KAIMATA DAIRY COMPANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1918, Page 8

KAIMATA DAIRY COMPANY.

ANNUAL MEETING. ■ The sixth annual meeting of the Kaimata Daily Company was held 111 the Kaimata Hall on Monday evening, when there was a good attendance of shareholders.

In the absence of Mr A. E. Burwell, chairman of directors, who was unable itos he present owing to illness, Mr J. R. Jones was appointed to the chair. The chairman formally moved the adoption of the report and bakmce-sneet and apologised for not having an address 'to place before shareholders.

Mr 'Petersen seconded. ■The secretary read some brief notes forwarded by the chairman of directors, which showed that there had beeu an increase of 08 tons of cheese 111 the season's output, . and that whey butter valued at £854 had been manufactured. Referring to the provision of extra storage 'accommodation, he stated that during the season 133,500 /rates of cheese had Wen received at Moturoa, and of this less than half had been shipped, leaving 08,088 crates in store on July 27th, as compared with 10,123 crates at the same date last year. K&imata had during the season shipped 21S!> crates and had 2104 crates still in the works. Ho referred to the need of all increasing their production as much as .possible. Hi reply to Mr Capper, who asked why the meeting was held later this year, the secretary remarked that at present times were not normal and there were various complications that caused delay. In reply to further questions, by Mr Capper, the secretary stated that but for the deduction of the %d towards share capital, the pay-out would have been Is 10.} d. The cost of installing the water power was £7OB 4s sd, which inf'cluded the construction of the concrete tank. The directors had put in a 0000 gallon tank instead of n 4000 one as authorised, aijd' this had already proved too small. The old boiler was sold for £ll4 mora than was given for it and the new 25 li.p. boiler was installed for v-sO, including the alterations to the building. In reply to a question from Mr. Davidson as to why a director had not been appointed in place of Mr C. W. Old, who resigned in February, the chairman staled that as the end of the financial year was in May it was not deemed necessary to do so. In reply to Mr Petersen, the ciiairman stated that the output given, 313 tons, was factory weight. From this should be deducted the shrinkage allowed of 2J per cent, and as far as he could tell from careful calculations, this would to all intents and purposes cover the actual shrinkage in as far 'as referred to the cheese so far shipped. The secretary stated that the cost per lb of buttor-fat of putting cheese f.o.b. was 3.33 d, as against last year 2.BCd, or practically 3d per lb more. Depreciation was y 2 rl, sinking fund Vid, 'sinking fund No. 2.13 d, and freezing works shares Vjd, a total of 4.4Gd, as against 4.45(! the previous year. He stated that cheese at 10d with a 2.04 make meant 2s 2.4 d and less 21 per cent shrinkage equalled 2s 1.74' d, if they deducted the total cost of manuiacture (4,4(U1). This made the price paid suppliers in crheese Is f1.28d and with the price received for whey butter, viz., O.Skl per lb butter-fat, this would bring the return to Is 10.18 d, or just a shade over the Is lOd, which the company was paying out to suppliers. The report and balance-sheet were then adopted.

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS." For the election of seven directors there were eight nominations and the election resulted as follows: Messrs G. Giddy 20, P. J. Peterson 20, J. R. Jones 20. G. T. Davidson .19, F. Bracegirdle IS, A. Klenner 15, F. Reesby 14, and G. Capper 14. The first sijj were declared elected and a further ballot; resulted F. Reesby 12, G. Capper n. Mr Geo. Pullcn (lnglewood) was reappointed auditor.

THE VOTING POWER. The chairman moved 111 the direction .of altering the ba.ds of voting, vniCli at present was one man one vote, so as to provide that every member shall have one vote for every ten shares or fraction of ten shares held by him, proided that no member shall lmve more than four votes. He pointed out that this was the original basis of voting when the factory was established, but had boefi altered two years ago. He considered the man with the greater liability should have the greater voting power. Mr. .T, Dobson seconded.

Mr G. Giddy opposed, as he' considered it would give a big man an advantage over the small shareholder, who «itc( just as much interest in the company as the big shareholder.

Mr Reesbv opposed the motion as he did not consider the big men had any more brains than the small men. He referred to a company, some of whose suppliers had as many as thirteen votes, and they always out-voted the smaller men, with the result that the factory was now almost bankrupt. The big men had the money and the small men had the brains.

Mr. 'Peterson considered that it was a conservative move, which had no hope of being carried by the requisite majority. In reply to Mr Davidson, the chairman staled that he did not know of any administration under the present system.

Messrs Davidson, Ivlenner and others opposed the motion, which was lost, only six voting in its favor.

GENERAL. It, wf.s resolved that the company favors, paying its share towards the obtaining of information re dried milk, even if found necessary to go out of New Zealand, and leaving the matter ill the hands of the directors with power to act.

It was resolved to allocate 1(1 per lb butter-fat during the coming season toward? the payment of the additional sharps in the Freezing Works. Mr. Davidson referred to the question of calf veils, slating that an outsider was giving 3s as against the company's 2s Od. He favored the company giving a liigher price. The chairman stated that Ihe company only received Is (id. Tt was resolved to vote the chairman nn honorarium of £l2 and the directors 10s for each meeting. At a subsequent meeting of directors Mr 6. T. Davidson was elected chairman.