A FARMERS' FREEZING WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 289, 15 May 1915, Page 7

A FARMERS' FREEZING WORKS.

WHAT WAS DONE IN WAIRARAPA. SMALL PRODUCRRS EMINENTLY SATISFIED. (Christchurch 'Sun.) This is not written with the idea of trying to influence the North Canterbury farmers. They have decided to erect freezing works of their own. Sir George Clifford tells them that small companies always fail when opposed to larger ones. Not "always," Sir George may he assured, because the history of the Wairarapa Farmers' Freez-

in<; Company rises up in refutation. So that the group of farmers in the new venture may be of good cheer, an outline is here given of what has been done —and wi 1 be done. Among the slice]) farmers of tlie, Wairarapa was a quiet spoken, sad featured man named J. C. Cooper. He had been watching for some years the steady growth of "reserves" in the .balance-sheets of the big freezing companies. He came to tlfe conclusion that these funds were rightly the property of the men. who produced tlie stock. He advocated co-operation. The farmers said they were all right. The companies' cheques were always good, and tlie buyers were fine fellows, especially in the days before Masterton turned teetotal. But Cooper stuck to his theme. For 10 years, at' .every.sheep sale, at every show, at e , . , ery street corner where two or three sheep men were gathered together there was the. co-operator in the midst of them. At last the silver lining, promises of support were coming slowly. He sold his farm and bent his every energy to the task of promoting this farmers' freezing works. Here it may be mentioned that there are farufors and farmers. There are those who have never known what it meant to start at the bottom.. They never will know, probab'y. There are big farmers who did start at the bottom but have now learned to have a fine contempt for those who are still struggling to be free of the loan company and the stock and station agent, There arc big men who have never lost their kinship with the little farmer, and there are little farmers wdio are likeiy to remain so for many years to come.

OVRItCOMIN( I HOSTILITY. Of the two latter, the little man and his big, but sympathetic, neighbor is thi' HVairarapa company composed. Having got his promises of support, and thrown his all into the venture. Mr. Cooper found his troubles just begin ning to brew. Friends quarrc'led about sites. Health inspectors and others pestered the company about drainage. Discontent was fomented among timid bhaveholders. Banks wanted to control the output. All the time two powerful companies peppering away a » v-lic community about the folly of email shows managed bv farmers trying to turn traders. The final battle came when, after tenders for the building were in h ml, a requisition was handed in by the required number of shareholders, demanding a special meeting to wind up the. company. This meeting was duty held, but before doing any business the shareholders were invited out to "view the site." They found the whole place littered with building material, and a big stuff of men already engaged on the construction. That finished the case for the soceders.

The company (Wellington Farmers' Meat Company Ltd., is its proper title I has been operating for about five years. The actual paid up capital is £52,000. By way of assets the buildings, plant, and land stand on the books at £OO,OOO. Without taking into account, therefore, any estimate for goodwill, the value of the shareholders' interest in the company is very much in excess of the value of the shares. Six per cent, per annum is being paid, while the capacity of the works has been nearly doubled out of profits earned. The surplus on the floating assets is amply suliicient to pay of? any liability on capital account, so that the whole of the present plant can be regarded as the sole property of the shareholders. Keep this in mind: almost from the commence ment the company, out of profits, has been making extensive additions to the cold stores and to freezing plant, until, approximately, the storage capacity lias been increased by 100 per cent, in plant and about 150 per cent, in cold stores and freezing chambers. There's a record for five or six years' work in a co-operative concern, owned and managed by farmers !

A SPLENDID RECORD. T have said that it took ten years to , float the original company. Here is a ! study in contrasts. It is now proposed to increase the capital to £120,000 by the creation of additional capital to the amount of, £OO,OOO, divided into 12,000 shares of £5 each. , But the farmers in the venture did not allow the good thing . out of their sight. The offer of the new shares was confined to the present shareholders, "any balance remaining at the expiration of three weeks from the date of oiler to be offered to producers, who are not at present shareholders." If any Canterbury farmer wishes to know how those shares sold let him apply for a parcel. He will be sure .not to get it. This record speaks for itself as to the stability and future prospects of a small' company in competition with large concerns. At the same time there is ;>o royal road to success. The measure of any co-operative company's success is determined by the will of those who are interested to make it succeed. It is true that the Masterton company had a piece of good fortune at the outset that docs not come to every venture of a similar sort. Hut that good fortune was due mainly to the fact that the company was controlled by small farmers, and by nun who had never got out of touch with small men. When th" organised free-zing companies of New Zealand determined to make war on the slaughtermen, the Masterton men stood out. They were- oll'ered funds to tide them over. They were offered interest on their invested capital. Put they took the stand that the farmers' small interest in the company could not he considered against the farmers' larger interest in this season's crop of sheep and lambs. The directors settled with their employees and killed their clients' stock. Nor did the company take advantage of the drop of about '3/per head in the price of sheep and lambs. Clients were treated exactly the same as in normal times. The company was not there to make a huge prolit in one season at the expense of the farmers, but to carry on the work

through good and evil days. The machinery ol tlic moat factory, jn short, was part and parcel of the machinery of tlie farm. J)AILY INCREASING BUSINESS. This is (lie company's record of success in brief. But it wan not all plain sailing. .Since the .strike of slaughtermen, tlu- hostility of the other companion has been keen and bitter. Shipping interests, too, hampered and thwarted them, almost to the extent of taking sides with the lug companies, lint they overcame their dilliculties one by one. Their proposal for an increase of capital now is to enable them to cope with u business which is growing greater every year. Last season the daily output was ;>:!()() sheep and lambs in excess of the liiv-.t year's operations, mid the cad is not yi t. liat most important of all, tlie company has journal the goodwill of every small farmer in the \Vairarapa.