MANGATOKI DAIRY CO.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1916, Page 7

MANGATOKI DAIRY CO.

■■: ANNUAL MEETLYC, The annua] meeting of the Mangatoki Dairy Company was held in the Mangatoki Hall' on Thursday, '.Mr. J. ii. Marx (chairman of directors) presiding over an attendance of about 40 shareholders CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS.., ; ('He chairman traversed the 1 -report and balance-sheet (already published) at some length. The output, h'c said, had increased by over 200 tons, a phenomenal rise, duo to the fact that it had been a good year for milk. The price paid out liad been based below what it was expected to come out at, as some of their cheese had scarcely left the country, whilst some thousands of crates had not reached the market. On this they had drawn 7%d per lb, but the market prices warranted the expectation of some surplus. With the present payment, the company had paid, out Is (id for the season, and there was an unknown sum yet to be added thereto. The question of the manufacture of rennet had practically been forced on dairy companies owing to the probability of a shortagu of Tennet. Practically every dairy company was taking up the matter, and ;'though the purchase of veils might mean a loss of £2OO or £3OO to some of the companies, yet all should 'be prepared to shoulder the loss. For a 'further- payout,. thc-y had £4OOO in sight, :which would be supplemented by the surplus on the'amount drawn against the cheese. Having had a good year, the directors bad taken a good sum off for depreciation,. The motor waggon, had 'been heavily .written off and' now stood on the books at £SOO. It liad already,proved a good investment, v At present the company had paid up share, capital : to the extent of Stocks in. haiid were unusually large -this year;,but that was' because the company had" to take the chance of obtaining stocks *wlien they could, and so bought largely. The wages account had risen, but owing, to the; increased output, the cost per ton had not increased. Regarding the contribution to the Patriotic Fund, he stated that the payment/of tl.ie.sum of £3Ol had been hold over from last year. The directors were unanimously in favor of interest being added, which - would increase the amount to £3lO. The directors, after due consideration, had decided to allocate this amount by paring to the Eltham County Fund £l5O on liehalf of the Wounded Soldiers' and' £!)0 for the Patriotic Fund. It was also detided to pay £SO to the Y.M.C.A. and £2O to the Salvation Army. He concluded by formally moving the adoption of the annual report and balance-sheet, the motion being seconded, by Mr. Whittingtou.

THE PATRIOTIC FUND. Ml\ T. Perry did not think that the time was ripo for dealing with the fund. A lot of young men were leaving the district, and the fund should be held until the necessity arose to use it locally. He moved in that direction, and Mr. Whittington seconded. After some discussion the amendment was Withdrawn. Depreciation. Mr. Astbury considered that too much had been written oft for depreciation. He objected to 12J per cent, being written off the butter factory and creamery instead of 7% per cent, as on previous occasions. He did not see there was any reason to write off excessive depreciation merely because prices were good. He also objected to £-200 being written oil' the motor waggon, which was in good repair now, and should last more than five year 3, by which time it would be written oil' at the present rate. Ity moved that the balance-sheet be amended ,by decreasing the depreciation by £IOO on the butter factory and creameries and by £IOO on the motor waggon. —Mr. Whittington seconded. The chairman upheld the action of the I directors, and after further discussion the amendment was lost. MORE DETAIL? WANTED. Mr.,Asthury considered that more details should be given in the balance-sheet so that shareholders could compare their balance-sheet with those of. neighboring factories. It was not policy to Jiide anything from the shareholders, though he did not think there was any' intention of hiding anything. He moved that it be an instruction from the shareholders that the directors give further details in future balance-sheets, such as the number of pounds of milk it took to make a pound of cheese, and the amount of cheese fnade from a pound of buttijr-fat, also tlyat items like -'charges" should be detaildd more.

The chairman refused to accept this as a direction, but was willing to take it as a recommendation, and if that course were adopted lie said he would give hi 9 pledge that the recommendation would bo carried out. Mr. Astbury altered his motion accordingly, and after a little, further discussion it was carried.

PASTEURISERS. The chairman said that pasteurisers had been installed, and; so far as he could see, had proved a financial success. In the first half of the season there was no appreciable difl'crence, but later on, when there was a great deal more fat in the milk, they had proved a marked success, enabling more cheese to be manufactured, and the quality of the cheese had improved. He warned suppliers against placing too much reliance on the pasteuriser in the matter of food flavors,'for while it would improve average milk, it could not make impossible milk into good cheese. The motion for the adoption of the report and balance-sheet was then carried. ELECTIONS. Messrs G. Preece, W. A. Guy and Thos. Linn, the retiring directors, were reelected unopposed. Mr. E. Parrott wa3 also re-elected auditor, at the same remuneration as last year. . WHEY. Mr. T. Perry asked whetner some improvement could be effected in regard to the removal of whey. There was a good deal of whey "shaking" going on at the factories, and it sometimes happened that though' he took over 30001-bs of milk lie had to go home without any whey. Frequently the last supplier could get no whey.

The chairman said that the matter should certainly receive attention, and some scheme would be devised. The manager stated that it would necessitate either the employment of u, man at the stage for two or three hour?, or tiie installation of extra weighing machines at each branch. It should, he said, be made compulsory for suppliers always to take the wliev, as at times many ..of, them refused to take it, and if

emptied into the river trouble was ca'"' 1 PROMOTION OF EMPLOYEES', A good deal of discussion ensued over, an alleged injustice, in Mat employees were not given the opportunity of securing promotion under the company when vacancies were to he filled. Mr. Astbury cited three eases. The chairman briefly explained the reasons, anil the manager (Mr. Cooper) stated that a.;/long as he was responsible. for the quality of the output he would fill any vacancies with the men he considered most suitable. THE :SEAS&N. j The chairman said that the shareholders could hardly appreciate the work that the directors had had to do last year in 'connection with the shipping difficulty. In the future, as in the past, the directors would do their best for the suppliers. Offers of SJJd f.o.b. had already:.been received for their .output, but the difficulties in dealing were in connection \fith shipping. .'iUp to the present the Government liad not given any intimation of its intentions in regard to the purchase of cheese, which the New 'Zealand cheese companies had offered to sell at S%d. In, connection with any sale that might 'be effected, a grave consideration would be that of endeavoring to obtain an assurance of the produce getting away. If they consigned th-ey would need to be assured of securing the necessary finance to enable them to meet the monthly payouts. They did not kn6w yet what ships would be available. The directors, lie said, had a good deal to think about at present, and ho hoped credit would be given them for it VOTES OF THANKS. Votes of thanks and confidence m the directorate were unanimously carried.