MIDHIRST DAILY CO.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 57, 28 July 1914, Page 3

MIDHIRST DAILY CO.

| ANNUAL MEETING. ! Didrv ,^ ul ' ua ' meeting of the Midhirst I Dairy Company was held yesterday. Mr. , " .^ kl!(i ffW'dl (chairman of directors) | Presided over jui attendance of about thL wlr Duril, f? meeting „n° nu r rous interruptions and one or .two brecaes, but the latter dhf™°/l ge,lt, ° Zel,l ' yr variety and did not by any means, disturb the general Qiannony of the afternoon, 'flic meeting commenced about 1 p.m., and did n °t conclude until nearly 5 p.m. Ilie chairman, in moving uie adonition oi the report and balance-sheet, which has already been published,, pointI ed out that the output had been a rebv eXtm ! ing n. last J ' car ' B fl ® ires by 100 tons, and, what would be more pleasing to the suppliers, the com pan v P aid ou t a record price for fat, the average being 1-2.60. They weru, lie said, foi tunate in selling the whole output last season, thereby avoiding any loss that no doubt had occurred on consignment buttar through the strike—although they were put to some slight expense (£l5B 4s 2d) through having to rail then butter to Welliugton and a levy of l-10d on the October fat. Th« most p-easing featuire of the balancesheet was the large increase showed in the output. This indicated very cJesirly the improved methods in farming, both by top-dressing and utilising a bette.' class of stock. He felt contident that this increase would continue, now that suppliers had seen its value. These output had increased so rapidly during two seasons that they were compelled to close down 'the factory this winter to enable the manager 'to enlarge the buildings, which were now, together with plant and machinery, up-to-date again, and capable of a much larger output. To produce a good article this enlarging was absolutely necessary. lie strongly impressed on them that nothing but a lirsl.-class butter wimhl command Ihe highest price, They could not be too carefu. as to quality, mid he urged one and all to assist tile manager by supplying nothing but good sound milk, unless they were prepared to accept a lower price for their butter. They htul paid out the sum of £!MiS 7s ad, equal to l'/,d on butter, to those supliers who left their milk for va.wto. That was free of all expense to the c< mpany. Mr. Heisliv seconded, and the balance'.Jiei;l was adopted without discu.-^ion.

Mr. K.endriek asked if the meal tiiul wool men had assisted in 1 ii• ■ strike levy ;u well a* the dairymen 'i'lc < h:i iriinin understood Unit al! had l«aid. .Mr. I. Oiillibort. ri'fci'riiii; to tin; profit 'of £:!4 oil til;' .store. j-sii«f lii.it plough pl"a.sed to see tlic store show a profit lie Hidiijrlit tliilt tile pi'olit should be jiiveii in tlie -hape of less J'oi' | the goods. A motion was passed limiting each I speaker t<j live niimitc.s. | Mr. Kcndrick did not see Unit the j proli.ls sllouM bo divided amoiw the i wliole company, H should lie paid on! ! pro rata anionpr these who bad purdnis- ; i'il from the store. hi Uiis way. lie ! Uioiifjht that they would make a pi'oliti able bllsine-s of tile stole.

.Mr. Sin,l lev considered the prol'il--lionld be spread over the whole of ike company. u-> it was a vo-operat ive i,lore. and ihe whole company funiul liie 'money i : run it. t'U'iai; YOTIXU.

Mr. T. Cuthbert .ii! : ''\'ed in accordance -.villi notice of motion. "Tl at ariicle M of tlie company's amended articles of association be deleted and tlie following mticle substituted therefor: 'Upon a poll cw ry member sliull have one wit" on!v.. irrespective of (be number of share 1 - held by Jiiim'" lie sirongly advocated the abolition of p'umil voting, and pointed out that other factories yi re adopting the one man one vote principl"- He pointed out that a mini with 150 shares could liave 13 votes. . yir. West seconded the motion. | Mr. liaskin 'said the mover and seconder iraist tw socialists.

Mr. Petersen asked if the plural votiu"» gave them any better men on the directorate. lie. was told that they lnul several duffers in the. ilim-twate. lie tl'.:'.ught that the object of plural

Toting was so that the 'big man could show his superiority over the smaller man by the weight of his votes and not by any superiority of brain power. Mr. liendrick said that even if there were duffers on the directorate, thiey had paid out a record price for tttie season. The motion was lost, only. 29/ voting in its l favor. \ PAYMENT BY QUALITY. , **>"• T. Cutlibert (referred to the question of payment for milk by quality. If I they ranted to ensure good milk. tiiey j must not only keep the milk clean, but must also abolish feeding on weed's 1 . The chairman stated that payment bv quality was coming, and if fjhey did not stop feeding on turnips it would be "> troduced in Midhirst. I ELECTION OP DIEECTOPiS, Votes were recorded as follows:--Messrs 11. A. Rumball 45<i, John Jago 414, Wm. Rogers 347, M. Knox. Z'iZ, arid J. Perham 253. The three retiring directors were declared re-elected. CASEIN'. . Mr. Vickerman, of the New Zealand Casein Company, waited on the meeting, and stated that oii tons of casein had been manufactured at Midhirst, which had paid out l'/id per lb on butter-fat to the suppliers of skim milk. Over 4% millions of lbs of milk had been left for casein. Ife urged some of the larger creameries to go in for casein. A recent invention, he stated, ha<l revolutioned 'the drying process,, enabling drying plants to be installed at factories with outputs of 20 tons- or over, lie stated that, in. future, the New Zealand Casein Company would pay for the casein on the gallon of m'ilk basis ininstead of at present, -by the butter-fat. test, because, while the butter-fat varied, the casein did not, and, moreover, suppliers did not ge.t back from the factory the actual skim milk they delivered.

After some further discussion, a vote of thanks was accorded .Mr. Viekerman. GENERAL. On the motion of Messrs Kirlwvood and Davidson, hearty votes of thanks were accorded to the Tariki and Maketawa, dairy companies for opening their factories to Midhirst suppliers, during the six weeks'that the local factory was under, repairs. A motion to publish the business transacted at the directors' meetings was lost by a large majority. Mr. T. IT. Penn was re-elected auditor.