A FARMERS’ CONCERN.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 October 1922, Page 4

A FARMERS’ CONCERN.

BIG LOSS ON PAST YEAR. HELPED TO KEEP MEN AFLOAT. By Telegraph.—Press Association Christchurch, Oct. 7. Although the New Zealand Farmers’ Co-operative Association of Canterbury Limited, 'has made a loss of over £122.000 on its trading operations for tin year and can pay no dividend on ordinary shares, the annual meeting to-day was gay rather than gloomy. There was a certain amount of criticism of the policy followed by the directors, but it was not seriously pursued. One critic, who grew tedious, was “counted out” and the meeting carried on in high spirits until one enthusiastic shareholder called for three cheers for the directors and officers, and the meeting heartily complied. The directors’ report and the statement of account’ were adopted without dissent, and a vote of thanks to the directors and officials was carried by acclamation. In the course of the meeting a number of shareholders spoke in high praise of the service which the association had given to the farmers by offering then: liberal help throughout the slump and the succeeding financial stringency. Several declared the association had full) justified its existence in the past yeai and that the payment of a dividend wa«. a secondary matter. The manager said the association had made losses by giving men chances, but these men would be able to pay twenty shillings in the £ in a couple of years’ time.