EGMONT BOX COMPANY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 8 June 1912, Page 15 (Supplement)

EGMONT BOX COMPANY.

A PROSPEROUS BUSINESS.

HOW IT WAS STARTED.

The Egmont Box Company was started in 1903 by the dairy factories doing business in South Taranaki. Those taking a leading part in the formation of the company were the late Mr T. L. Joll and Messrs B. Dive, J. Marx (Eltham), Sydney James (Stratford), J. J. Campbell (Kaupokonui), and E. Dingle (Stratford). The shares were allotted on the basis of one £1 share to the box of butter, and one 10s share to the ton of cheese. At that time all the timber used by the Company was contracted for and supplied locally, the maximum price to be paid being fixed at 5s per 100 ft. for white pine. The company carried on business under this arrangement for about three years, and as is usual with the inauguration of works of this kind, a great many difficulties were contended with and eventually overcome. The men who had taken the business in hand were seized with that determination to succeed which is such an essential factor in all pioneering work. The greatest difficulty experienced was in the matter of finance.

The principal reason actuating the promoters in starting the Box Company was the inability of the contractors for the supply of boxes to the several factories to carry out their engagements. Although the dairying industry was still in its infancy the quantity of butter manufactured was yearly increasing, and the directors of the company realised that the increasing demands would necessitate the installing of more up-to-date machinery.

During the three years that the company had been in operation the directors had, by careful and economical management been able to pay 6 per cent, interest on the capital invested, also a 6 per cent, bonus. In addition to this a reserve fund had accumulated approximating from 60 to 70 per cent, of the capital invested, this accretion amounting to about £5000. The dairy companies in North Taranaki, who had been paying the same amount for their boxes as the companies in South Taranaki, through the original method of contract, realised the saving that was being effected by co-operation and: took the preliminary steps to form a box company in the northern poi-tion of the province. The directors of the southern company, feeling that this was not a question of pro-fit-making but simply the supplying of boxes and cases of seasoned wood at a reasonable cost, dismissed the question with representatives from the northern dairy companies, and the outcome was that the old Box Company was wound up, and the dairy companies of Taranaki formed the present Egmont Box Company, Limited. The directors of the original company, however, reserved to its shareholders the accumulations, amounting to over £3000, the result of three years' working.

After the reconstruction of the Company, sawmilling -was added to the business, the basis of the share capital being doubled, making it £2 to the ton of butter, and £1 to the ton of cheese. Six years ago 13,000 cases sufficed for the cheese manufactured in the district. Last year over 129,000 cases were sent out from the Box Company's factory; for the first nine months of the present season (to March 31) 134,000 cases were supplied; and the total requirements for the year will approximate 150,000. The average number of butter boxes manufactured for some years now was 200,000.

The company has just completed the erection of timber mills, trams, and bridges, at a cost of £20,000. The capital invested in the business now apiounts to over £40,000. Milling rights had been secured over several thousands of acres of bush, which Mr Jacob Marx (chairman of directors of the Company) said it was estimated Mould be sufficient for all the company's requirements for several years to come. About a third of the timber on the lands over which the company had secured milling rights was totara, which was so much in request for building purposes. Mr Marx said that it was anticipated that this building timber would recoup this company all the extra expenditure which had been incurred in opening up this new property, thus giving the dairying businesses the advantage of any saving effected. With regard to th,e cheese and butter boxes, the operations of the company were confined solely to Taranaki, as the directors deemed it expedient to conserve the supply for their own shareholders. Numerous offers from outside companies had been received, but these had always been declined.

In connection with the timber mill the company had its own siding on the Main Trunk line at Ohutu, some three miles from Taihape, and mixed trains stop at this siding. For two years over 200 hands -had been employed by the company in and about the mill. At the present time there were about seventy hands employed at Ohutu, and altogether this branch of the business found employment for over 100 persons. The freight paid for the first three months of the present year on timber was £2100. The mill was cutting over 16,000 ft. a day, and when another bench, which was being erected, was in operation, the output would be over 20,000 ft. daily.

During the coming season the directors intended to try the experiment of making the cheese cases at the mill at Ohutu. The advantages to be gained from this, said Mr Marx, would be the saving effected through not having to pay freight on waste timber to Eltham. Delivery would be given direct from the point of manufacture to the various companies, instead of having to re-handle the timber at Bltham. In this way it was anticipated a further considerable saving would be effected. As shewing the magnitude of the

company's operations at Ohutu, Mr ' Marx mentioned that one of the bridges erected was 330 ft. long, with a centre span of 120 ft., and was 120 ft above the river. In this truss bridge 140,000 ft. of timber had been used, and 20 tons of rods and bolts. Its construction and solidarity were such that a Main Trunk train could pass over it. The mill buildings were also con- \ structed with a view to the greatest i efficiency. The main building was 80ft. by 180 ft., the 80ft. being a single span The principals were five tons in weight. It is computed that the cutting rights secured by the company, all within five miles of the mill, will be sufficient for 12 to 14 years. In addition the directors are all the time on the look-out for more timber rights as opportunity offers. Some of the grades in the bush through which the tram line runs are very steep. This necessitated the construction of a special locomotive with sixteen wheels, which negotiates these grades with comparative ease. During the last three years great strides have been made in developing the business. Large sums of money had been spent in making roads to the mills, and six miles of graded tram track had been constructed with a maximum grade of 1 in 40. Over the more difficult country horse trams were used, and three 30 horse-power steam haulers were located in the bush for the purpose of pulling the logs to the tram line.

The factory at Eltham is fitted up with all the latest labor saving machinery. Altogether there are 42 dairy companies holding shares in the concern, all doing business in Taranaki. Mr B. Dive was chairman of the Company up till four years ago, when he was succeeded by Mr Joseph Marx (Mangatoki), who has held the position since. Mr Marx is the only surviving member of the original board of directors. Associated with Mr Marx on the board at the present time are Messrs James Burgess (Warea), 'A. Morton (Mangorei), R. Dingle (Stratford), W. Borrie (Kaupokonui), H. Spratt (Hawera). and J. B. Murdock (JolFs).

The Box Company now makes boxes and cases for some 95 per cent, of Taranaki' s requirements. Last year's output for which boxes and cases were made, was valued approximately at £600,000 for cheese, an dabout the same for butter, a total of £1,200,000. This was the product of the milk of some 120,000 cows, butter-fat payments for which exceeded one million sterling.