OAKURA DAIRY COMPANY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 132, 22 October 1912, Page 6

OAKURA DAIRY COMPANY.

ANNUAL MEETING. There was an attendance- of about forty suppliers at the flftcenth Annual' meeting of the Oakura Dairy Company which was held in the Oakura' Public Hall yesterday. j ~ j Air. G. A. Adlam, chairman tors presided, and in presenting :the annual report and balance-sheet, wtiich has already been published, congratulated the shareholders on the' increased quantity of milk supplied, viz., 4'4,0301b. The bad spring experienced last -season- was of unusual severity in the whole of the Dominion, so that all dairy factories were largely affected, and sp latei as December the prospects of a good ' supply, were anything but promising. -.Fdrtu--nately, however, the autuhm was good;' | and at the end of the' season the out- | put showed an increase, Jnstep.'d of a deI crease. He went very fully irito the .prosperous condition of the Taranaki Freez.ing Company and Egmont Box Company," In both of which the Oakura Dairy Qonrpany's shares are fully ■ paiS' up, on' lines similar to those already reported. Turning to the balance-sheet, he remarked that all accounts,, with''tihe .exception of the working compared very favorably .with previous years, and he thought (Sailed for very little comment. The amount written-off- . for depreciation showed, an increase of nearly £B4, as ( the director's th'aufekt it j advisable to increase the allowance for .depreciation this year,. and "might still I further inerease it next year, iif the position warranted their doing so.! The eapital account showed that the (whole ' of the authorised capital had beeil subscribed, only £176 2s 2d being owing ' in calls, and unless the capital was further increased and more shares taken up, tkere would be .a very small decrease in the bank overdraft from that source, and consequently it must be done through the depreciation account. There was an increase of about £l2 in the cost of boxes, salt, parchment, etc., accounted for by the increase in the'price of boxes and cost of material u"sed"iii manufacturing the increased quantity of butter. Fuel showed a very big increase, the figures being £289, as against ' £l7l, working out at over l-3d per lb on.-the butter-fat. Allowing for a mistake in the previous stock, this showed an increase of £lO7. To a certain extent jmteurising all the cream had required more steam, whilst the old boiler, which was practically worn out, wa3 very extravagant, and was replaced by one which should be more economical. Owing to the absence of water power, this eould not be installed till the winter. He went at length into the position of the turbine, which had not proved a success, as it required more water than they had available. The pipe line has been improved, and they hope to obtain a suitable turbine from America shortly. The prospects for next season, he continued, were very satisfactory, both as regards probable output and prices, and there was every indication that prices would be just as good, if not better, than last year. The buyers agreed with them that consignments would realise somewhere in the nature of 12y«d per lb, but were not prepared to pay anything like that and take the risk of the market. The best offers were Is, but they afterwards sold half their output, about forty tons, to Messrs. Collet, Whitfield & Co. at 12y l d f.o.b. octan steamer, and had agreed to ship the rest through them on open consignment. During the next two months he thought prices would further increase, and if the directors could get an offer of 12y 2 d or better they would probablyaccept it. So far, the spring had not been as good as they could wish, but the indications were for a better summer, and with the increased number of cows the output should be a record one. At the present time they were making seven boxes per day more than last year. In conclusion, he complimented the manager on the satisfactory grade received for the butter during the past year, being the highest they had ever had. During the year they had received a letter from Mr. Ellison, Home agent in London, to the effect that he had inspected some of their butter and found that it was opening up in Al condition and was quite equal to any other of New Zealand butter handled. The overrun was also very satisfactory, being the highest, viz., IS.BB per cent., as against 12.74 per cent. the. previous year. It was very encouraging to turn out such a good article and have such a good overrun:. He trusted that next year they would be able, by exercising economy, to return to suppliers a price equal to any other - butter factory on the coast. He then formally moved the adoption j of the report and balance-sheet. This was seconded by Mr. AV. K. Morris.

Some slight discussion ensued, principally over the expenditure on the dam, which one shareholder described as a waste of money. The chairman, however, explained that they would see the benefit when the new turbine was installed, as the increased water supply would enable them to develop S h.p. instead of 4 h.p. The increase in the fuel account was also commented upon, after which the balance-sheet was unanimously adopted.

For the two vacaneies on the directorate there were five nominations. Messrs. Windteburn and Allen were appointed "scrutineers. The election resulted as follows: Messrs. 11. N. Blackball 35, AV. K. Morris 33, W. G. Linn 31, E. Dohertv 2f>. J. J. Gyde 15. Messrs. Blackball and Morris were declared elected, and duly returned thanks. Mr. C. T. Mills was reappointed auditor.

I In accordance -with notice of motion, Mr. J. J. Gyde moved that the sum of £lB7 Os 9d, standing to the credit of share premium reserve account, he transferred to the credit of the water-power account. This was carried, an amendment liy Mr. Blaeldui.il that the money he used as a fund to purchase shares from suppliers leaving the district, which he considered would not only assist the supplier, hut the company, whose capi-

tal was now iully taken up, was ruled out of order. Mr. C. Honeyfleld, referring td the fact that the 2500 sharps which comprised the company's capital were now practically all taken up, suggested that the limit should be increased, and that ..suppliers, instead of having to take up one share per 201b of milk as at present, should be allowed to take up one share for! every 261b. He accordingly gave notice to this effect, and the matter will oe discussed at a special meeting. The question of cow-testing was brought up by the chairman, but the meeting seemed very apathetic on the matter, as no one commented on it' at all. , Reference was also casually made by the chairman to casein, and the meeting terminated. ■ , At a meeting of directors, held subsequently, Mr. AV. Honeyfleld was elected chairman. A vote of thanks wau accorded to Mr. G. A. Adlam, who has been chairman of directors luring the past tight years.