PRAISE BESTOWED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 12

PRAISE BESTOWED.

COMPANY'S DEVELOPMENT. "SOUNDEST IN DOMINION." (By Telegraph.—Own Correspond) nt.) HAMILTON, this day. In seconding the adoption of the report and balance-sheet at the annual meeting of the Farmers' Co-operative Auctioneering Company to-day, Mr. A. Ramsay said the company had had lean times in the slump years, but through a careful policy on the part of the board and manager it was now the soundest of its kind in the Dominion.

Mr. Douglas Hay, of Auckland, also praised the manner in which the company's affairs had been conducted, particularly over the past ten or twelve years. The company had shown phenomenal growth and this was due not only to the general manager, Mr. A. C. Bushell, but also to the directors and the staff.

Since the speaker had been a shareholder the company's chairmen had been Messrs. J. Barugh, H. S. Hawkins, W. Seavill and E. M. Edkins. Each had shown outstanding capabilities in the position.

Only one thing which he would like to see the company doing, said Mr. Hay, was to restore the preference dividend to the old rate of 6 per cent which obtained before compulsory reduction under the provisions of the National Expenditure Adjustment Act, 1932. He considered the old level of return could be restored through making the necessary additional payment by way of a special annual bonus. If euch a step were taken it would be the best possible advertisement for tlie company.

Mr. W. J. Lusty also spoke in praise of the board and staff. The retiring directors, Messrs. D. Stewart Reili and J. Pohlen, were declared re-elected.

The need for'building up reserves in case of a slump was stressed by Mr. Pohlen, when returning thanks for his re-election to the board. "We have got to keep in mind," he said, "that we are passing through a period of mild boom and must not imagine it is going to last for ever." The present, he added, was a time for conservatism without pessimism, a time in which to consolidate the position of the company and build up reserves.

Mr. D. Stewart Reid, who also returned thanks for his re-election, said it was largely due to the loyalty of the management and the staff during the slump that the company was in such • satisfactory position to-day.