AMALGAMATION OF DAIRY FACTORIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1917, Page 8

AMALGAMATION OF DAIRY FACTORIES.

DISCUSSED AT KAUPOKONUI. At the annual meeting of the Kaupokonui Dairy Factory Company, the question of amalgamation of the' Kaupokonui anil Joll dairy companies, which has been under discission 'without any progress being made, was briefly touched on. Mr. W. .!;. Pnwdrell. chairman of the company, at the conclusion of the general business, traversed the remarks made when tin; subject war. under discussion by tiie -101 l Dairy Company. At that meeting Mr. Johnston, one of the directors, stated, that it was live years since lie lirst spoke of the amalgamation to the speaker, but, as a matter of fact, it was about 1-1 months ago. after the amalgamation of the bacon companies, when he said lie hoped there would be a similar move between the Kaupokonui and Jol! Dairy Companies. He had then hoped it would be possible to bring it about. As a matter of fact, Kaupokonui, in offering to amalgamate, would be giving away some thousands of pounds. Personally, he had done.his best to bring it about, and regretted that nothing came of it. He also regretted the attitude of some of the Jol! shareholders. Kaupokonui were offering a share in their water power and store facilities. Mr. Murdoch (chairman of the Joll Company I could not see the savin;;, and must ha' been, lie considered, against the proposal before (he meeting. He (the speaker) said it was decided some time since to have a meeting in reference to amalgamation. At that meeting nothing was said, about regrouping. The sneaker had said that the biggest factories, paid out more than the smaller concerns. He was referring to the North Island Dairy Association, which paid out Is SJd, not counting the bntlerfat levy, and Stratford Company, which paid out Is 7'/.d. so that the former beat the latter hands down. Tn regard to directors' fees, the saving, according to the Joll balance-sheet, would be £ll2. v*t £7O as stated. He referred to the statement that a company with £IOOOO overdraft could not have £lO.000 reserves, but, he said, there was no connection between the two. Tn regard to the motor wascons it was stated that, as .Toll's were fullv occupied, there would be no saving in that item, but his idea was to make use of electric waggons, which would cost little, because the water power at Kaupokonui would be used to recharge the batteries very cheaply. The question of freight hotweon Kaupokonui and Kapuni, a distance of about four .miles, seemed to be the only reason aee-inst amalgamation. He had stated that Kaupokonui payout would always beat .Toll's, tests being taken into consideration, and last year the latter were beaten, without.considering tests. He had offered at the meeting to take a vote of Joll supplier? in the hall, hut the offer was not accepted. The matter of amalgamation had now been dropped. He thought that when they had made their otl'er to .Toll's, two fools had met. one for making the offer, and the other for not accepting it. They could, however, use their reserves in a better way in furthering the interests of the company. He thanked the shareholders for their unanimous vote at the Manaia meeting in favor of amalgamation. Mr. L. Fleming pointed out that the difference in tests made a difference In pav-outs. On every thousand pounds of milk the difference in value at 2s per lb of butterfat between a 3.77 test (.Toll's) and 3.SS (Kaupokonui) was about 2s. 3d in favor of the latter, or H-lOd per lb butterfat. Ever since the establishment of the T. L. Joll Company he had done liis best to promote a friendly feeling between the two companies, and at Otakcho he thought practically every supplier of the Joll Company favored amalgamation, which he thought was in the best interests of the district. The question of Kaupokonui building a factory at Otakcho had been construed as a threat tn coerce amalgamation, but he pointed out that it was only a business proposition on the part of the directors, and thai a /motion was on their books to build a factory at Otakcho whenever the supply warranted it. When conditions became normal, and men returned, one of the first moves in the interests of their suppliers would be i/.> build a factory nt .Olakoho. Mr. T. Mi-Phillips Mated that he also had always tried to bring about a good feeling between the (wo companies. There had been a similar request to build a factory at Tc Xuulii. He considered that amalgamation was in the best interests, and that true co-opera tiou was not now in existence. Suppliers were crossing and recrossiug every day. wearing out the roads to no purpose, and cansinir hundreds of pounds in e;;tra expenditure. If they had toilsate-, perhaps, this would not matter He had endeavored to better the relation* existing between the two factories, ;ind"considered that they had done the ri'dit tliimr in holding out the hand of friendship. To show tlinf true co-opera-tion did not evi-t he instanced two cases tried in the Supreme Court recently, where two dairy fanners, who, when the brieves were washed away on their roads had to take their milk to a neighboring company, and had been most unfairly treated. He was afraid self interest had been a bar to co-operation in some cases. Tife subject was then dropped.