THE WELLINGTON FARMERS' MEAT COMPANY

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9582, 31 August 1909, Page 6

THE WELLINGTON FARMERS' MEAT COMPANY

REPORT OF SITE AND MANAGEMENT COMMI'ITEE. The following is the report of the Management Committee of the Wellington Farmers' Mtat Co., Ltd., Which is to be submitted to the meeting of shareholders to be heir] at Pahiatua on September 10th:—"In presenting the repurt of the directors no the shareholders, the Management committee beg to state that canvassing for shares has been assiduously maintained from the date of registration of the Company up to August 18th, when the committee considered it advisable to suspend operations, until after the statutory .meeting. The shareholders are well distributed over the various districts on this side of .the range, the majority, of'subscribers beinr; in the Weber, Pahiatua, and Castlepoint Counties.,, Next on the list comes Feathersto'n,,, Masterton and South Wairarapa are in the minority. There is. still s a large amount of canvassing to be'.'done, Mauriceville and Akitio Counties being as yet practically untouched, while a considerable amount p£ canvassing has yet to be, done in the'other Counties. The settlers'on the West Coast so far have only subscribed £7OO of shares. /tt'th6 J dat<3 J of this report the number of shareholders is 361, and'the committee anticipate that before the lists are closed the number will be doubled." It is only fair to point out that the present tightness, of money has ieriously interfered with the canvass, 1 Had the financial position

of this part of the Dominion been as good as it was two years ago, it would have been possible to raise the whole nominal capital of £IOO,OOO. The report of the committee appointed to inspect sites suitable for the Works is enclosed, together with the report of the engineer of the company. A report of the Wairarapa sites will be submitted at the meeting. The committee beg to remind shareholders that at the statutory meeting the remuneration of directors will have to be fixed, and they recommend the appointment of a managing director to'carry on the affairs of the company until the works are completed and ready for operations." j The directors' report states that , the total number of shares alloted is 5,553. representing a nominal value of £27,765. The total amount of cash received in respect of the said shares is £2,834 10s.

ENGINEER'S REPORT ON SITES.

Acting under instructions from the directors, Mr A. S. Mitchell, engineer to the company, visited a number of sites in the vicinity of Wellington, with a view to reporting upon their suitability or otherwise. The report submitted by him is as folbws: —

; "I have the honour to report on ' the suitability, for the purpose of I Freezing Works, of the various sites I inspected by me in company with ! your committee, appointed for the | same purpose. As I have already ' explained to your committee, the ! ideal site is one with the following , features:—l. Accessibility to railI way line. 2. Good drainage. 3. , Good water supply. The latter being ; the most important, as it makes the second so much easier to deal with. ; Feature No. 1 is not necessary for the operation of Freezing Work?, but it i 3 advisable as it vitally affects the coat of handling the produce thereon, and unless it is available, you will not be able tr> compete with those companies having this facility. In herewith reporting on the sites inspected 1 will take them in the following manner: —l, Petone. 2. Silverstream. 3. Banks Meat Company's pronerty at Ngahauranga. 4. Site under offer at Tawa Flat. Site No. 1. —Both the sites under offer at Petone I consider quite unsuitable for your purpose; principally because of the fact that they are situated on that side of the Hutt River distant from the railway line, thus necessitating the construction of a bridge and railway line over tha river to eive access to the woncs. The cost of construction of a work makes the adoption of these sites quite impracticable. Site No. 2. The site inspected at Silvewtream is also out of the question owing to its great distance from any point at which drainage from the works can be discharged. Site No. 3.—The site under offer by the Banks Meat Company is well situated with regard to drainage and water supply, but has the great disadvantage of being about threequarters nf a mile from the railway line. The cost of the construction of a siding of this length would j amount to about £5,000. Another disadvantage of this site is the small area of flat land available for the purpose of building, this area being further reduced by a right-of-way through the same to the property of Messrs W. Dimock and Co. The actual flat area available, although sufficient to build of the size you require, would leave no room whatever for holding of paddocks, as the balance of the property is much too steep for this purpose. The buildings connected with this

property would be absolutely no use for the purpose of a modern Freezing Works, such as you require, and would all require to be demolished, to carry out such a scheme. Site No. 4.—Since visiting the site under offer at Tawa Flat I have made the fullest inquiries from the firm of surveyors who surveyed the property, the Railway Department, and the Engineer of the mental hcspital at Porirua, who have all kindly placed such information as they have at my disposal. In regard to the water supply 1 am now quite satisfied that with sufficient storage accommodation and pumping appliances the supply available would be ample for all your requirements; ana, in the event of extension, there would, I am sure, r.e no difficulty in securing the water rights of other streams adjacent to the property under offer. In regard t« drainage, this will present no difficulty, as, although the site is distant some 2J miles from the peine suitable for the discharge nf drainage, there is a fall to the sea of at least 110 feet, which will be more than sufficient for your purposes. My estimate and cost of drainage and water supply work in connection with a works situated at this site would be about £5.000. In regard to the accessibility to the railway I am assured by this department who have gone very fully into ihe matter, that there will be j no difficulty in this connection; the cost of this being on the lowest I sc3le. The right to drain along the railway line is, I understood, being investigated by the present owners of the property, who, no doubt, will report to you direct, Should you decide on the site at Tawa Flat it will be necessary to secure the whole of the catchment area supplying the creek on this property in order to protect the water supply from pollution. Trusting this will help you to come to a decision on this matter."