WELLINGTON FARMERS MEAT CO, LTD.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10003, 26 March 1910, Page 5

WELLINGTON FARMERS MEAT CO, LTD.

AN EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING. A LUCID STATEMENT OF AFFAIRS. BY THE CHAIRMAN. An extraordinary general meeting of the Wellington Farmers' Meat Company, Ltd., was held in the Exchanee Hall on Thursday afternoon. Mr J. C. Cooper, Managing Director, presided, and there were present between 80 and 90 shareholders. The secretary read the circular calling the meetine. which was as follows: —'"Notice is hereby given that an extraordinary meeting of the above named Company, convene i by the Directors in accordance with h requisition from shareholders, will be n the Dominion Hall, Masn-non, ■., Thursday, the 24th day of March, at one o'clock in the atl'ernoon, for the purpose of considering and, if deemed desirable, passing the following resolutions, with or without modification.

1. To reconsider the site question and to give such direction thereon as the meeting think fit. 2. To consider whether the capital at present subscribed is sufficient to warrant the Directors in proceeding as they propose with the erection of fre zing works, and, if not, then to instruct the Directors to desist therefrom. 3. To consider the question of the expenditure to date of the Company's capital, and to give such direction thereon as the meeting thinks fit." The chairman said the requisition from shareholders to the Directors was not in order, and he, personally, was against acting on it. The Directors, however, considered it would j be better to convene the meeting in accordance with the requisition, and this done. They could not, how- S ever, stop the progress of the work in hand for the sake of the requisition, which was practically the old question of site revived. This had already been decided. In October last a circular had been sent to all shareholders entitled to vote to decide on the question of sice, and 160 voted in favour of the Waingawa site and 22 against it. ' Everything undertaken by the Directors had been done in a thoroughly proper and legitimate manner. (Applause.) To bring forward a requisition of this kind when the Directors were using, their earnest endeavours to push forward the work so as to be in time for next season's markets was not in the interests of the company. He hoped those who had signed this requisition had come prepared to justify their action. He suggested the three proposals should bt taken as one. That would save time, as the result of the first would deci.ie them all. Mr J. T. Bicknell, on behalf of the requisition, saia the requisition was lodged with the directors before tenders were let. In face of the requisition it was the duty of the Directors to hold off from dealing with the tenders until the requisition had been disposed of. Considering the works were in progress, it was useless to move the proposals as they stood in the requisition. The chairman: Recollect the requisition was not in order. Mr Bicknell: I never get anything in order! (Laughter). Continuing, Mr Bicknell said he did not thi k they had a sufficient water supply at Waingawa, and there was not proper provision for drainage. By selecting the present site the Directors had cut off the South Wairarapa section, and they could not expect support from that quarter. He (the speaker) would not send any stock to the Waingawa, and there were a good many more who would not. He only saw two or three present who had signed the requisition to call this meeting, and it was nothing but a i Masterton meeting. (Laughter and ironical cheers). It was quite evident the Directors had pui; obstacles in the way of getting this meeting by accepting tenders and proceeding with the work. He failed to see why the Directors had called the meeting. To test the feeling of the meeting he would move "That the progiess of the work of erecting the buildings be stayed until further expert opinion was obtained.'*

Mr Hughes, of Pahiatua, said such a motion was useless; they might as well have stayed at home. Mr Hndgjns, of Pahiatua, seconded the motion pro forma. He said he came there expecting to hear a strong indictment of the chairman and Directors. Instead of that they had only bad it emphasised \by Mr Bicknell that the site was in the wrong place. He asserted the site was in the right place, and that Mr Bicknell was wrong. (Applause). If tVjr Bicknel shifted up here he would be right, the site would be right, and they would all be right. (Laughter and applause.) The very fact of putting forward such a requisition and indictment would have a detrimental effect on the public, and tended to damage the company and might have a serious effrct on the shares. Mr Bicknell now said it was useless going on with the motions in the requisition, as the tenders were let* They could not possibly delay the 1 work on a requisition, or they would i;ever be started. They.might go c n

( sending in requisitions. They had ) the advice of their engineers and architects in favour of the site to guide them, and their own common sense, and he reckoned they had as much of that as Mr Bickr.ell and his friends had. (Applause). They had submitted tha question ofsite to the shareholders by circular, and there were 166 in favour of Waingawa and 22 against it. Mr Bicknell: The rest never voted. Mr Hodgms said that was their I own fault. They ought to stop this bickering and fighting and acting like a lot of school children. He could assure Mr Bicknell the works would be erected at Waingawa. They wouid be open for the benefit of the farmers, and if they would not support them that would be their own lock out. If they supported thesi they would be a benefit to the district; if they did not the works would stand there a lasting monument Jto the follies of the farmers of tne Wairarapa. (Ap- j plause). Mr E. H. Buckeridge, cf Kokotau.. said tie wmiid like to see the works opened as »<-->..u as possible. The site question was settled, and the works were in course of erection. No delay should be allowed. (Hear, hear).

THE CHAIRMAN EXPLAINS. The chairman said he had expecte to have had something to reply to from those who had fathered the rei quisition. He was opposed to holding this meeting, as he did not consider it necessary. If the letting of the contracts and the progress of the worK had been deferred until they had heard what this, meeting had to say they would have to lose a sea-' son. The first of December was contract time, and that was quite late enough to secure this sea Eon's business. He would like to have seen a start made by Ist November. (Hear, hear.) They had also to allow for contractors' over time. They could not 1 hang things up on such a requisition signed by so few of the shareholders out of eight hundred shareholders. The directors took every I possible precaution by personal,-in- .' spection, and expect advice to secure the best site out of those under offer. : There was a site suitable at Femside, ' but it was not under offer at the time ' the selection was made. They had circularised tbe shareholders to take their opinion; out of 360 shareholders several had not held shares long enough to entitle them to vote, or had not made the payments due. Some had sent in their replies too late, but out of the whole number only 22 had ; voted against thp present site. The directors had done all that could possibly be expceted of them by securing expert advice and taking the opinion of shareholders in selecting the site. (Applause). The Directors had gone to a great deal of trouble to make f sure all requirements were there, j The heads of Health and Veterinary Departments had come up time after time, and Mr Reakes and Dr Frengley would not accept any other spot than the one pointed out, and said, "We will not give you a permit to carry on the freezing works unless you build it there." (The chairman prod.iced correspondence with the Departments confirming hie remarks), The officers of the i Departments rejectel Mr Allen's i land in favour of the present spot on account of the springs of pure '< water on the latter. Personally he . considered the water races would have supplied all the requirements ! of the works, and he wished the springs had no existence. Statements had been made that they could not get rid of their drainage. Mr Reakes was satisfied that they couid. The Directors would like to have had the drainage spread uver the grass paddocks, but they were bound by, ■ the Health and Veterinary Departments to a system of tanks. Had , they adopted the other system it would have paid to buy a large area of land around the works v It was the Islington system they were bound to adopt. There they disposed of 750,000 gallons daily in the season, and they only had an area of 35 acres, whilst there were 200 acres at Waingawa. At the outside it would take an area of 25 acres to dispose of the drainage. The water race at Waingawa was better than anything in Canterbury, where the water travels in open races twenty miles with stock feeding about the race. At Waingawa it w?s not six miles and that through sparsely settled country. With regard to the supplementary supply of water this was a drier season as far as rainfall than it was in the drought of two years ago. The springs at the works had been carefully watched, and there was far • away more water than they required to supply the killing board. They I did not depend on the springs for water. The Taratahi Water Race Committee gave them a one-foot pipe i supply which was exactly the same as the supply to the Fairfield works, , and was more than they required for 4,000 sheep per day, as against 2,000 shtep at Waingawa, and they would ' get four times as much as they re- ■ quired for all time or until the I river runs dry. and as that was > tapped above the Masterton Borough : supply things would be worse with r J the latter before it was bad at the \ - . works. (Laughter). ' -JTHE FINANCIAL POSITION OF A THE COMPANY;, ". i ; The chairman produced a balance 1 ' sheet which was. drawn up for the, , Directors on the 4th Jnst. that .4as'

I three weeks ago, but there was very f Jit tie change in the finances since then. There had been another call, and some payments out. The annual meeting of the company would be held about Ist July, when a duly audited balance sheet would be laid , before the shareholders. The financial statement now submitted showed the authorised capital of the company to be £60,000. The subscribed capital to date was £38,000; the amount paid up was £7,876 on mortgaged and railway there was owing £2,467. This gave the total liabilities at £10,343. The assets were: Property at Waingawa £3,890 Da ad: railway siding on company's ! i,n .£776; premium on siding and cros ; inu £805; office furniture £3l IBs, preii i.ciary expenses £1,646 19s 3d; cash in bank and on deposit £3,192 lis Id; total £10,343. There was also accrued interest £42 lis 4d. He submitted the preliminary expenses were moderate. Out of a total ot £1,645, £971 was paid in commissioi.s on placing shares, just half the amount usually paid; stamps and stationery £39 7sßd; printing £96 17s 3d, travelling expenses £135 10s I'd, salaries of secretary and chairman' \ £2Ol, legal expenses £7l 5s 4d; stamp duty and trading license, 18 months, £95, insurance £l2, and other small sums made up the balance. It was a year that day since they started, and they had done a tremendous amount of preliminary work, including advertising, travelling, etc., and he considered the flotation expenses of the company ■ were moderate, and kept down to the lowest point. He considered that they as directtors had discharged their trust in as good a manner as any trustees could have done. He thought individually they were all out of pocket, but tbey iid not mind that, it was to future benefits they looked lo recoup themselves, not, as imputed, through the flotation of the company. (Applause). INLAND WORKS.

It was said because the works were established inland and not on a seahqard.they could"not-pay. , The best works in the South.lsland were at Fairfield, and that was the same distance from Lyttelton that Wai-i ugawa was from Wellington. Eefore the breakwater was erected Timaru had to send their rozen fmeatlo6 miles to Lyttelton. The example of Canterbury showed that the nearer the works were to the base of supplies the more successful would be the results. The Geelong works, municipally own, d,| and fitted with all modern appliances, with fine water frontage, where strips could be loaded direct from (he works, were built eighteen montrs ago. To-day those works were closed, no sheep being frozen there, only a few rabbits. The manager of those works was an applicant for the 1 managership of the Waingawa works. (Applause.) That was a fairly good answer —the Geelong works had gone "bung." (Applause). Answering Mr Bicknell, the chairman said the lagoon on the property, when cleaned out, would prove a good asset to the company. That was the experience of Islington. MOTION WITHDRAWN. After the full and satisfactory statement of the chairman it was suggested to Mr Bicknell that he should withdraw his motion. With the consent of his seconder and the meeting this was done, amidst applause. Answering further questions the | chairman said the cost of buildings and fittings was £18,070; machinery contracts were not yet let. Their total liabilities would run into £37,000, and their capital was £38,000, with good prospects of increasing it. That simply covered tbe freezing works, and they were large. He hoped before November they would have tinning works; they would then be able to deal with the prime and old sheep. To do this they must have tinning works. (Hear, hear). \ Mr Wingate, of Longburn, whilst not opposing the establishment of works at Waingawa. said it was proved beyond dispute that the seaboard was the place for export freezing works, not inland. (Cries of "No, no " but Mr Wingate was equally persistent). He asked the chairman to explain his present attitude in the face of his former advocacy of works at Wellington. The chairman said the first proposal was to form a company to include Wairarapa, and the West Coast.- He strongly advocated works in Wellington, as no other place could serve the >two districts, otherwise two sets of works would have to be established, one for Wairarapa, and one for the Coast. (Hear, hear.) Mr Buckeridge contended that the nearer the works were to where the meat was killed the better. Driving and trucking was injurious to sheep. A vote of thanks to the chair concluded the meeting.