TARANAKI FARMERS' MEAT COMPANY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 19 August 1918, Page 4

TARANAKI FARMERS' MEAT COMPANY.

ANNUAL MEETING

The annual meeting of this company was held at New Plymouth on Saturday.

In the course of an address the chairman of directors, Mr J. T. Quin, referred to the difficulties that had to be ■ surmounted owing to war conditions, ' especially the lack of shipping, and ; said that the works were not yet large ; enough for the requirements of the dis- ' trict, in consequence of which they had j had to refuse stock and disappoint j clients. During the year the subscribed capital had been increased from £49,000 to £92,000, of which the Taranaki Producers' Freezing Works Co. had contributed £25,000, and in return for which the directors had undertaken to provide storage accommodation for 100,000 boxes of butter. He intimated that to avoid possible serious trouble more cold storage must be provided before January, and the directors must appeal to the shareholders for more money with which to build. He emphasised confidence in the general outlook, for after the war there must be an immense demand for foodstuffs, and on the other hand only by stimulating exports could we hope to satisfactorily bear the burdens which the war had imposed on us. Mr W. A. McCutchan spoke of the seriousness of the position arising from shortness of shipping and insufficient storage. He said that unless the latter wrere remedied it meant that four out of every five head of stock would remain in the paddocks. This meant more than collapse; it meant absolute disaster. There were a million sheep, and a drop of os per head meant a loss of £250,000, and a drop of £1 on 350,000 cattle raised the total to £600,000; but this was not all. In a few weeks there would be in the paddocks 320,000 lambs and 200,000 calves, which would have to be carried through the winter, and, owing to insufficiency of feed, there would be a heavy mortality, raising the total loss to nearer a million. Something, therefore, had to be done, and at least £9000 or £10,000 was required by the directors. The report, which recommended the payment of a dividend of 5 per cent, was adopted. Messrs A. W. Budge, M. Fleming, W. A. McCutchan, and A. B. Gamlin, retiring directors, were re-elected directors, and authority was given to add two to represent the Freezing Co. Mr J. T. Quin was re-elected chairman. Over 3000 additional shares were subscribed after the meeting.