WAREA DAIRY COMPANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 August 1918, Page 6

WAREA DAIRY COMPANY.

ANNUAL MEETING. Tlie -2nd annual meeting of the Warea ' Dairy Company was held in the Warea i Hall on .Monday, Mr. J. Burgess, chairman of dirccturs, presiding over a good < attendance of shareholders, including several ladies. REPORT AND BALANCE-SHEET. The report showed the following particulars of milk received and cheese and ; butter made: —■ Milk received (Warea) 4,394,356 lbs, (Newall) 2.357,184 lbs, total 6,751,520 ] lbs. Butter-fat (Warea) 171,619 lbs, (Newall) 00,889 lbs. total 262,508 lbs. Average test (Warea) 3.90 (Newall), 3.56, total 3.89. Cheese made (grade weiffhts delivered Moturoa), (Warea) 420,208 lbs (Newall), 227,268 lbs, total 653,670 lbs. Lbs. milk to 1 lb cheese (AVarea) 10.3 (Newall), 10.4. Lbs cheese : to 1 lb butter-fat, Warea 2.5, Newall 2.5. Official average grade (Warea.) 88.40 (Newall), 58.67. Whey and creamery butter made, total- 8,917 lbs. The amount to credit of profit and i loss was £u,S73 17s Id. Out of this the directors applied £358 14s 7d to cover depreciation, and £206 fts, to pay interest at 5 per <jent of fully paid shares, leaving a balance of £5,308 13s 6d. Out of this they proposed a payment of fid per lb butter-fat for the months of January to May inclusive, absorbing £2,847 7s, malting the pay- ' ment so far for the year Is 6d per lb. butter-fat, and a further payment of 2{i per lb butter-fat over the whole year, £2,461 Os 3d ,as soon as funds permit, making the total payment for the year Is B}d per lb butter-fat—in addition to interest on shares—and leaving a balance of 6s 3d to be carried forward. The directors regret that the amount paid for butter-fat will not be as high as anticipated, still it will be the highest yet paid by the company. The directors, in conjunction with the Okato and Puniho Company, purchased a motor lorry, to do the cartage of both. The balance sheet showed .that elieese and butter sold and on hand totalled £26,696 13s Cd. The principal items of expenditure were: Salaries and wages £1362 17, cartage £421 Bs, stores £6lO 12s sd, fuel £397 17s; crates and boxes £344 6s, insurance, rates, etc., £347 18s lOd, interest on shares £206 9s, directors' honorarium £34 15s, depreciation £358 14s 7d, export charges £250 0s sd. £16,"&3 lis had been advanced to suppliers and there was a balance of £5308 13s 6d. CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS. The chairman that when the Imperial Government bought "the cheese output of the Dominion at lOd (a half penny more than was paid the previous year), the directors of cheese factories naturally believed: that the price paid for butter-fat would be considerably higher than in 1916-17. Such, however, had not been the case, a large proportion of companies not being.able to pay out as much as in the previous year. . There was again considerable delay before the contract was completed, and meanwhile, the freezing works bjcame ■ blocked and continued so throughout most of the season. The factories | therefore lost heavily through shrinkage owing to having to store wherever ■ they could. At a moderate estimate - the shrinkage was 5 per ,cent. amounting in the ease of Warea Co., to at least 1 £I3OO. The terms of the purchase ; with the Imperial Government were not as favorable and -entailed heavier ; charges in insurance and storage. He ' referred at some lengths to the steps taken by the ■ Taranaki Producers' L Freezing Co. to provide additional ac- , commodation for next season. This , would necessitate the company doubling > its share capital in the concern, but a ; saving of 2 per cent shrinkage would > more than compensate. There would • be accommodation npvv for 130,000 t crates of cheese and at present there . were 60,000 crates in stock, and providi ing they could get a few boats during i the season, there' should be sufficient - storage. Probably Mr. Massey, whilst - in England, would .he able to obtain a c higher price for this season's output as t the price for Canadian had been raised. ; The National Dairy Association representative at Home- felt very confident 3 that the price of cheese would be high ' for years to come, so that dairy farmers ■ would be wise to make the most of their opportunity by -producing as- much as possible whilst prices remain high. He ' referred to the diffioulty of obtaining seasoned timber for cheese crates. Traversing the balance sheet he pointed out that while there was a, drop of 7 per cent in the milk yield, there was only a drop of 4 3-sths per cent in the butter-fat, j 1 indicating that the tests were higher, '• probably due to the dfy weather. The 0 weight of cheese decreased by 7 5-7ths r per cent, but when it was considered that there was probably fi per cent shrinkage owing to lengthy storage before grading, it'was probable that in spite of the scarcity of skilled labor better work was done than -in the previous season. Compared with the season ending May ~ 1915, and before the war had seriously 3 interfered with shipping the make of )p cheese had decreased -by 7i per cent., d sufficient to decrease the pay-out by ljd. il per lb butter-fat. . This could easily be ir accounted for by the 5 per cent extra i- shrinkage and the drier make of cheese i- necessary to enable the elieese to keep under the unfavorable storage conditions. He estimated that there was a - loss of £1276 owing to want of sufficient storage and he suggested that it might be prudent to retain Jd per lb on butter-fat towards meeting the cost of the extra shares in the Moturoa Freezing Co. He then moved the adoption or the report and balance sheet, Mr. Parker seconded. 1 THE DISCUSSION. i Referring to the item refund of but- ■ ter-fat levy £123 Is 9d, Mr H. Corbett considered that it was very unfair to , last year's suppliers that that amount, 1 which hail been Earned the previous year, should be paid out on the present I season, as new suppliers would get the benefit. I The chairman stated that at present the company adopted the plan of paying out as nearly as possibly, at the j annual meeting, the amount that would i be (Mailable. I The chairman also announced that Mr. Baily had agreed to undertake the secretaryship of the motor board and would therefore have Charge of the ar•rangennen ts. It had (been decided that each company was to be responsible for the payment of cartage in its area. j Mr. Corbett considered that the Rennet Co. was one of the worst ventures the company had embarked in. He

though; that the £IOO had been thrown away. The chairman said that the Rennet Company had been-unfortunate, as it had made good rennet but this would not keep. The company, he understood, was experimenting now, and unless the experiments proved successful the Co. would not call up any more of its capital. Mr. Corbett criticised the action of the directors relativo to a site for a new residence for the manager. The chairman stated that the survey wovdd be useful, when the site was available, probably in twelve months' time. In reply to Mr. Cassie the secretary staled that the new bank guarantee of £35(10 extinguished the two previous guarantees. Mr. Corbett considered that, in future, the company should only pay 2J per cent, interest on share capital instead of 5 per cent. The report and balance sheet was adopted. ELECTION OF DIRECTOR For the two vacancies on the directorate there were four nominations, the election resulting, Messrs W. Rumball 180, Jas. Burgess 112 (re-eleoted); W. B. Smith 91, Donald 79. Tire chairman in returning thanks i Btated that he. had been returned twenIty times in succession. He had intended retiring as he felt that ho was hardly np to pitch now. In deference to the wishes of his fellow directors he had consented to renomination. On the motion of Mr. Parker, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Burgess, the mover sltating that shareholders should appreciate Mr. Burgess' self sacrifice in consenting to stand by the company in these times of stress; against his own personal interests. Mr. 0. T. Mills was re-eleoted auditor the remuneration being increased from five guineas to seven, guineas. GENERAI.' Mr. H. Corbett moved that the payment in interest and fully paid up shares next year be not more than 2| per cent. . .- . ■ .■ ' Mr. Geo. Julian seconded. Mr. H. N. Chapman moved as an amendment that interest of 5 per cent be paid. Mr. Rumball seconded. t After some discussion both the motion and the amendment were lost, the directors therefore being given a free hand. The chairman moved that the company should devote Jd per pound butterfat towards paying off the new issue of freezing works shares. Mr. Corbett thought this would he unfair to sliaremilkers. The chairman. stated that if the storage accommodation had not been .provided aharemillsera would also have suffered. . Mr. G. Julian seconded, and the motion was carried. At a subsequent meeting Mr. J. Burge*3 was re-elected cihairman of directors.