TARANAKI FARMERS' MEAT COMPANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1919, Page 7

TARANAKI FARMERS' MEAT COMPANY.

A PROGRESSIVE CONCERN. NECESSITY FOR FURTHER ENLARGEMENT. The success that has attended the Taranaki Farmers' Meat Company since the establishment of. its works at ;Smart Road some two years ago has led to the extension of the buildings, etc., on several occasions, and now, in order to cope with the increasing quantities of Btock offering in as profitable a manner as possible, the directors have decided that certain departments must be enlarged. In order to do this additional share capital is required. An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders Was held in the Good Templar Hall on Saturday to consider the following resolution: "That the capital of the company be increased from £IOO,<£oo, divided into 20,000 shares of five pounds each, to £150,000, divided into 30,000 shares of five pounds each, such additional shares to rank equally with the original capital of the company, and to be issued at such time or times and on such terms and conditions as the directors may prescribe;" Apologies were received from Messrs. W. A. McCutchan (Kohuratahi) and W. H. Martin (Pukearuhe). Mr. J. A. Quin (chairman of directors) presided over an attendance of about forty shareholders. In moving the resolution, the chairman said the present capital of £IOO,OOO was nearly all issued,, there being only 890 shares not applied for. The directors held the opinion until recently that no, further issues of shares would he necessary, and that any further additions to the works would be made from time to time out of the earnings of the company. This policy had proved, however, to be quite inadequate to provide the district with the facilities it requires for the treatment of fat stock. The province is rapidly" coming into prominence as a stock raising centre, and it is noteworthy that the establishment of farmers' freezing works in the various parts of the Dominion during the last ten years has had the effect of encouraging the production of fat stock. This is proved by the fact that, not only have the more recently established companies had all the stock they can cope with, but the older companies have had to increase their capacity from time to time to keeep pace with this rapidly growing industry. An exactly similar condition of affairs is being experienced in l this district. The production of freezing stock is increasing at an extraordinary rate, and every effort must be made to meet the demands made upon the accomodation at the works. In order to meet the requirements of the district the directors consider that the capacity of the works should not be less than 1,500 sheep and ISO head of cattle daily. This is an increase of 50 per cent, on the present capacity, and, to enable this to be done, it will be necessary to add to the slaughtering department, / the fellmongery, the preserving department, and the tallow and manure departments. A further addition will be necessary to the boiler house, but, with the exception of a small sum to be spent in converting n portion of the present .cold stores into freezing chambers, the power plant and cold storage accommodation will be amble for the proposed increase in the dally output. ' /

Mr. A. Morton, in seconding the ihotion, said that' when they started the Farmers' Works at Smart Road, the directors adopted the policy tblat it would be wise to go ahead slowly. They found, howevler, that ever since the works started they had never had the carpenters or masons absent from the works, and they had not yet finished making additions; indeed, the works were nothing like what they would be when all the additions were completed. A great deal of the additions in the past had been in connection with cool storage accommodation, which was now fairly ample, and he did not think,that they would require to increase this for some, years. It was, however, in respect to the accommodation for handling the byeproducts that they were short, particularly the f ellmongery, manure, and tallow works. If they killed up to the present capacity of the works they could not handle the bye-products properly in the departments mentioned. The position was not so acute during the scarcity of shipping, but once the shipping had improved, it would be more than ever necessary that their capacity for handling the bye-products should be up to the killing capacity, so that they could make the most profitable use of the works. They could increase the killing capacity now, but by doing so they would block the allied departments. From the time the establishment of the works was first suggested, doubt was expressed as to whether they would get sufficient stock after allowing for the requirements of the other works that already existed. The experience during the past two years had amply proved the wisdom of establishing the works, and with the prospects of the development of the back country of Taranaki, even with the proposed additions, he felt that the works would not prove too large, and in a few years the shareholders would ask for further additions. „The district was on the eve of great development, and he instanced the Harbor scheme, which the Board would push on to the utmost as soon as it was approved by the ratepayers, as he felt sure it would be. The Government had also been urged to push on with the Stratford-Okahukura railway, and he believed the representations made to the Ministers lately would have an effect. The works would then draw stock largely from a country which it now just tapped, u fine country with immense possibilities, and it would then be found that the works would require further enlargement. To make greater progress the works must be up-to-date, and, though up-to-date when established two years ago, they were found to-day to bo behind the times. It did nofl pay to use obsolete machinery. It was necessary to increase the efficiency of the plant by the installation of up-to-date machinery which would reduce the cost of manufacture and increase the quality and quantity of the various bye-products. He believed the shareholders were well satisfied with the results already achieved by the directors, but if they would only come forward aiid find the necessary capital for the proposed, improvements he was confident that their confidence would not be misplaced. A shareholder asked in what depart- ■ ments the plant was obsolete.

Mr. Milne, general manager of the company, said that it was proposed to utilise the benzine process in place of the present digesters, which left as high as 16 per cent, of fat in the manures. This meant a considerable loss to the nomparv each year. The present- digesters could be utilised for tho finer claisw

of tallow. He recognised that the works were bound to increase, and his instruc-tions-to the arohiteot were to prepare the plans so that they could ultimately cope with 5,000 sheep and 400 to 500 head of cattle daily. At present they should provide for a capacity of 1,500 feheep and 150 head of cattle per day. Continuing, Mr. Milne said that unfortunately the slaughtering capacity of the works this season had been quite Inadequate to cope with the supply of stock coming forward from the company'a shareholders. There were numerous instances of shareholders having to wait for nearly six weeks to get their stock treated, and there was nothing more fatal to the growth of the industry than the inability to get stock away when ready. The climatic conditions of the spring and early summer, by retarding fhe fattening of stock, had, no doubt, contributed largely to the present congestion, but it was generally recognised that the fattening season in the province was,-at best, a short one, and all the more reason why the works should be of sufficient capacity to cope with such conditions. It would be no exaggeration to say that the loss suffered by the clients of the company alone through delay in getting away their stock must run into many times the i mount of capital the shareholders were uowxasked to subscribe, In the schema for the increase of the plant they had pot lost sight of the necessity for the establishment - of a fertiliser-mixing plant. This was regarded as a moat important department, and it was hoped shortly to secure the machinery necessary for mixing purposes. They were, in (act, making every effort to place a fertiliser on the market this winter, hut, j)wing to the absence of the necessary plant, the quantity available would be somewhat limited.

Regarding power, Mr. Milne said that the company could draw its power from the New Plymouth hydro-electric supply, which would be cheaper than they could manufacture their own power, and would, moreover, save a heavy expenditure in machinery. In reply to a shareholder, the chairman said that at the present time the company was dealing with shareholders' etock only. Had they gon'e on the open market they could, probably, have made £20,000, and could then have carried out the proposed additions without approaching the shareholders, but as long as the shareholders had stock and room was available at the works they would not buy outside (applause). Continuing, the chairman said that when the works were almost full he thought the directors would have to consider the question of allotting space pro rata to the number of shares held by the supplier for bona fide farming and not speculative purposes. Mr. Geo. Colson favored all the employees being shareholders, because if I hey had an interest in their work they would look after it better. The resolution was then put and carried unanimously,