ELTHAM DAIRY COMPANY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 11 September 1924, Page 6

ELTHAM DAIRY COMPANY.

ANNUAL MEETING.

The thirty-second annual meeting of the Eltliam Dairy Company was held in the Town Hall, Eltham, yesterday, when the chairman of directors, Mr H. D. Forsyth, presided over an attendance of about. 200 shareholders, more than twice as many as attended last year’s annual meeting. The secretary, Mr H. Northover, gave a detailed comparison of this year’s balance-sheet and last, the various items being mentioned as he proceeded. He also gave a comparison of this year’s cost of manufacture, and railage, freezing and shipping. For the 1923-24 season all charges to f.o.b. amounted to £l4 14s_10d per ton, as compared with £lB 6s 5d the previous season. Wages this season amounted to £3 15s per ton, as compared with £4 Is 6d last year! Fuel this year cost £1 Bs, as compared ' with £1 12s 3s, and railage, freezing' ■ and shipping amounted to £2 Os 4d, as compared with £2 7s lOd last year. The chairman, in formally moving the adoption of the annual report and balance-sheet, already published, con- ' gratulated shareholders on the very satisfactory year just ended. The price realised for the produce had not been as good as that of the previous year, but the Eltham Company’s payout compared very favourably with that of other large companies manufacturing under ‘similar conditions. Continuing,' the chairman said he very much regretted the delay in the holding of the annual meeting, which delay had been the result of the breakdown of the secretary. Nevertheless the delay had not proved a disadvantage in that they had been better able to gauge the final result of the sale of the produce. The whole of the produce, with the exception of one shipment, had been, sold, so that they were now able to state definitely that the Is Cd would easily be realised. During the past season the suppliers had had to contend with dry weather, but a good autumn had proved to be some com- . pensation. The result of the season’s operations had been that the. company had earned third place on the list of companies, as far as quantity of output was concerned, although they had handled G2,ooolbs of butter-fat less this season than during the season previous. The average test had increased during the past three years, the test this season being 4.001 per cent. This increase had no doubt been due to the number of herds tested and the better class of cow introduced. The quality of the produce had also improved, this being the result of better manufacture and better quality milk brought to the factories. In this connection a good deal of credit was due to the inspection on the farms. The recent move to increase the minimum grading points for first grade produce was also mentioned by the chairman. A number of meetings had been held in various parts of the Dominion, and the proposal had been approved. except in the ea'se of the Hawera meeting. The director of the Dairy Division was very much in favour of the. suggestion that the points should be raised from 88 to 90, but at Hawera a. small majority had decided against the proposed raising of the points as far as cheese was concerned, but approving of the proposal in the ease of- creamery butter. The move, said the chairman, was the first attempt to raise the points during the past 25 years. He contended that it was up to the farmers to raise their standard of quality if they intended to hold their present position on the world’s markets. It was the quality of their goods which was going to count first. As far as the actual proposal was concerned it appeared to him that it was not fair that those companies which were doing their utmost 'to raise the quality of New Zealand produce should have to carry the other companies on their backs. In too many cases companies were endeavouring to incorporate excess moisture. Proceeding, the chairman said it was the intention of the Eltham Company this coming season to “cool...store” the whole of their cheese. In this connection they had made experiments right from the time of manufacture to the time oil marketing in England, with the re;. | suit that, they hart proved that the pro'cess, which 'was not costly, allowed of the cheese carrying more spare moisture, provided storage that preserved the cheese in better condition, /and prevented shrinkage to a great extent. During the past year very large quantities of cheese had been held in London, generally on the advice of the daily companies in New Zealand. This holding of cheese had respited in shrinkage and deterioration, and undoubtedly the cheese going straight on to the market had benefited to a certain extent.

In touching on another matter concerning the co-operative dairying industry, the chairman mentioned the increase in the number of the private dairy companies’ factories. He said that during the past few years the position had become very much more acute. They also found that some of the methods adopted by the private companies were by no means fair. He had a letter from one of the private companies, the Wanganui Fresh Food Company, which would give the shareholders some idea of what the cooperative companies had to contend with. The letter had to do with the

time of the railway strike, when the Eltham Company had come to light and had offered to handle produce on behalf of the Wanganui Company. The arrangement was that the Eltham Company should handle the- goods amt pay the Wanganui Company the actual mar-

ket value less the cost of manufacture. Ninepence was paid out first, and the following was a letter written by the Wanganui Fresh Food Co. to a farmer in this district: —

“We have to advise you that a quantity of cream forwarded to us by you on April 21 was delivered to the *EI- - Dairy Company, and wc have now received a credit from them, and you will find the amount noted on vour May statement. Wc may say thatJt-hey

only returned us 9d per lb butter-fat, alleging that the cream was unfit for

the manufacture of creamery butter. We need not comment on this beyond saying tliat tlie butter made by us during the strike was graded first, and we have decided to allow you the full Is 3d per lb butter-fat. advanced for April cream, as we thought, it unfair to penalise our suppliers by reason of such unfair action by another dairv factory. ’ ’ “Seeing that we had offered to pay the full market value of the, goods their action in writing the letter was hardly square,” said the chairman. “The sooner we have a couple of good cheese years, which will put some of these proprietary concerns in their place, the better.” The secretary then read the following letter which he had sent to the Wanganui Company prior to the letter read by the chairman being written: “Enclosed herewith please find our

cheque for £22 IBs 6d, being an advance of 9d per lb butter-fat- on cream received from your suppliers during the strike period. The cream reached us in, very'bad condition and was. quite unfit for the manufacture of creainery butter. The best we could do was to manufacture it and pack in our whey boxes. The line graded' seconds. The directors have decided to sell the line separately and return you the proceeds less all charges. In the meantime we are. making an advance of 9d, and will make the final payment as soon as the sale is effected.”

Proceeding, the chairman said that the company had this vear installed a new twin screw turbine, and the Power Board was connecting a generator, so that the company would verv soon be selling their surplus power to the Board. Also the company had rebuilt in concrete the separator, engine and boiler rooms at the Rotokare factory, and they had also purchased additional land with a view to building on to the manager’s house. The. chairman said it was also their intention to each year rebuild one of their wooden factories. Since the last annual meeting they had assisted in tackling one of the biggest and best propositions in the history of the industry. He referred to the promotion of the Dairy Control Bill and the election of the Dairy Control Board. Several attempts had been made in the past for better marketing of dairy produce, and he could say that every attempt had been beneficial in some shape or form. Proceeding, the chairman traced the various movements in connection with the marketing of New Zealand produce. .He mentioned the guarantee with recourse scheme, which was one time in operation, but which had its weaknesses in that merchants guaranteeing the Commissioner’s prices sold forward in an endeavour to make .pn the deal. Any increase in price which the merchants made by selling forward they pocketed. The chairman also mentioned the operations of the N.Z. Marketing Association .in New Zealand and the N.Z. Produce Association in London. He said it was wonderful to think that within a few years this concern had built up a business involving sucli a quantity of produce and was able to operate with even more favourable results than old established houses in Tooley Street. He further mentioned that the Marketing Association had been responsible for a reduction in the landing charges of produce equal to a. saving of £IOOO to the Eltham Company. The next important move was the passing of the Dairy Control Bill. A great deal of good had already been done by the Board which he was not at liberty, to mention, but he could state that the Control Board had paid for itself twice over during the first year. The possibilities of the Board were huge, but it was not its intention to market produce, but to supervise its marketing. When the Control Bill was being discussed it had been suggested that the promoters of the Bill would cut out the port of New Plymouth as far as the loading of dairy produce was concerned. He could say that this had never been in the minds of the promoters, and with the harbour improvements being effected at New Plymouth the time was not far distant when the whole of Taranaki’s dairy produce would be shipped through New Plymouth. At present New Plymouth and Patea each handled 16,000 and 17,000 tons of dairy produce respectively, so that with 33,000 tons going through ‘ New Plymouth they could rest, assured that that port would be reckoned with for all time.

The adoption. v of the annual report and balance-sheet was seconded by Mr Nairn, and as there were no questions the motion was put and carried. The auditor’s report was read, after which the meeting adjourned to lunch. On resuming Mr Hickey moved that the polj for the directorate bg held after the general business had been discussed. He said he had some grievances to air, and he would, prefer that the voting should, be taken afterwards.

The chairman said they had to keep to the procedure of business as stated in the notice calling the meeting.

ELECTION OF AUDITOR

There were three nominations for the position of auditor, and on a show of hands Mr 11. B. Burdekin was elected. GENERAL BUSTNESS.

Mr Hickey moved that it be a recommendation to the incoming directors to dispense with the services of the independent tester.—There was no seconder to the motion, and it therefore lapsed.

INCOMING DIRECTORS

, Messrs F. S. Bluett, J. L. Campbell, C. W. Carlson, J. Cocker, —. Hickey, F. •J. Mehrtens and J. G. Robertson were nominated to fill the three vacancies on the 'directorate, and on a poll being taken Messrs Mehrtens, Carlson and Cocker were elected.