TAI TAPU CENTRAL DAIRY COMPANY

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24984, 19 September 1946, Page 6

TAI TAPU CENTRAL DAIRY COMPANY

ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

The dairy industry had made it plain to the Government that it was not prepared to carry the cost incurred in holding down the price of butter and cheese sold locally—estimated at £1,500,000, out of the Dairy Industry Stabilisation Account—said Mr W. G. Macartney, chairman of directors of the Tai Tapu Central Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., at the annual meeting of shareholders yesterday. Mr Macartney added that the Government had agreed that the cost should be borng by the Consolidated Fund. It was desirable that dairy farmers and the public should realise that costs, allowances, and subsidies to keep down costs of production were paid from dairy farmers’ own receipts from produce sales overseas, said Mr Macartney. Mapy persons seemed to think that the subsidies were paid by the Government. It was reported to the meeting that the output of 2095 tons for the company’s factories was the lowest for many years. In 1939 there were almost 4000 suppliers and the factories’ output exceeded 3200 tons. Last year l there were 2635 suppliers. “‘Local sales show a decline from the 1939 figure, of more than £3,000,000, and this loss of distribution revenue is a serious one to an organisation which is set up for the dual purposes of manufacture and distribution,” said the report, which mentioned that there had been a sharp rise in the costs of manufacture. “Under a normal season and with normal local trade, the pay-out on the basis of the previous season would have been Id a pound of butter-fat greater than it is now possible to pay,” continued the report. “The directors reviewed the dividend and decided to recommend a rate of 4 per cent, on the paid-up capital of the company. The final payment to suppliers of 2Jd per lb of butter-fat and the dividend will exceed the amount transferred to the appropriation account for the year’s operations by £1269.” The retiring directors, Messrs F. Miller, G. Nairn, and J. W. Rainey were reelected, and at a meeting of the directors Mr Macartney was re-elected chairman.