TE AWAMUTU CHEESE FACTORY. Annual Meeting of Shareholders

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2177, 22 June 1886, Page 2

TE AWAMUTU CHEESE FACTORY. Annual Meeting of Shareholders

Thi; annual meeting was held in tlic hall on .Saturday, Mr J. W. Uridgman, chairman of duectors, in the chaii. The Chairman read the notice in Tub Waikato Times convening the meeting. The .secretary read the follow i up cl i lector's iep >rt and balance sheet: -" For thp forth tune your dnectur-. are again in tho same uuplea«ant_position of reporting a lons, this time of £713 12s Id in the balance hheet, anting fiom loss on stock <>n hand at last balance and from cheese then on its way to England and Australia. The actual los«, on one con-ign-menti' 10 tons to London bjmg (inclusive of refund on account of amount advanced thereon by the bank was above £214 4s 10d), A considerable loss is also accounted for from the shrinkage of cheese in the curing room as will, be seen from the following figure*. The amount of milk received during this season wasGs4,l47lbs equal to 1i22!) ( .t gallons of lOUbs, the cheese made therefore, a-, it weighed into the curing room, was (i41211b-> being 18221bs in excess of pouud fur gallon, or taking the actual weight i>f the cheese sold and the amount on hand theie is .v proved deficiency from diy ing of over a ton and a quarter on this seasons w<>rk. On last years produce, which w.w nearly double this, the percentage of loss watt considerably higher. The lessor p j rcentage of loss from diying this reason as against last is on occouut <»f the better quality of milk supplied. Thu lowest percentage of cream shown being over 10 and th 3 highest o\er 12 throughout the season. From thesj facts it is evident the business is being workqd at a. los-. :ind cannot be carried on without some alter.iti">n. What that alteration is to be must bj settled by a meeting of the supplier- and directors. No doubt the factory nab e J n a boon to tho district and it would be a calamity to close it.

HVLANCK-SHEEr. Receipts. — Received on account of calls £5 10s ; received on account of checio and bacon sold, £2513 its llii ; received on ac count of pigs sold, t'2o l!h (id ; received on account of timber, lime, Sec, £3 l«Ss Id ; received on account of e\cli.inye ,md mteiust, fc'B IGs lid ; received on account of cho«j->e prizes, £13 13s; bal.mcib.uik o\erdr.ift, £101<» U. Total, £3534 8& 3d.

Payments.— Buik overdraft, 2Ut May, 188, i, £1400 lls ( Jd ; ivtmid on L mdon consignment and on discounted bills, its., £253 13s 3d ; improvements to premises, £12 7> 2d ; additions to plant, £l<> (is 3d ; paid for milk, £'J4l Lw 2d ; paid for pi-?*., £'3S 7lOd.

EXPKNhEM OK JVIAN.UiKMEXr.— "Wage*, £244 18s 8d ; duty 0:1 cheese evpurtod, freight, cartinpf, commission, md ntln'i charges on chceso and b icon M>ld, £2112 3-. Od ; insurance, JtJ25 5s 1)1; coil and hruwond, £18 . w ; rennett, silt, cliuu^i cloth, timber, and miscellane >ns o\ - |)en-.en, £'34 8-. 4d ; pi}? feed, £07 13-. 7d ; i.itos .vnd taxes, t'l2 7s lid ; atlvertiaiiu, tclejri .un <, stamps, <&c; £7 17s 3d;la-v cn>,t-. f i'J 1!)> 7d ; interest, £184 7s 7d ; £S'.)l 7-^ Total, fJ'>S tB< r>d.

LlAmMTiis.— T03.702-.lnre>. at £1, £3.702, less amount uncalled at .")■>, t'ILM 10-, t'277" 10-! ; amount duo on moi tjr.ij»i». t'SOO; (!•>.. do., for nnlk, £3>2 i^ lid ; -undi v ace >iint-> |M,y<il)le, £S3 15> ; interest on moitjjiirt 1 , t'2l '.).-> (id ; do. on b<ink overdraft. £'12 17-> •*> 1 ; bills discounted, AJV,) (U 101; Ixnk oveidraft, £I,OHJ Is ; tota'. £1,122 4> 8 1.

Ah^Eis. — CilK unpaid, t'l" ; lin«!. pl.mt and building-, t/V>b 0< lid ; le>s 3 per ceni. djpu'C atmn, £if LS> ; £722 11-> ; chej->5 in >tock .mil consigned fur sale .it ."i J, £.) >2 !>< 4 J ; hams and bacon in stuck at GUI, tll)7 3-< 4d : biindry accounts and bills iei/ji\.iblo nftei nllowiiiß for bad debts, £31 14-. 4.1 ; nffije furniture, £9; rennet chooe cloth, l.nd, &c, £34 17s lid ; pij,'-. in pidd wk. t' KS V^ ; balance profit and lo*s account, £1,338 Ki2d ; total, £3,122 4s Bd.

Profit and Loss Account.— Dr. : To balance for year ending 21st M.iv, 18S5, £G254s Id ; to balance* for year i titling 2t->t May, 1886, £713 12s Id ; total, £l,3as Nis 2d. Cr, — By balance carried forward, £1,338 Ms 2(1. The Chairman said the expenses this year have been cut down as much as possible. As you will *?ee there was ac msiderable loss on the consignment to L >ndoii, as much as over £21 1, as appears by the report. There was a loss of £'100 mi the baon, it was valued at 8d per lb ; that, as the sequel proved, was too much. This year it is valued »t (iid. It is evident we cannot carry on in this way. Thine was a loss of a half penny a pound on the cheese, owing to shrinkage, and the mil'; was bought at 3Jd; with the shrink.igj this would boing the price up to nearly 4d, or with the co.st of miking to sd. V.iilo and Bradley* account is £113, and there was only a prospect of 5s in the £ being received. Mr J. E. Clarke : Was the cheese consigned m sold to that fir.it ? Trie Chairman : Consigned. Mi Clarke : Upon whose guarantee ? The Chairman said there was n<> Kin lantee. Mr Clarke : I think it was a most un-'»u-mess-like thing of the directors to t ike i promissory not 3 from an unknown firm ik'j Vaile and Bradley, and I consider the In 'cturs pay the loss. The Chairman : When the cheess was nnr to them the understanding was that .he payments should be made monthly. I nay say, in reference to Mr Bradley, that we are not the only people disappointed in that firm, as some of the Auckland business m>»n were alsolosei.s. Mr Clarke : It is an unusual tiling for auctioneers to give bills. When they asked you to take a note for three months you should have pressed for the money. Mr £>irke said thai would only have precipitated the bankruptcy. The Chairman : There is not a firm in the country thai; has not made a bad debt, and this, is the only bad debt in ide by this company since it started. Air Lay bourne's account was paid in full. There weie two accounts, one of £30, and another of somethin? over £30 ; we wimh otferred 12s Ud in the £ unguaranteed. We agreed to accept this for the larger if the smaller account was paid in full. Thus was refused, but we pushed the matter, with the result that the whole account was paid in full. Mr Clarke s;tid he saw the account sales of a factory in (Ji&borne, and the price was (id per lb. He thought the Auckland agents were at fault. The Chairman "aid they had sold to several merchants in Auckland, and if he was not in error the highest price obtained was o^d. The secretary, Mr Walton, pointed out that several lots brouoht (id and sjd and that the lo.vest price obtained was sjjd. Mr Clarke said the (4isbi)rne cheese referred to weighed only 141bs, which would probably account for the price. Messi* Mitchelson and Co. bought them. It was a thiee ton lot and the commission was only 5 per cent. The Chairman'said this company could not get it done at .""• per cent. ; 7\ was the usual commission where the money was guaranteed. Mr Walton drew attention to the fact that newspaper prices were not always reliable. He saw in one paper a statement that cheese from the Maungakaramea factory was selling at Gd and that they had orders for more than they could supply at that price. A week after this appeared he was in Auckland, when a consignment of that company's cheese was landed in a warehousp, and instructions were given to sell it at Gd, and if that could'not be got to take less. Mr Clarke said the two companies in Gisborne said they weie all cleared ont, and that they sold the cheese as fast as it was made. The Chainmn said that befrire any further discussion ensued he would mo\e the adoption of the report and balancesheet. This was seconded by Mr Churches and carried.

Election of Directors, &c. Three of the directors, namely, Mes«rs Taylor, Jones and Floyd having retired, and Mr .T. H. Mandeno resigned. Mr Taylor was re-elected, and in place of the other three, Mes.srs Tea*>dale, E. J. Clarke, and W J. Thompson were elected. Messrs J. L. Mandono and J. F. Andrew were elected auditors for the ensuiug year..

Position of the Company. The Cli.tuiii in xtitcrl th.it after paving the milk account tin- overdraft would be £1100. A^nuint this ueiv fhoou and bicon in stock ami consigned, which would le.i\tj .1 debit bal.uiuu of about £200. There were, however, the land, plant and buildmsr*. which woulil net only pay off that £200 and the niortif ige, but would leave m bil.UK 11 > 1 to the credit of thi shareholders. Mr .T. L. M.nideno thoiiirht tho position of the company, in spite of the loss, a sound one. On tho motion of Mr Cl.nke, it was decided to supply shareholders outside Waik ito each with a copy of Till, Waikato TIMFs roiit.iniint,' the 1 1;|> >it and balancesheet. It was also decided to call a meeting ot suppliers at an e.uly datu to confer with the duectorx arid shaieholdeis a» to the pi ii o of milk fl>r the ensuing scavm. Ti)« iisml \<te of thanks to the chair and others terminated the meeting.

Since the bal.uic< > -<-hppt was made out, vu., <>n the '-'M M iy, the bmk overdraft has'been reduced by t*2">o. Tliis will explain tin* chairman's statement that ths overdraft, together with amounts due for milk, would, at the time of the meeting, amount to about t'l,loo. The actual figure! stand at £1,118. By this it will be seen that in spits <>f the, heavy loss incurred this yon, the compiny i-» thoroughly holvcnt. Tin 1 diroctoi-, h.tvc avoided the inUtako made List year <if over-valuing the cheeie ,uid b.ic>>u in stock and consigned for Rale. This tnno the eht'u-.e it valued at 5d and the bacon at <» V<J. .Tuiljjmsr by the account sales the chee.M- will bring moic than it is valued nt, for th«» niajonty of lots sold brought (id and .">jd ; only a •.mall proportion brought .V,d. If the Kunberley g<»ldfields tin n out .us K'kkl as expected, there will lm a k<uhl market theio for all kinds of agricultural produce ; cheese and bacon in paiticular will be in demand.