DAIRY COMPANIES' CONFERENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8311, 14 December 1906, Page 5

DAIRY COMPANIES' CONFERENCE.

ADDRESS BY ME J. G, HARKNESS. A conference of delegates fr. ( m dairy companies in the Wyirar<ip*v and Bush diatriots was held in Masterton, . yestarday morning, to consider certain amendments to the Companies act, 100, i, aa proposed by the National Dairy. Association. Seventeen companies hud teen invited to send representatives to the meeting, but only six representatives attended. The delegates present were:—Messrs E Pede'seu and W. Neiisen (Mnnrioevillo Dairy* Company), E. Albertsen and T\ B. Mason (Nireabn Cheese Factory), 1-J. Rayner'(Te Whiti Cheese Faotnry), and G. R. Sykes (Masterton Dairy Company). Mr J. G. Hardness, Seerecaiy of the National Dairy Association, was also nresent, at;d delivered a nhorfc address on the proposed amendments 1,0 the Act. During the course of his remarks Mr Harkness stated '.hat it was absolutely illegal at the present time for a dairy company to purohise its own shares, yet it wasjbeing done in Tarauuki. But dairy farmers wanted is as one of tho cardinal points of the proposed Uiil that companies should bo allowed to repurchase their os®n shares np to a certain amount. Discussing ao-oper-ation, Mr Harkness said that the spirit of co-operation to look to tho people immediately surrounding one. It was no use having a factory situated in the Auckland district,and all tho shareholders in Wellington. At the present time in Taranaki there were plenty of shareholders in dairy aompauies)who were not suppliers, and these people would dominate in ruling the companies, if they were only allowed, "and," continued the speaker, "it is those people we want to get rid of." At a meeting of dairy-farmers at Stratford recently a co operative dairy oompany wnf, defined' as follows: —"A co-operative dairy oompany means a company already registered under The Companies Act, whether consisting at farmers or not (or a company of farmers hereafter to ho formed mainly for tho purpose of mnnnlao* turing any article of farm or dairy produce from raw material supplied by shareholders and othere, the profits, after allowance for payment of dividend if auy on share capital being divided amongst tho shareholders of the compp.uy in proportion to tho amount of raw material supplied by eiich shareholder, and shall also include any eompany formed by amalgamation or otberwiso of any two or more of the companies formed as above, who shall by suoh amalgamation or other means join together for tha purpose of—(a) manufacturing any article required by the individual oompauies (b) for tho marketing or disposal of '"heir manufactured article, or (o) for the farther preparing or marketing by meaDa of refrigeration or otherwise of such manufactured produce." He Btrongly opposed that olause beoause it left au opening for meat companies, which were comprised of farmers. Another matter that was illegal under the present Aot was the taking of a man's shares whqther be liked it or not when he ceased to be n supplier. Nevertheless, there were several companies who were taking that power under their Artioles of Association, and some day when matters in the dairying indiutry were not so prosperous as a*: present as far as prioes were concerned there would be some uhareholder taking the matter before the Supreme Court, • and the co operative business would then fall like a pack of oards. The new Bill aimed at stopping the practice of a company buyiug a man's shares whether he liked it or not. Speaking of the allocation of shares on the butter-fat system, Mr Harknetjs said he was entirely opposed to It, and was of opinion that, shares should be allotted on the haeis of the quantity of milk supplied to the fautory. If a man was sending to the factory the fulleßi amouut ol : butter fat that could be sent from any herd, why, asked tho speaker, should that man bo penalised by having to take up a corresponding quantity of shares? Mr Harkness went through the various clauses of the Bill, and in conclusion he stated that he was sorry that the funds of the Association would not allow him to travel around and meet the farmers more frequently. He would like to say to them—and he hoped they would not take umbrage at it —that the farmers were running their factories on entirely wrong lines. They were not-writing off any amount for depreciation in their plant, and they were not building up any reserve fund, lie contended that the farmers wove trying to get every farthing out of the dairying business at the present time, and they were only looking to the present and discounting the future. Numbers of companies would require new buildings in the future, and if thaie were no reserve fund, whore was the money for the new buildings to come from? "The industry," concluded Mr Harkness, "is going to inorease in this country, and I ask you to look to the future." After a few questions had been answered satisfactorily, a vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Harkness for his address, and the meeting adjourned.