PROPOSED MEAT TINNING WORKS FOR WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2041, 6 August 1885, Page 3

PROPOSED MEAT TINNING WORKS FOR WAIKATO.

A MEirriHO of flic settlers of Waikato was held in tKe Public Hall, Hamilton, yesterday, for the pur[>ose of discussing the advisableness or otheiwise of establishing meat tinning »vorka in the Waikato. Theio was a very large and representative gathei ing, over ,»eventy gentlemen, including many of the leading residents of tho district, being present. Major Jackson was voted to the chair. The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, said thoy wore met together to discuss theadv(s4bUnessof starting something for the put pose of disposing of their surplus stock. He would not detain them, but fltrould ask Mr W. A. (initiaia. who had Convened the meeting, to address thoso present. Mr Graham coirnnence* by saying that the present meeting had' no connection whatever with the Co-opeiative Association. It was a public meeting called for the purpose of devising means for the establishment of ,i factory for preserving and tinning meat. In tho light of past experience, it required some assurance to ask people to subscribe to a company, but he had called the meeting because he felt convinced that nomethmgwas necessary to be done. Bad as the state of m«ittei« was now, it would be worse m twelvo months time if no effort were made to remedy it. Livestock was tho sheet anchor of the Waikato farmer, and the price* for l'\o stock had sunk so low that grazing had ceased to be remunerative. It was not the welfare of the farmer only that was menaced, but that of everybody in the district. In time no doubt large markets would be available locally on the goldfields and elsewhere, but in the inei\ntu»if something must bo done to relieve the depression. Waikato must look to herself to do this. If they all put their shoulders to tho wheel he fcLbeliewd they could do it. The suggos irion ho'had w lay before the meeting was that a tinning company be started. The production of moat had overtaken the homo consumption, and the wink-, in Auckland were not large enough either to take their meat, pj to meet the older-, coining forward. He quoted from the Auckland Herald in proof of this. He quoted » paragraph from the San Franei-co News Letter', in which the quality of New Z «aland beef wan highly e\tolled. It was sold • .there (cooled) at 7VI per lb. Now there was no. reason why San Francisco should continue to provide them with a mir■cet for pi une pints ; the infciior portions ' could Jhj canned. Of course some of the prime joints -a large proportion — could be sold retail in Auckland. Concerning tho plant; and stock requited, he had a mass of information, which would be at the disposal of the meeting or any com mittee they might see fit to appoint. The Co opeiative Association had made full enquiries in Ameuca, but as to the exact cost of everything, including buildings, &c., he was not m a position to give particulars. As to 'the amount of capital required : they all knew that the Auckland company had started with a capital of JtI2.")0,000. A Waikato company would be m a superior position, because they would in the first place xecurc the co-operation of the farmer*, and would requite no capital to purchase lire stock, &c. Their meat would also be better in quality, as it would not be mimed by truck or steamer. It was not necessary | to erect expensive buildings ; in Orange, N.S.W., the buildings vvero constructed of timbor. Nor was it necessaiy that the works should be at a seaport ; the Orange works were 100 miles from the sea. He had a mass of figures, with which he would not weaiy the meeting, but he would give them nn idea of w hat he thought the cost would be. When some years ago it was proposed to .start a company in Waikato the capital was fixed at 1T)0,000. Now he, did not think they required so much as that, but nuther, on the other h<ind, did he believe they ould woik on a capital of t'2ooo or £'3000. He thought they would require about £l'"), 000, that wan to tny if they determined upon erecting cooling chambers and carrying on the fieezingbusine«s. He thoughtthey should make an effort to raise this amount. They must "remember that hundreds of thousands of pounds weie at stake. They should get a plant capable of dealing with at least 2\ tons of meat per diem. The management required for 1J tons would be the same as for the larger amount. At present there were about 100 bullocks killed eveiy week in Waikato, and assuming that a third of the meat would bo consumed locally, 300 bullocks per week would bo requned when tho company started. He felt quite sure that they could command the Wai n eat trade by arrangement with tho butchers, while a large quantity of the locally tinned meat would also be consumed in the district. At prejeht they were sending meat to Auckland 7 to be returned again in a preserved «tate. They were also sending away hides and tallow to Auckland to be re-consigned to Australia when they might just a/* well forward these article direct. He wbs convinced that in the interests of the fanners n»mo hucli company as he proposed was urgently required, At the request of Capt. Steele, Mr Graham read the following letter :— „ fc'an Francisco, July 2nd, IMS.".. Mr. A. Grvham, Ksq., Chairman Noith N.Z. Farmers' Co operative Assjciation, Auckhnd, N.Z.— Dk\u Sir : Refemng to my letter dated June 4th, by List mail, I now have much pleasure in putting beforj yoij the information obtained from our corespondents in the East, with refercne* to a tin plant for your company, 2. Accompanying this lettrr is a complete estimate ol cost of all th»; machinery, piesses, die^, etc , required for such an outfit as is used by vuch a manufacturing concern as that of Armour and Co., and which also includes the cost of miscellaneous tools and labels for cans and packing boxes. These prices rue for d«liveiy in the East, and, if the machinery was chipped by way of San i'nujcwco, fruight to this point and hena" to Auckland would have to be added. SVnenever your director* decide how largo a plant would be required for carrying on the business of the proposed canning company, if statement is sent us Knowing what portions of tho machinery of which an estimate is now sent you would be required, we cm doubtless fmvvnrd you statement of cost of same, within a few pouml-i, delivered in Auckland. 3. As piomised you in our letter we m ule »j>t;eial inquiries w ith refeienco to obtaining a ■uparintendent to t iko chaigc of such work*, and learned from our fi lends m the Kastthnfc n gentleman cm be procured who is said to have no c.jiial in the United States m this line of business. H<> U fully tom|K!tont in all tho details, having Ween supuiintundent of onu of the largest concerns of the kind m tin-, country, and his only object m making a change would bo to buttei himself financially. This gentleman would be willing to accept a position for throe yeai* on the following terras : $2iOO per year, payable monthly, for* the firnt year ; for the other two y ears, $2500, and h'vo per cent, of the net piohts of the business. In addition to this you would be expected to nay the espenses of firft-clasn passage for himself and family, consisting of a wife and two children, to New Zealand. 3. Should the engagement entered upon not be satisfactory to either party, the same might be terminated at the entt of the first year, first class passage back to this country to be furnished, as befo'ro. The superintendent described is said to be Hober, and industrious, and about thirty years of age. Our correspondents consider him cheap on the terms mentioned. We cannot assure you, however, that this gentleman will be open to engagement any length of time, as the offer made to us is not held open. At the same time, should you conclude to put up tho works and employ a competent manager fiom tho United States, we have no doubt that some one equally good could be obtained, should this person have accepted engagement elsewhere. 4. For your information, we may mention that the parties who furnished us tho ostimate pent you herewith say that to make the canning business a success, as far as pmfits art Concerned, that a boap factory and an oltomargerine factory in connection with the works would greatly enlarge the profits, as the two latter would use a large amount of material which otherwise would be wasted or bring but a small nniount. 7>, We are advised to recommend you to give vi authority to purohase such tools as are deemed necessaiy to start a factory on a. basis of five or ten tons a day, because they can be gotten up in better shape and m less time hero than in the colonies ; so that you can have those duplicated to work from. The list of tools given have a capacity of 30,000 to 31,0001bs per day. No estimate hag been made for boileis, pipes, fittings, &c. These we suppose you can have made in New Zealand at less cost. Our corres. pondents offer to get up the tools and machinery needed without your having to tro to the expense of Bending a representative- to tint* country, in which case they would want the matter placed in their tiands ft 1 rich a way as to give their best judgment in producing tho results required, and would require at least ten weeks to get up nn outfit ready for shipment ; so that, if action is taken duiing the next si* mouths,

Waikato would bo assisting the company to clo so by starting a canning works, of their own. In speaking to Mr Bank*, lie asked if it was intended to have canning woiksjin Auckland. Mr Bank's roply was that they required a certain amount of rough meat foi Auckland. He thought the Waikato people would bo lug fools, if they let the company ha\e then lough meat. Hi-> American acquaintances, in answar to hi-, query as to what became of thn Chicago meat, told him they fed the Bntish Army and Navy. A short time ago the British Government sent an order to Ameiica- for 10,000,000 lb-. of compressed corned meat. He thought Now ZeaJanders had just as much right to feed the British Army as the Yankees had. (Applause ) They weie all vciy much indebted to Mr Giaham for the troublu he had taken. Ho agreed with Mr Roche that it would be difficult to raise €2*i,000. He behe\ed that a small tinning plant could be got for, say, £"j,OOO. He behe\ed this amount c mid bo laised. First of all they must attempt to make a first class nitieleand sufficient to keep a staff of uoikniPii at woik. If it conld not be done for k"-s than £25,000, they need not w aste their time about it, but he was sine they could do it for less. Ho had groat faith in the future of the country, which, notw lthst.inding the depression was improv ing year by year. He did not blame the middlemen and would say nothing against them. At for the auctioneers, he did not think they would be prejudiced in the least. Mi Jas. Foiresfc strongly supported the scheme, and said he would be piepared to tako shares. He di^agieed with the remarks which had fallen from Mr Roche respecting the Auckland butchers and quoted the following letter: — "Auckland, July 80, 188.1. — To the chairman and gentle men of Waikato Farmers' Association. — Gentlemen,— At a meeting of the Auckland Butcheis' Association, held on the 27th mst., it was unanimously lesohed tJi.it we aik your en-operation to provide a remedy, if possible, for the depreci itn>n in the price of meat in Auckland, as such puces now obtained must seriously reflect on tho fanner. This unsatisfactory state of things is, we helievp, brought about by a cmnpuij' here selling meat at juices less than the c.ittle, &c. cm be pioduced foi. We have addie-sed a communication to the company asking then co-operation also, and we ato it present waiting their leply.— l ha\e, fee, F. J. Kwikh.i,, Hon. Sec. Mr Giahatn behe\edthat Waikato would siib^cube £25,000 if required. He thought they would do it in self-defence. Theie were many other lndustues in connection with the proposed company, and they should look ahead. They might be able to utait with less, and he hoped to find that they could. He hid put the n'guies high becuise he did not want them to think that they ould piuchise the millenium for a few thousand pounds. He would ask Mi Roche to withdraw his amendment. He would ha\e an oppoitunity at tho ne\t meeting to biing his proposal foi ward. Mr Gane said the amendment was clearly out of place, as this mooting could not bind the co opeiatne association. The amendment wa-s withdrawn. Tho motion was then put to the meeting, and canied unanimously. The following gentlemen wore then elected a committee, with power to add to their number : — Messrs W. A. Giaham (Hamilton), W. Ruthoifoid, S Westney, H. Roche, W. Taylor (Te Awamutu), Major Jackson (Kihikihi), Capt. Steele, Messrs S. T. Seddon (Hamilton), John Fisher, R. Reynolds, J. Gnce, Geo. E. Clark, J. Gane (Cambridge), C. J. Stoiey (Rangianlna), C. Gould (Waitoa), P. R. Fiaser (To Kowhai), F. C. Germann (Pateiangi), T. Goodfellow, Hodgson ( Ue\andra), J. Brooks (Chniclnll), T. M. Hill (Hamilton), W. Scott (Pukelimn), Capt. Bockett (R-uigiaolua), Oapt. Runcunau (Kniknnoa), Me«si-, T. Wells (Cambridge), John Km>\ (Hamilton), J. D. Hill (Alexandia). J. W. Ellis (Kihikihi), J. Hutchinson (Oiakau), H. Reynolds (Wood lands), J. J. Banish (Hunilton), E. W. Hamner, E. Y. C<>\ (Sliafteslnuj), J. B. Smith, S. Seddon (Waitoa), A. B. ttuttoi (Eureka), H. Bullock- Webster ( Hamilton). On the motion of Capt. Steile, Mi W. A. Graham was appointed convener of the committee. The meeting clo-,ed with \otes of thanks to Mr Giaham and the chairman.