HAWERA DAIRY COMPANY

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXVIII, 21 June 1912, Page 3

HAWERA DAIRY COMPANY

BANQUET TO SUPPLIERS

A very pleasant function took place in the Foresters' Hall on Thursday night, when the chairman, directors, and suppliers and staff of the Hawera Dairy Company were entertained at a banquet; given by Henry Lane and Co., Ltd. Mr G H. Buokeridge. the representative of the iirni in Taranaki, presided. He proved himself to be a capable chairman, and kept the ball merrily moving. The loyal toast having been honored, the chairman proposed the health of the chairman and directors and prosperity to the Haw era Dairy Company. He said thtit when he met them on the last occasion he expressed the wish that he would meet them again in 12 months' time with smiles. He was not ashamed to meet them that evening, for he believed that the advice he had given them then was pretty near the mark. It could, not be expected that his firm's predictions would always be a record, but it would be found that they would be never far out. Ho was quite satisfied that the open consignment was the best method of dealing with the output of the factory, and if the Hawera company had not consigned it, it would have thrown away its record year. Applause.)

Mr H. L. Spratt, chairman of directors, in reply, said the directors had only parried out their duty.

Messrs A. E. Death and A. Newall, directors, also acknowledged the toast. Mr Spratt, in proposing 'The Manager and Staff," stated had it not been for the staff they would not all have been smiling that* evening, or Mr Buckeridge either. (Applause.) Messrs A. Dunlop (general manager), C. Dew (Whareroa), W. Sawyers (Tawhiti), W. Scott (Hawera), j. White (Fraser road), J. Campbell (Tokaora), branch managers, replied. Mr L. S. Barraclough, in asking the company to honor Henry Lane and Co., coupled with the name of Mr G. H. Buckeridge, remarked that the suppliers ought to shake hands with themselves that they did not sell their output, but consigned it through the firm whose name he had mentioned.

Mr Buckendge, in reply, said he could not at present predict what the prices were going to be for next year, because his firm had no information as to what the makes were goinjj; to be in Canada, their biggest competitor, and he could only give indications. He was very pleased to say that those indications were extremely good. They could not expect to always get the high phenomenal prices which they had obtained this year. It was hardly likely that these record prices would be ruling for two years in succession, but the range of prices in the next few years was likely to be higher than they had experienced during the cheese industry in New Zealand. He believed it was the duty of the commission agents to give the "best mtormation they could concerning the produce of the factories: and he believed that his firm had done so. It should also be the duty of the agents to make every possible endeavor to save the factories all unnecessary expense, and this he believed his firm had done. The next duty agents had to do was to watch carefully the quality of the produce coming to the factories. There was no use telling the factories that they were making the best cheese if they were not doing so. It was no good to the tactones, and it was no good to the agents who had to do business'on the other side. If the agents told the factories that they were making the best cheese they were apt to get careless, and m consequence the quality of the produce deteriorated. But where there was room for improvement the agents considered it was their duty to point those defects out as far as they could in the interests of the factories and of the suppliers, so that they could