HAWERA.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 August 1915, Page 8

HAWERA.

RIVERDALE DAIRY FACTORY. (From our Own Correspondent). The Twenty-first annual meeting of the Riverdalo Co-operative Dairy Factory Company, Ltd., was held at the factory, Maha, on Monday. Mr. H. E. Batten, chairman of directors, was in th? chair. There was a good attendance of shareholders, and keen, interest was taken in the proceedings. The chairman presented the annual report as "Your directors have much pleasure in presenting the 21st annual - report rncl balance-sheet of the company. After writing off the sum of £489 2s 5d (at (he rate of )0 per cent, all round), as depreciation, the profit and loss account shows a credit balance of £7089 4s Id. From this your directors recommend the payment of 0 per cent, interest on all fully paid-up shares, absorbing the sum of £275 18s. Also a further uaynicnt to suppliers of 2Jd per lb on.butter fat from August Ist, 1!)14, to February, 2Sth, 1913, amounting to £0517 los, and to carry forward the balance of £2:!5 Us Id to the credit of next season's account. The general ston has asain had a successful year, and shows a net profit of £l7O 14s .Id. This will allow a rebate to suppliers and t'uir share milkers of 10 per cent, on the amount of their purchases of stoies, ox;'.mire of such goods that have been sold (o them on a net < a.sh basis. The retiring directors are Messrs Rnowden and McKay, b;th of whom are eligible and cll'or themselves for re election. Mr, Wyborn, who has /been secretary since the inception of the company, has resigned his position. The resignation was accepted with regret, Mr .Tmld being appointed secretary in place of Mr. Wyborn. Mr. Forsyth has resigned his position to take up an appointment on the (lovernment stall' of dairy instructors, and Mr. C. Farley has Jjeen appointed in his place." The chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, said: I can congratulate you on having had a very successful year. The long spell of dry weather during the summer seriously curtailed the milk supply, which was more than two million pounds below the J9ll-12 season. At the outbreak of the war- early in the season, the Government comni\ !in( l et> red a number of insulated ships til l ' use as transports, the ships that were left being quite inadequate to take the large amount of cheese join™ forward fot' shipment. The result of the Government commandeering such a iiumbei of insulated ships was a large accumulation of cheese, some of which is not yet shipped. We have f)00 crates unshipped at the beginning of this month. Our thanks are due to the Government, the N.T).A„ and the shipping companies for the way th»v rose (o the occasion and helped us out of an awkward position. Cheese price---for the past season have been abnormal, going as high as 100s per cwt. and although I can safely say that while w° all deplore the cause of such prices, there is no doubt that tlicy came at a very convenient time for us, as with ordinary prices and the unfavorable season we should have had a very poor return for our year's working. The whole amount of the further payment that you are tia' 1 :- ed to agree to will not lie made on the 20th "of this month, but from time to time as funds are available. Tit is month the company obtains its majority, having been iu business for 21 years. Mr. Wyborn, who has been secretary to the company since it was started, has now left us, and I should like to place or. record my appreciation of the good work he has done. He has given the prime of his life and put body and soul into hi* work. Anybody not closely in touch with him and his work can hardly appreciate what he has done for the company. At any time—holidays, Sundavs and any night—if anything arose tint necessitated attention you would find Mr. Wyborn on the job. Mr. Farley, who has been appointed manager, comes to us with a very high reputation, and it is up to us individually to supply him with first class milk, when I have I no doubt lie will turn out a lirst class J -article. There is every prospect ol prices dining the coining season keeping

on a high level, but there 13 also anothcr -prospect which is not so good, ami that ia' tiia.t there will ba a shortage uf ships during the flush of the season, aiul to run this comtmny 011 sound feusi-•iic-ii lines it may be ad\isaible lo mate a smaller pay-out for hutter fat tliau usual. I hope it will not be necessary to do so, and 1 am only mentioning it so that if things do not go well you ivill be warned beforehand. ami can cut your cloth accordingly. Referring now to the ■balance-sheet, there is not much that calls for comment from me. I have 110 dou-bt that you all hare your eyes 011 the ito-iii of .profit and loss —Fuel account £079 oud, and you will also remember that last year f told you you would see a reduction in that item, which was then £620, In the Face of these figures, von will say that I am a falsa prophet. I admit it looks very much like it. But suppliers 'have had a g'ood supply of hot water, while during the preceding year it was not more than warm. Before I leave this, I should like to say thjt I am still of the opinion that a reduction will he shown in the next bal-anee-.'jlicet. There i.s a small matter I must refer to, and that ia the way the carts Woclc the road in front of the factory. In the past we have hail coinplaints from the 'Hawera County Council, ami J must ask you to impress upon your drivers i!i« necessity at leaving flic v;t for the read traffic. The carts that on 1 in- ruil are outside our jiiiv-liction, and any trouble ■that come- will have to he met hy the owners of the nffendng carts. 'lfr. W. A. Qnin, who recently valued the stock in the s'tore, recommended that better provision should he made for the 'protection of the perishable goods, lie particularly referred to the dra.pcry, which was very dusty, and said this couhl J)o materially overcome by lining the ceiling of the store.. The following directors were then elected to Jill the two vacancies:—.Messrs. J. 0. 'M. Kay and' M. Wilcox.

Mr. H. A. Lennon was re-elected auditor, at a fee of £7 7s, the same as last rear.

The following comipai'ative statistics will be of interest, those for 1 Oil! 4 being in parentheses:—lib of milk n.'2fW,e37 (18,503,758), decrease 1.324,121; *lb otf 'butter fat 655,41-9 (7OG,ofw), decrease 50G40; lb of eheese made 1,084,330 (1,705,883), decrease 41,538; lib (butter made 33,054 (64,-100), decrease 30,432; lb of cheese per lb of butter fa,t 2.05 (-2.G23), increase .03; lib of milk per lb of cheese 9.54 (10.03). decrease .15; lb of milk per lb of butter 21 (21.314), decrease .34; over-runs 15 (14), increase 1; average •test for season 3.7!)5 (3.707), decrease ,op.'2; average payments for the season J 8.387 d (14.387 d) an increase of 4d per ft. The following resolution was proposed hy Mr. C. 'Washer: *•"That this meeting (Confirms the action of the directors in ■the matter of the social and presentation to Mr. V ■\orn, and recommends that the expenses therewith be paid out of tiie profits carried forward from last year.'' It was carried unanimously. A further resolution, proposed by Mr. C. Washer, was carried amidst much applause: "That this meeting of shareholders of tiie Eiverdale Dairy Company wishes to place ou record its appreciation of Mr. Wvborn's faithful services as secretary since tile inception of tiie company, 21 years ago, and to compliment liinn on the sound position the company is in to-day, it being largely due to his wise counsel and advice, and the comipany hopes that now ho lias severed his connection with them he and Mrs. Wylborn and family would have long life, health, happiness and prosperity.

Mr. Wyihorn. who was present, thanked the shareholders Tor their kind resolution, and referred 1o the position of the company at length. Tie especially eulogised the good work that had been done I>v Mr. Foreman, who was one of the first promoters of the company, and said tliat he always had the example of his sound Imsiness principles. He 'also pointed out that probably in the near future the company would hive to face the expense of a concrete building, and said he thought it would be wiser to save the large expense of painting and put it in the direction mentioned. It was decided to pay the chairman of directors the same honorarium .as list year, namely, tlurt.y-flve guineas.

A vote of thanks was accorded the directors and staff for their past year's services to the company, and a vote of thanks to the press terminated the meeting.