PATUA DAIRY CO.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1916, Page 7

PATUA DAIRY CO.

j ANNUAL MEETING. The first annual general meeting of the f'atua Dairy Company was hekl at the factory, Tataraimaka. yesterday aflernoon, Afr, \V. J. Honeviield (chairman of directors) presiding over a full attendance of suppliers. REPORT. Tn submitting tlie first annual report and balance-sheet, the. directors congratulated suppliers on tlie highly satisfactory results of tlie nine months' operations just ended. The sum of 1751 12s 5d had been written off for depreciation. The whole of the flotation expenses bad also been written oil' under management expenses. The profit and loss account showed a credit balance ot £3702 Os od, from which the directors recommended the payment of an interim bonus of 4d per lb on butter-fat supplied. This would amount to £31170 :<s, and leave the sum of £325 17s fid to carry- forward until such time as tlie surpluses on shipments at present on the water, and cheese not yet shipped, were to hand, when n further payment would be made to suppliers. - The annual statement showed that the ■ number of suppliers was: 35; quantity of milk received, 5,437,0041b; quantity of butter-fat received, 212,0341b; average test, 3.8!) per cent..; quantity of butter made (creamery), 41,83011); quantity of butter made (whey), ll,5071li; quantity of cheese made (factory-weight), 450,4001b; quantity of cheese made per lb. buttcr-fat, 2,5731b; quantity of butter made per lb butter-fat, 12.04 per cent.; lb of milk per lb of cheese, 0,92!llb; average price per lb butter-fat to suppliers (including interim bonus of 4d per lb), 17.247(1. The total sales .were £IB,BOB 18s Od (butter £340,8 5s MM. cheese £15,455 Us lid, buttermilk £5 3s).

In moving the adoption of the report, the chairman congratulated suppliers on tlie successful nine Which, lie considered, fully justified the step taken twelve months ago in seceding from the Oakum. Dairy Co—wliieh (hen went into liquidation—and in floating a new company, with a factory in a. central position, capable of turning out both butter and cheese, thereby doing away with, branches, which he considered were the drawback to the old company ever, paying out an average payment for butter-fat equal to its neighbors. He regretted that a section of the Oakura suppliers could not see their way clear to come in with,them, and now supplied the Omata Dairy Company. ITe felt that the results disclosed by the first balance-sheet would have warranted tlietn bringing their milk to Timaru. The highest number of suppliers was thirty-five, and from the milk received 21)1 tons Ijewt lqr 2011) of cheese, and 23 tons Iflcwi 3c|rs "lbs of creamery and whey butter were manufactured. This svas very satisfactory, hut during the coming season it was hoped that tin number of suppliers and also the individual supply would increase, as thev hud Uie facilities for handling a larger nut-' put. Weather conditions throuiilmu! 'lie season had been good and this of course was one of the main factors in ensuring a good supply of milk. 'the chairman urged on supplier- the need for paving attention to the condition of t.lie milk supplied. At the beginning of the season the Imperial Government commandeered a third of the cheese rr,itput Mrst grade) of the Pominiou at 7! -.1 per lb. This, of course, did not eom pare well with the prices "cceived for I be I liliinee of the export season. For (lie coming season, the Imperial Government proposed to commandeer the whole of lh.> cheese <>f the Dominion, ami a request for SJd per lb t'.o.b. ocean steamer had been forwarded, but their •eply as to whether they would accept that price had not. he understood, lieen received. In regard to tlie balance-sheet, as this was the first year's working it was impossible to draw any comparison ' with previous years. Under tlie head nf management, the flotation expense?, "mounting t'i over 1' 100, had been written oIT. About half tlie authorised capital had been issued during the first year, hut unless the supply increased very considerably during subsequent years the increases in share allotments would only lie small, and as the directors did not wish to increase the basis of allotment, which was lower than in most cheese companies, a fairly high rate ot depreciation would have to be provided for, so that the indebtedness to the bank would be liquidated within a reasonable number of years. In view ot the fact that they had just had the best year in the history of the industry, tlie directors deemed it advisable to set aside .€7.">o for this purpose, so that when leaner times came this item could be reduced, if thought desirable, and the company would' still be in a strong financial position. As the result of the first year's capital receipts and depreciation they had been able to reduce the liability under their joint and several guarantee at the bank by CIOOO, which now stood at £4llOO. In regard to statistics supplied, the yield of cheese did not com-

| are very favorably with that of other companies, and apparently there had been losses in flu; manufacture wlrch should not have occurred. Mr. McCann bud resigned his portion as manager; Mr. J. N. Harvey, of K,iM;i konui. had been appointed an 1 would take <ll- his ('iili"S on August 2nd In seconding, Mr. (!. (!. Grover considered that the company .vas in ail exceedingly .atisfaetory position. Another good year would perhaps enable the joint-and-sevcral guarantee to be got rid of. Regarding the quantity of cheese manufactured per lb of butter fat, he considered that 2.5711)8 was very low. Mr. Ait-li congratulated suppliers on the very successful season ami paid a tribute to Ihe excellent work done by the chairman and directors. Mr. Ragley considered tiiat a special word of praise was due to those three or four men who bad the foresight to tee that cheese was the best proposition, and battled hard for the establishment of tiie factory. In reply to a question, the secretary said that the whey butter had realised as high as lotis, and the merchants said that it was the best butter tliey had handled. A good deal of discussion ensued over the question of management, etc., after ivliich the report and balance-sheet were adopted. ELECTION OP DIRECTORS; Mr. (5. A. Adlam moved that the number of directors be reduced from seven to five. This was seconded by Mr. C. Honeyfield and carried. Mr. G. A. Adlam declined to seek reelection, and the following were nominated: Messrs \Y. J. Honeyfield, 0. G. Grover, D. McAllum. \V. Coombe ; E. Dougherty, W. Linn (retiring directors), and IT. Woisin. Messrs E. P. Webster and J. Garcia were appointed scrutineers, the election resulting as follows:—Ci. G. Grover S7 D. E. McAllum 73, W. ,1. Honeyfield (i-l, 10. Dougherty 5!), XV. Combe oti (elected), 11. Woisin 43 and \V. Linn 37. Mr. E. I\ Webster was elected auditor at an honorarium of £7 7s; he was also voted a bonus of £5 5s for evtra ivork last year. , 'iENEfiAL. Tt was.resolved to recommend the directors to commence the manufacture of cheese on September Ist. In reply to a question re bonus to stall', the chairman stated that the members of the stall' who had been with them during the season had been given a fortnight's holiday on full pay, Special reference was made to the work done by the butter-maker (Mr. Shogren) in connection with the machinery, and it was resolved to vote him an additional 4Jl.">. It was resolved to vote Mr. A. 0. Penwarden a bonus of £IOO for work in connection with the new factory. A vote of thanks was accorded the chairman, the directors and the oHi - ei.iK A proposal to increase their honorarium was mooted, but was declined 1) V the chairman and Hie dir"ctor». CHAIRMAN OK DIRECTORS. At a meeting of directors held subsequently, Mr. \V. .1. HoneylieM was reappointed chairman.