DAIRY FACTORY MEETINGS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1917, Page 6

DAIRY FACTORY MEETINGS.

MANUTAHI. The eighth annual meeting of shareholders in the above company was held last week, Mr. S. C. Tonks, chairman of directors, presiding. The directors' report showed that supliers had already received for the season just closed, payments at the rate of Is (id 1 per lb butter-fat, and after providing for depreciation, the balance to credit of appropriation account. £4OS4 17s lOd. would enable directors to make a further payment of 3',4d in the lb butter-fat over the whole season, absorbing the sum of £4083 Os 4d, making the"total payment to suppliers for the season Is 9>/jd per lb butter-fat. The. statistics for the season were as follows:—Lbs inilk 5307.750, decrease 1,362,5!)8: lb butter-fat 301.581.9, decrease 54,923.4: cheese 778,552, decrease 158,295; lb milk to lb cheese 10.542 increase 0.334; lb cheese to lb butter-fat 2.551, decrease .04S; cheese test 3.79ff, increase .071; weight of cheese 347 tons 11 cwt 1 qr 22 lb, decrease 71 tons 8 ewt 0!b; weight of butter 9 tons 2 qrs 23 lb whey butter, 3 tons 4 cwt 1 qr 21 lb creamery butter. In moving the adoption of the report and .balance-sheet, the chairman said it was not what they could call a record year; it was a record so far as pay-out was concerned, but not a record year for production. There were exactly 71 tons 8 cwt behind last year. The outlook for the coming season was not altogether encouraging, as he believed that some of these same herds were being still further reduced in consequence of labor difficulties. Out of a total of J«B9 crates of cheese made last season they had only 5!) graded second-class, and on that result he must take the opportunity of sincerely congratulating their manager. It was all the more creditable because of the fact that, with the exception of two assistants, he had a stall' of new chums; they were, in fact, mostly boys under military age, and under these circumstances a record of only 59 secondgrade out of 4 089 crates was something to be proud of. The adoption of (he report and bal-ance-sheet was carried. In reply to questions the chairman said that the approximate cost of heating the whey last season was CO tons of coal, costing £125. This year the cost would probably be £150." Careful experiments were carried out to see exactly what it took to heal the whev to 100 deg, after a full head of steam'had been got up, and the figures quoted above represented the actual cost. It was well-known that some suppliers took more than their share of whey, and he (the chairman) was going to ask the birectors to engage a man, even if it cost £3 a week, to endeavor to remedy <his trouble He was not aware of any machine that would automatically weigh out each supplier's proper quantity. He did not think it would be wise to accept condemned milk to i.ianufacturc whey butter from, even if the supplier were paid a lesser price for it. Such a practice would encourage suppliers to be careless, and in any ease there was not a great deal to be* concerned a.bout. as only about eight or ten cans had been sent back hist sca-on. The chairman said at the present time their overdraft was £BOO, and under present conditions this was quite inade- j quate to carry on the company's busi- I ness with. The directors had conferred Vith the bank lnanagor, and the sug-ges- i tion now was that a new joint and several guarantee should be entered into for a non-reducible overdraft of £4009. '; Mr. Hamilton moved in that direction, | and pointed out that the guarantee was , purely a nominal matter. The motion w.is carried unanimously. The, retiring directors, Messrs S. C. J sgttk* sag G; ( .W. Gsarvj w«» r*-«l««t«d :

unopposed. fMr. A. Muggeridge, wrote resigning his seat on the board. Mr. W. McDonald was elected to the vacancy. Mr. McDonald moved that the chairPlan's honorarium be increased from £25 to £SO. The meeting would not ►agree to the motion being withdrawn at the instance of the chairman, and the increased vote was unanimously carried.