JOLL DAIRY CO.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 27 August 1925, Page 10

JOLL DAIRY CO.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. big production recorded. The sevenjteeuth annual meeting oi siliarehoiktairs of the T. L. Joll Co-opera-tive Daily Company, Limited, was held in the Kapuni hall yesterday. The attendance n umbered, approximately 140. Mr. J. B. Murdoch, chairman of clirecitons, presided. In. moving the adoption of the report (previously published) and balancewheat tlie chairman first lefened to the 1923-24 season, at the conclusion of which matters had nett appeared as pro,sijve.rous as shareholders would have Liked. The .subsequent disposal of stories which had been unsold at the close of the <season had, however, improved the position, and the prices realised .were very satisfactory indeed, and the company‘had come well up in the price list. At the last! meeting certain remarks had been passed concerning the Loan Company operations. Concerning' the.se he would like to explain that some years ago the Loan Company had been started to foster supply ,in the district. The Joll company had been invited to join the Loan Company ' hub the directors had decided not to do so. The operations of the Loan Company had succeeded m fostering supply to the 'benefit of the Joll Company 'which had since made steady progress, the phen<oimenail supply last season being the highest in New Zealand with the exception of the New Zealand Dairy Company, of the Waikato district.

The season just passed through, eontinued the chairman, Iliad oeeu one during which the company had secured weneitally uniform places, the average raging from 93s to 9Ss. it was, he thought, the most uniform year the jcomjpany Iliad ever ex;pei fenced. At one period during the early part of the year it had seemed that the b utitei market would collapse, but it had subsequently firmed. The cheese miairket bad shown results which if maintained .should make the coining year a profitable one. A matter, however, which had to, be considered was tlie high prices paid for certain .lands, and d values could be brought, to a fairer and more uniform level much -better conditions would rule throughout, the country, but iln view of the existing conditions producers had to be very careful. They wanted to be able to work so as to have a good margin, but in the face of the keen competition from Australia, the Argentine and South Africa this could not be dome where the value placed on land had been too high. If thiS" matter could be placed on a better basis New Zealand would be able to beat any country in the world lor dairy production. . . , Referring to the alteration in grahijtcr the chairman pointed out that though the standard had been raised the company had reduced its quantity of second grade produce by one per cent. To make a, first grade article, however, particularly untie,h tlie new standard, the maker must have first o-rade material. Unless suppliers provided good quality milk the factory managers could not produce high quality cheese or butter. The Department had been asked to .secure a report as to whether pasteuiisation should be geneiijllly adopted, the mintteir being a question of meeting the requirements of cons tun oavs of Nt?»\v Zealand pi ounce. If it was found advisable, the company would, of course, have to adopt paisteurfeation. but he wished to point out that if suppliers would endeavour to keep milk as pure a.s ixxsisiiible, there would be less necessity for the company to go in for the expensive process whiidh would add to production costs.

The bailauice-sneet dricioised a very saltLsillaiatory position, continued Mr. Muidotih. Produce unsold had been YiaiL'ued on u cu nisie'rvativo ba&is and woulkl piiio'bialbily bring; mono than the amount aJloiweJ tor it. At the same time the pay-out was Is BHI. The auditor had oonmn'ended the company the amount to i'.o.b. (3.(>id per lb., on tire economy in working expenses, buiotei'iiat) being the second lowest in iu.tewiakij and .also for New'Zealand so far as cheese was concerned.

The Nornxaivoy tompany was the only one with a lower rate, and ite advantage was gained owing to its proximity to t(h ©railway,' which enabled <ui isjaving in cartage and also to its cheaper water power.

Tim levy made by the Control Board was £lOBl. The board was enabled to lew np to l-llxl j.er lb. on cheese and id per lb, on butter, but whether more or less would ultimately bo required was of course unceutain just yet. So far a balance-sheet had not been presented, bub one wiais expected shortly. Jn certain directions the board was functioning well, but the company directors did not agree to giving it absolute control. With insurances and freight business the board had already beau of 'service, the insurance rates having been reduced to 9s 9d, whereas at one time they had been 14s 6d. In trying to take charge of the whole output, however, the board was endeavouring t:> do too much, and he thought its efficiency would break down, owing to the intricacies of pooling. Referring back to the balance-sheet, he .said that other charges were low. I'he depreciation allowed by law, per cent on buildings and f> per cent, on machinery, was, however, too low. Some comment hi.iv been made concerning the Rennet Company, continued the chairman, but as chairman oif tliiat connij)a.ily he could say it was now manufacturing a good article. In Australia. £d was quoted for rennet, which wais sold by other concerns in New Zealand at £o, lrom what it would be seen that the New Zealand Ben net Company was serving a useful purpose in New Zealand ami providing ic a. good quality article it wars worth .supporting a.s a sale-guard against prices being pushed up. Mr. Murdo h concluded by congratu.ating the general manager and the stall'"on the eflicit*nt manner in which they 'had carried out their duties during’ the year. He referred to the seeietarv (Mr. A. I.ees) a,s a particularly ab e official, who was regarded as one of the best dairy secretaries in the Dominion. The motion to adopt the lecort and balance-sheet was’seconded by Mr. E. I. Betts. A RUMOUR REFUTED. Mr 0 Meuli leferred to a rumour wlii h l ad Leen current to the effect that last season the company had been com pc.led to boriow £1.5 000 to meet the bonus payment at the end of last season. He asked if tie chairman could gi e any infoimntlon on the subject. The c-hui.man’s reply was a lefutation of the rumour. He pointed out that at. .the end of last season a certain amount of stock remained for a time unsold, and until this was disoosed of the bonus was not payable. The company had, however, obtained advance through its selling agents on

the new season’s supply to meet the ordinary monthly payment in August. The secretary also emphatically denied that the company had borrowed monev to meet the bonus payment. The bonus was paid out- as the money from produce sold came to hand, and .ast season the final amounts were coming to hand as late as November. He further explained that at the beginning of the season, before the company had received a penny from produce. arrangements had to be made to meet the ordinary monthly pajment for August. In doing this two courses were open to the company. It could either get an advance through the bank bv giving a store warrant, or it coa'.U get the advance through the sellincr agents. Last year the directors thougnt 'it i n the best interests of the company to airange the finance with the a'rents. The sum mentioned had been secured from them on the cheese m store, though under the ordinaiy conditions an advance was not made until the produce was shipped. He also jioiiited out that by getting the monev from the agents a saving of £27 in interest and £75 in exchange had been effected. Mr York asked if the directors had received a n offer to remit exchange charges from Messrs Dalgety and Co. Tlie chairman explained that such a proposal had been put forward, but the representative who made it was unable to get it confirmed. ■ In answer to Mr. Grinlay the chairman explained that the cost of Jesting had increased owing to travelling expenses being greater; the value o certain shares in other companies had been written oft in accordance with "the conservative policy adopted by . the company in such matters; the difference in’ the yield figures given by the auditor and those in the statistics was tlie difference in factory weights and market weights. Mr James Kissick asked it the amount of £2950 shown as unpaid calls was owned by present suppliers or those who may have left the district. , . t, The chairman said that he coidd not state definitely, but he thought that approximately 90 per cent, of the amount was owned by present suppliers. Befoie putting the motion, the chair, man said ’the company Was in the premier position financially compared with other companies in New Zealand. The motion was then adopted.

OFFICERS. Five nominations were received for tiie three vacancies on the board of directors caused by the retirement owing to eff'nxion of time of Messrs W. A. Guy, A. C. Johnstone and T. Walsh. The nominees were the three retiring d rectors and Messrs J. Daley and Jas. Kissiek.

The ballot resulted in the election of Messrs Guv, Johnstone and Walsh. Mr Daley, who. was next in .-.accession, •was recommended to the directors foi appointment to fil' the *-xtrao-d •vary vacancy caused by the death of Mr W . Slattery. . Mr H. A. Lennon was re-appointed auditor at the same jema-io-atl'm as previously. THE SEASON’S OUTPUT.

The chairman intimated that the output up to the end of- December had been sold at 9Jd per lb. The remainder was to be consigned, the agents guaranteeing prices equal to those obtained by the fiawera and Xormanby Companies.

GENERAL. The advisability of maintaining a strong reserve was stressed by Mr .-'■•At, who moved a.s a recommendation to the directors that the dividend o.n shaies Ik* reduced from 5 per cent to 1 per cent.,' and the other 4 per cent, be placed to reserve. The motion was lost.

A motion proposed by Mr Grin lay and seconded by Mr E. J. Betts disapproving of the Dairy Control Board assuming absolute control of the Dominion’s dairy produce was carried unanimously. A vote of thanks. was accorded the ladles’ committee, consisting of Mesdames J. Paterson. J. McKenna, H. Oorkil', E. Scott, T. Dill and Miss Scutt. by whom luncheon had been served.