LEPPERTON DAIRY CO.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1921, Page 5

LEPPERTON DAIRY CO.

THE ANNUAL MEETING. CHAIRMAN REVnWS POSITION. Tho tweiity-nlntli annual meatlnc of th» Lepperton Dairy .Factory Company was held b ‘.ho Lepperton Hall last night, Mr. H. B Lepper presiding over an attendance of abeng 50 shareholders. In moving the adoption of the report ajk balance-sheet (already published), Mr. Lwp« per said: ✓'Your directors have much pleas» lire in congratulatinc you an a fairly prosperous year. Looking ar. Ji from the point of view ut output and value, and eotnpsring it with previous years, the verdict vould be eminently satisfactory." Ho said that ft VM generally supposed that on the expiration oft the contract made with the Imperial Government for the purchase of the oTportaWd blitter and chee.se of tue Dominion, wl"icft terminated on July 31, 1920, shippers wouM be allowed a free market. However, it waa doomed easentinl th. .. Rome tn insure of control should be exercised over butter to eun bilise retail prices. Negotiations ware commenced by the Pood Controller, through thd Dominion Government, to purchase al’ the exportable butter made up to July, 31, 19tl. . Producers demanded a free market, and da- | cliued to accept the offer made, hrtieriag ihat , Lt a tree market was granted higher vaJueo 1 would be obtainable. Eventually, an ajreo- ! mont was arrive-; at that the Imperial Qovornment should take over the exportable butI rer placed in the freezing works prior to Ap» I rfl 1, 1921, at 2s Cd per lb. This contract ■ has proved itself to be of great value H producers. As regards cheese, tvhen tho new season ' opened and off< rs were being made for cheese, ' they were decidedly good. Lepperton had • dual plant, but they harJly entertained the Idea nf making butter, although butler wu at a good price, especially with caaein. Al the prospects fur cheeso were so bright, they could possibly do nothing but make cheese. He ventured to say that nad all tfco factorial in New Zeeland had dual plants they would have gone in for cheese. ' . Explaining the misfortunes of the year, Mr< Lepper sard that owing to a telephono mu-« sage from their exporting agents in New Plymouth going astray, u ■ ss of about £3OOO had resulted to the company. The messiga was taken to his house by a child, and he being nut ut the time, the message <vas nsver delivered. The message w:s in relation to an offer for their output from an English fircn, and dur'.ng the delay on its non-delivery, the offer had been cancelled by cable. Mr. Lepper inadn It clear to tho shareholders th. this unfortunate mistake was no fault of his, and could not have been avoided under tho circumstances. Air. Lepper . ,iid it was neccasary tc back the factory up. increase the share capital, / and re-construct the company. Speaking in regard to the working of tire factory, he said that it would be that the fuel ¥lll was unduly high. This was duo to the fact that the bridge of the boiler bricking h’d been knocked out, ind the fuel cunsumpitoii was about 50 cent, higher than It should have been. The di.-vetora had decided to collect cream, Kuppllere being al* lowed 14d per pound of fat on their supply, Tha cost of carting the cream w mid La Ud per lb. hi regard to the bonus payable, ths (thairman said that the company hoped to pay out 4d per lb., witb the possibility of a further Vi*d. He Issued a warning to suppliers not to sell their cream to tho proprietary concerns operating in the district, as when these concerns had Gosed the co-opera-tive factories they would be at liberty to pay their own prices. Their testing, too, was not rollable, as the cream collected by them wm often vary stale, and In that condition it could not be accurately tested. A supplier hero pointed out that he had I: ad a sample of cream, taken from the same bulk as that supplied to a Wanganui firm, sent to a Government tester for analysis, and the tester had replied that it was not possible to accurately test the cream in such a ttfiUd condition. THE DISCUSSION.

A shareholder naked If it would not be good finance to Increase the share capital. The chairman said he thought it was absolutely necessary to increase tho capital. He said the joint and several had been reduced to £2OOO, which waa being paid off at the rate of £5OO per year. He thought the old joint and several should stand aside, and the bankers be approached for a new joint and several for, say, £4OOO. This could be kept as a working account when It was required. It would be necessary to increase the share capital to 7000 shares to secure this additional capital. A supplier asked if the water that nad been going to waste at the factory could not be utilised for power for butter-making. Tte chair, man said that there was undoubtedly power at hand and going to waste in the stream at the factory, but the r tumbling block was finance. It would coat about £3OOO to harness the stream, and with money at 7 per cent, this was a big obstacle. At the same time, it anight be itossible to secure this power, and it would be a great boon to the company. He had a considerable amount of data in connection with the proposed waterpower scheme and this was ready at such time as the financial position would allow of further consideration. They had expected to secure power from the New Plymouth hydro works, but it was evident that this would b« some time in coming. The report and balance-sheet were adorn ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The retiring directors were Messrs. F. Cloke, H. B. Lepper and W. N. Ackland. Before the voting took place Mr. Vile asked that the five nominees should be asked to state their views in regard to the disposal o! produce, and their general views on the working of the company’s business, so that the suppliers should know what they were voting for. This course was accordingly adopted, and Messrs. lipper, Cloke, Gilbert Ackland and Old, the nominees, each spoki briefly, all being Jn favor of making buttsi for the coming season.

The voting resulted as follows: Lepper 134 Cloka 88, Old 106 (elected). Ackland 63, anc Gilbert 36.

Mr. E. P. Webster was appointed auditor At the request of the chairman, Mr. Car ner (the newly-appointed secretary to th« , company), addressed the meeting on the necessary lines of reconstruction of the company. Mr. Messenger, the late secretary, wai voted a bonus of £lO.

At a subsequent meeting of directors Mr Lepper was re-elected cbairman.