CORRESPONDENCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LII, Issue 9188, 7 September 1906, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

ITo the Editor.) Sir, — Ou>r atteaition has been drawn to a report of the general meeting of the Hawera Dairy Co. which appeared in the columns of yomr paper, especially to the Temaxk6 by the Chairman, Mr H. Spratt, concerning the cost of freezing at the Patea works as against the cost of freezing at the Motorua works. As the remarks are calculated to mislead: your numerous readers who are interested in the dairying business, we hope you will i accord us space in the columns of. your valuable paper to refute the statements Tefened to. To get at the root of the matter, mention must ■be made of some re-. , marks made by Mr Dive, of ETtham, at the annual general meeting of members of the Taranaki Producers' Freezing Co; held at New Plymouth, about a fortnight ago. Mr Dive either in ignorance or wil* ■ fully made some statements at that meeting which have no foundation in - (fact. The first of these statements was "tib'at if Patea were to handle Motorua's , output they, wowldj show a loss of f £735 as against i MotjJHTiJa's profits." Now, Mr as a keen r D>usjnesß man, musit have .made, some •strange mistake to-, make such a statemeafr and taking it as the, first it is a fair j criterion of the others. ,' What .are thefacts? lP*tea handled' 13,1^972 ' boxes of| .butter,- 16,924 cases of cheese and 330 tons of meat, on which they show a profit 01,£m5 Is, 2d. , Moturoa handledl-186,-671 boxes <x£ , butter and 9,631 , cases of - cheese on ■, which they ,show a profit of 19s 4d. Now ow^ng to the low ; .charges on cheese no apprecjalble, profit is ; made from this commodity, so that we can j infer the bulk of the profit is jnadie;from r the freezing of butter, which, we yril\ take ! will be granted. It will be , granted by'| anyone 'having anything to^do^with/daity 1 ! factories or , any ,gfcher -factories that, once'j yon .have, got the -buildings , and plant Jaxge enough to cope wpth .twioe^prgsenjb; suppließ.^and can, make a profit aU quantity •supplied 'over and above, tends tftulowerthe coat 0$ pToduic,tion i .and.fiwell ;the pro^ ! ,fite. ' This ,i 6 exactly „ ca.se with the'Patea works. The buildipge -aret. large ; .enough, and ithe. plant, ds; large. reno»gh to cope.with almost .twice the, v p*ee&ttfr supplies so that every 1000 ?\>Q3£6'oof jbutter ' in .excess of pflße6^nt7Bupply',W!fl},iWer the cost of, Iteezing. apd swell:, the, pusofite. If JPatea had Mptoi;ua,'6 outputi say Jsmother ,7,0,,Qp(> boxes of birtter, they .-.woiiWf show a .profit of over £1531. ,19s -4d, or. be able- to for 4^d per box and stttl^ahow, a iwnajl. profit: We w.ill deal at length with *he:fiwt/st»tement (or rather mobs-statement) so- that) your readeia cam ;have some" idea of the value of the other statements; made by Mr Dive. Coming -to the quiesjnon^of cost of ,'ffleezing .. which has. Jbeen' nefeiraed' to we believe both, at the'Haweora and \Kaponga Dairy Companiea meetings. •In the' first place we'must^stateithat.tjhe cost of^freeaing or charge to the-fioppliers is exactly the, same at both places/^viz. 7d. pete box,' but Mr Dive, makes -the asßertion vthat the .actual, coat of, freezing at! Motoruaawas for the dast year 4.5 d ,per ;box as -ajgainst . r 5.39d. per, box '.at Patea, and> this was ar- j rived atfthrougH the greater, efficiency of the Motorua works over.!ithbße \at < Patea. ; fWe,ai» quite unabWto find^how Mr ; Dive 'arrives ,-at these conclusions, even after' we have gone into' the matter and .having the, company's; books to assist, us. We find it :1b impossible ? to obtain the exact figures, owing ,to the-ifact that no' separate accounts have been kept, a3l^ charges have been . entered to. the account, that is charges for the handling, of 16,924 cases of cheese (nearly 6wice the .quantity handled iby . OVJotorua), , and' on which, as already ni&ntioned'/nofapprecd; able, profit is made and can ; therefore be neglected. The only feafiibleoway.ito compare the cost of freezing/.at.ibo'th 'placiee. is to deal with the 1 profits' dividing I 'them. out per box of butter handled wiioh wifl give the cost of -freezing after- providing for all working expenses. Take Motorua first. They: had a profit of £1531 19s 4d, and'handled 186,671 boxes of butiecwhMi works out at a, profit of 1.96 pence per' box, or other 'words they oonild freeze for ,5.04 per. per, box, writing off ionly 5 peg? cemtof the capital value of:the.buildiDgri, plant and- machineryyaehas been done this year. Now take Patea showing a 'profit of £1315 Is 2d, which, if wolrkedi.out per box, shows, a, profit of 2i82 pence- per, box, or they could afford to freeze for . 4:18 pence per- .box, rand wrate off 10 pcr 1 cent on the- capital; value , of b.nildings, plant, and machinery, as against f Motorua'e 5 per cent written off,' .which again bears out our former statement that we could freeze for 4Jdpier box, fii^.with increased supply show, a profit. Frome the fiqiregoing your readers iwill see, fcbat.Bß.ijar'^e the' cost of freezing, is concerned: Ifttiea cut .easily freeze cheaper rfcha© the -Mpixmia works, .although ;tbdß.,» not (the, ;<only point. T^ gTOatesfe point isrthat-HaweTa factory and adjacent factories .iare^^iiKjarj. ring an anniial. lose by ri^lli^tthieiri pro-, 1 duce to the .northern Tgorke, T»heji; t they 'have tbe advantege of. then Patea works so 'close to i hand. During Che ilaet; five yeans Hawera 'has lost over' £soo;!kaouTned in extra railage 'cost. ;Laßtfyear.j.they Bad •350 tons, on :w,bLch they .woajdr have caved over £150, or 7s*Bd on .every 3* boxeefient.away./ We may mention that the BawnJale , fectory,? %>hich-1» a.shwrehblder at Motorua, has iahipped their jmx. duce through Patea during last two Bern 'sons, and will 'do bo .again this aeaeoni They estimate they saved last year on 400- tons of cheese £153 6a 8d; for confirmation "of . this .fact yonr readers need' only apply to the secretary of tbessßiiv«v dale factory. :Mr Spr»t* stated be-lieved-'that r Motorua ibteoded.to challenge Patea to see Whkh waethe cheaper place to freeze, and advertiae the' T result. 'From the' foregoing your readero will be able to jiaige for itnemselves on the<merit» of, the two places. • We have to apologise for trespassing at each length on your" valuable "space; we have tried to make .the matter as plain as possible so that dioise, interested will have no doubt 'how we, arrived at our conclusions, and thafc our statements are not random, and> against all reason, as we have eEowc those of Mr Dive's to be. Aagain thanking yon. — I am, for the West Coast Refrigerating Co., Ltd.. Patea. F. W. GRAINGER, Secretary.

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