebate or carried forward. This scheme, he considered, much better than throwing the responsibility on the individual supplier. In fact, he pointed out that a very efficient system of marking would have to be gone in for so as to identify the condemned pigs, and make it beyond doubt that the .right owner was charged with it. He added that the -same systerft-was tn vogue at the New Plymouth abattoirs, only that there the.owner paid one. shilling and th;e butcher one shilling also. Sir. Todd as'k-ed why a district that I was clear of disease should have to suffer for the bad districts. Mr. Morton said that their district | was fairly immune -throughout. They would still retain the right. however, as

now, to receive subject to inspection if necessary. On the motion of Messrs. Hall and Davidson, it was resolved that the meeting approve of the suggestion, VOTES OF THANKS. A hearty vote of thanks was, on the motion of Messrs. Todd l and Burkittj accorded the manager and staff.

| Mr. J. Brown, in returning thanks for his re-election, urged shareholders to he loyal to their factory. When outside buyers gave a shade more there was always a tendency to rusih away and leave tilieir own factory standing. This was penny wise and pound foolish, because the manager had to keep a big staff to cope with the big supply, and if one week the supply did not come in the men had nothing to do. and could not be discharged because the following week there migfht be a rush. If they supplied their own factory throughout the veur they would be in pocket. Mr. A. Morton was re-elcctcd Chairman of Directors. j