TEMUKA BUTTER, CHEESE, AND BACON-CURING FACTORY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1551, 2 September 1886, Page 3

TEMUKA BUTTER, CHEESE, AND BACON-CURING FACTORY.

The annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Temaka Bui ter, Cheese, and Bacon-Curing Factory Company, Limited, was held I ait Tuesday evening in the Wallingford Hotel, at which about 20 • shareholders were present. "Id? James Guild, Chairman of Directors, presided. MINUTES. The minutes of the previous annual meeting were road and confirmed. REPORT AND BALANCE SHEET. The Secretary then read the balancesheet which showed the profits of the past year to have been £lllßs 3d. He also read the following report; Annual report for the Temnka Butter, Cheese, and Bacon-Curing Factory, Company, Limited, for the year ending 31st July, 1886. ■ i - To the Shareholders. Gentleman,—l have the pleasure of placing before you the Balanoe : sheet for the past year, and }U doing so I wish to draw your attention to the profit and loss account. Which shows a reduction of last year’s balance of £U 18" 3d, this amount being the total actual profit on the year'* working. The iwaUnesfl of thie amount was partly caused ky the fact that the Directors were, met early in the season by a united action of tbs suppliers, almost amounting to a strike,

wliifh compelled them to raise the price of milk from 9Jd to a fraction over 3ld by loweiing the weight of the gallon from lllbs to lOlha. It ni»y not be out of place here to'direot the attention of the suppliers to the extremely narrow margin left. Had any one shipment turned out badly the balance would hnye been on the other side. Unless they are prepared to consider the welfare of the Company as wall as their own, they may easily cause the collapse of the undertaking. It is a matter for congratulation that in a bad season for milk the Factory has shown i'aelf ,to be aelf-supporting, and at the same time be the means of distributing over two thousand pounds of Australian money in the district. The dry summer and the high pries of butter may also be regarded aa one of the causes that have contributed to the small profit. During the past year 109,082 gallons of milk hsve been received, costing £1568 Is Bd, from which 98,616 lbs of cheese have been made, which was sold to an Australian firm at fair price, and as we have several enquiries for the next season’s make, there is every reason to believe lbat. it will alio be disposed of satisfactorily. The Company's financial position may be shortly stated as follows The amount owing to the Bank is £779 16s lOd, against which we have £B3l 8s 10d due on calls—good money—£926*9d due for cheese, cheesa in stock £228 6s 6d, altogether £652 Is, from which must be deducted £2O for outstanding accounts, leaving £632 li, which taken from the amount of the overdraft leave! £14715s 10d,ae the sum total of the actual indebtedness of the Company, while it must also be borne in mind that the land and buildings are entirely unencumbered. Shareholders may feel disappointed that yrs are unable to declare a dividend, but it muat be remembered that this is only our third season. Dairy Factories are essentially oooptratite institutions, and while converting the dairy produce of the immediate district into Australian money, benefit a wider radius by leaving the local market opsn to it, and consequently should be supported as far possible by those farmers who live near enough to become suppliers of milk. The Directors have arranged with Mr Samuel Bowman to resume the personal management of the Factory next season. It will be necessary for the shareholders to elect two Directors in place of Messrs J. Austin and R. A. Barker, who retire by rotation, but who are eligible for re-election, also to fill the vacancies caused for the resignation of Messrs Postlethwsite and Guild, whose private business will not admit of their devoting tha necessary time to the affairs of the Company. An Auditor will a’so have to be appointed. Jambs Gunn, Chairman.

The Chairman in moving the adoption of the repoit said he wished to intimate his intention of retiring from the Directory. Ho intended to retire last year bn» there was a largo overdraft, and he wished to see it clear before handing it over. Had not the milk suppliers compalled them to raise the price of milk they would have been dear this year. However, it would be easy for them to get as good a Chairman as he was, so that would make no difference. The Directors always worked amicably with him ; there was never any difference bet veen them, and everything passed cff smoothly. There was one item on which he desired to make a remark. The rent of paddock and the whey ought to have been about £3O more, but owing to the insolvency of the tenant + hat amount was lost. He would like to see milk supplied at 3jd. It seemed to be its fair value j it was she price it was supplied at,in America sod elsewhere, and, if it were, the company would have been in a better position. A profit of only £ll 18* 3d was too little ; it was sailing too close to the wind, snd no one could carry on a concern at so low a rate of profit. H« would not take up any more of their time, but move the adoption of the report. Dr Hayp£ seconded the motion, Mr Ackroyd asked the price at which the cheese was sold to the Australian merchant who bought it. The Chairman said the large size cheeses were sold »t6sd, and the small chaoses at 6jd per lb, delivered f.o.b. at Timaru. This included packing. In reply to a question,' the Chairman said that a couple of boxes had been complained of by the purchasers, but the amount they claimed for compensation would amount to only about £3 65., Mr Mason asked to explain the item of £25 for law charges. The Secretary said some of it was for cost of stamps and summonses, but those who had been sued wculd have to refund a good deal of it. Dr Hayes asked whether it was contemplated to provide suitable accommodation for the Manager. The Chairman said the matter had been talked over, but nothing definite had bean done. He thought it could not be dune cheaper than at present. Dr Hayee said that if they wou’d have t« refund £3 5* to the Australian merchant, it would reduce their profit of £ll 18s 3d. The Chairman admitted that it would. Mr Scott spoke shout local buyers of cheese not getting it as cheap us the Australian buyers. The Chairman said the matter had been talked over, but the margin left was »o small that if what Mr Scott had said had been done there would not have been any profit. Mr Mason asked whether they got it at the same price. The Chairman said they did, only the difference in the packing and freight to Timaru. It must be remembered that the Australian merchants took tons of it for cash, while it frequently happened they had to wait some time for the local buyers’ money. Mr J. Brown did not think any of the -local buyers were complaining, Mr Ackroyd said “ No." Mr Brown said ho took the factory’s cheess at sjd, although he could have got cheese from Aknroa at 4Jd per lb. He asked the Secretary to explain the items about the cases. The Secretary said out of £lll 14* 6d down for cases £4O of it belonged lo Ust year, so that the item should have been £4O less than it was. It was pointed out that it was not fair for (he milk sapp'iers to withdraw their uiiik from the factory a a soon as the price of butter went up. ought not to be forgotten that it was the factory helped to raise the price of butter, and if the factory did not exist they would not get such a good price for it, Mr Daily said {.hat persons who continued supplying milk all (be year round ought to get something for it. The Chairman said that point was certainly well worth considering. Dr Hayes said people would always buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market. Thejfactory would have to work on a sound basis it was uo use appealing to a person’s good nature about it. , The Chairman said that was true in a

certain sence, tut the factory entered into certain responsibilities on the strength t'f the promises of the milk suppliers. The Company contracted to supply a certain Australian firm with cheese atSJd, and would they be justified, in breaking that contract provided the price of cheeae went up t Dr Uayes said that was a contract. The Chairman bbkJ the contract was implied in the other cnee. Mr Daily moved Ih’i* auv peraon supplying to the fac'ory 15 gallons of milk per day be given 4d per gallon for it. The Chairman said such a thing could not be. After a conversational sort of a discussion, the motion for adopting the report was carried unanimously. Oi? the motion of Dr Hayes, seconded by Mr Mason, a vole of thanks to the Directors for their services last year was curried unanimously. On the motloa of Mr Twomey, seconded by Mr Scott, Messrs Austin and Barker were re-elected Directors for the -• netting y««. The Chairman said lhat there were two vacancies to ho filled. One was caused through himself having to retire, md the other through the resignation of Mr Postlethwsito. The Chairman was pressed to remain on the Directory for another year, bst bo refused to do so. Ultimately Dr Hayse and Mr Mason were proposed as Directors to fill the vacancies, and an there were no others nominated they were elected. On the motion of Mr Twomey, Mr Rout was re-elected Auditor of the Company. The meeting terminated with the usual com; liment t o theUlmirman. DIRECTORS’ MEETING. A meeting of the newly-appointed was afterwards held, but no biiaineHS was transacted, the elec iou of n Chairman, etc., being postponed till a meeting to be held about the 9th of this month.