JOLL DAIRY CO.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 28 August 1919, Page 5

JOLL DAIRY CO.

ANNUAL MEETING.

L/^rlT^ of rfuueholden ' Mr A r *? Ha»l yesterday, Mr A. C. Johnstone, chairman of dire©! "mh+^T^a™? ? n atteiKiance of -ooiit on 9 hundred shareholders hn^lT P/°^ cding with the ordinary business of the noting the chairmaJ ttteji sons who had seen active senw T*o or three of the*, he knew p^ot , ally, especially an ex-director Mr Cimvley He had been on the 'board since the inception of the e^m^v \v lio had the honor to fight for his con*! toy. He na s sorry that Mr J Crowlev ,i DIRECTORS' REPORT. ' «,!;?* A d fi ( rWtOrS' ■ Te&>rt stat^, inter £1396 19s 6d for all-round depreciation there remains a credit balance to apprS pmt.on account amounting to £40 618 fw £ a ?urther Payment of s£d per W\ 9 P + aid ?° aJI fcattei*»t supplS throughout the year by suppfvine shareholders, thus making the totS ter-tat In addition to this, your directors o recommend that a dividend at paid to all shareholders holding fully paid-up shares. The influenza^dSn Z •n November last hdt the company very iuml; put of a staff of close on isy <££' ** T^P^ the visitation. The •hiectors desire to express their thanks I and helped to keep the factories open £i *° c Mai?«afcoki Company for all m!ke? "T 0* «s«t cheesemuLei a t a tame when the majority •IW, rr-°?F cx PerienCed m«» were down. Uiuin% the past.,year the last of the SW indebtedness to thf Joli c*e* t,/Lt Bt n Paid<>ff- is interesting to note that the whole of the purchase" money to the .Toll estate has\££ paid out of diareholders' sh are deductions As there are several articles in the articles of association relating to the , director appointed by the Joll estate,^! is now necessary to alter the articles accordingly. As shareholders wflf oS serv.j a special meeting will be held immediately after the annual meeting to deal with this matter, and also any other alterations that may be moved* During the year ike chairman of She company, Mr J. B. Murdoch, was appointed one of the delegates to visit America and the Homeland in connection with matters of importance to the dairy industry. Mr Murdoch accordingly resigned his position as chairman and Mr A. C. Johnstone was appointed cnairman for the remainder of the year Ilie directors unanimously granted Mr Murdoch leave of absence from the directorate. The following statistics were attached to the report: Milk received 46.946,266 0 jutt<!r-fat 1 J 777,4441b5, average test o,'4n K l)er o cent > cheese manufactured JUbJ tons 8 cwt 6 lbs butter manufactured 24 tpns 16 cwt, yield of cheese H" + lb ol /A aV 2-671bs ' milk to 11b of butter 23.40 lbs, overrun butter 13 39 per cent. ' t read a report from Mr iiV ,i- Mmxlocn 3 which was written from Wellington prior to his departure. Mr Murdoch expressed *-ejgret that he would not be present at the annual meeting but trusted that he would be able to •bring back information which would either be of benefit to the dairy farmer .or would relieve them of the excitement caused by the statements that had been made of the possibilities of gain in the manufacture of some other product than cheese and butter. He strongly advised them to' keep calm and not allow alluring statements to carry them away into venturing into speculations which would not return sufficient profits, but instead to base their venture on m the present prices, which were no doubt good, and he thought would keep so for some years. Though, leaving before the end of the financial year he was certain they would have a most satisfactory statement. The relief felt at the cessation of hostilities must be of heartfelt benefit to many, and the return of their young men would be most helpful to many who had been hard pressed for labor, and after many months' negotiations the sale of cheese to the Imperial Government was made and continues to June 30th, 1920. The price was a good one, and the conditions were much improved to what they were the previous year. During the negotiations no advances were obtained, but the company made arrangements with its bankers, so as io be able to pay suppliers their monthly payments. When the negotiations w«a- e completed demands were made on the Imperial Supply Department, and large sums were received, which sums allowed the company to make further payments which he was pleased to say compared favorably with other companies. The buildings and machinery were in good order On account of the large supply of milk at some of the branches, additions had to be made, and were being erected m j concrete, with the idea that when the j wooden portion requires renewal the | building will be completed in concrete. It was most encouraging to the directors to know that their efforts were appreciated, and that more suppliers were being added to the already large list. Referring to the influenza epidemic, he expressed sympathy with those who had suffered loss, and appreciation and praise to those who had done everything in their power to help the suffering and work for those unable to, without expecting any remuneration. The company was very seriously affected, and if it had not been for the many suppliers and others working the factories would have had to shut down. The company offered pay to those vv>rkers. but many of them refused. The basis of pay was worked out according to the hours worked by each man, based on what it would' have cost the company with their ordinary emnloyees, .yet some were not satisfied. Arrangements had been madte with the Bank of IV'.Z. for a much larger accommodation on account of the business of the company increasing. He trusted all would be pleased with the year's \*ork, and could assure them the same, if not better, results during the coming year. He urged them to givo the staff a vote of appreciation for their services, as they deserved it In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, the chairman said that all would agreo that the company j iiau done remarkably well in wipino- off th« whole of their liability to the =joll estate m the short time in which they had accomplished it, the company 5n crt * yea"Sa ving wJ***l' c{£2o.ooo. feo far as the plant anl buildnias are concerned they were now ab-so'u-tely fre- of debb, and this was a T.-rv gratifying positron to have reacTif d Hi siich a short, time. Ha did not i-r.ow of any othor oouipanv that Jhnd 1 done so well. All their building, with 1 the exception of :their old wooden Tmt--1 .£.- factory, were an good order, notwithstanding what they might have h^ard

to the contrary. The directors went] around and made a very careful inspec-, liou and were satisfied that the whole <)f the buildings were as eound almost -as the day they were put up. The timber used "in them must have been particularly good. He would not, however, advocate going in for any more wooden buildings in future, and the policy ot Hie company was to erecb any new buildings or any additions required in concrete. There was no question that in a few years the saving in depreciation and insurance would more than compensato for any extra initial cost. Their plant was all in splendid order. "They kept nothing that did not give the best results; this was replaced by new machinery. In their balance-sheet the charge for repairs and renewals may look high in comparison with other companies, but the Joll Company charged nothing of this to capital account. Any new plant that was required to replace existing plant was charged to repairs and renewals. That was a wise policy for any company to pursue, because they knew exactly the position of their plant account. In addition to this, however, a certain depreciation was being wiped off all the time. Their original motor carrying plant was written down very considerably during the short time they had had it. The directors considered it prudent to write this down at the rate ot 25 per cent, per annum, and with the motor lorry recently purchased the motor lorry account was now shown at only £1476, which must be considered .a safe policy to adopt. The additions at Te Ngutu were now nearing completion, and in this connection he might say when they called for tenders for this work the lowest received was £2600. The directors then <Lecided to do the work by day labor, aiid he believed the; whole work would he completed for £1800 —a saving of £800. When finished this building would make a very satisfactory factory. Their shares in thei various other companies had largely increased, the paysnents during the year • amounting to £'2982 14s. Their holdings now, consisted of 951. in the South Taranaki Shipping Company, 4496 in the Box Company, 2980 in the Bacon Company, all fully paid up; 1000 in the Rennet Oompany, paid up to £125; 40 in the Winter Show Company, paid up to £170: 8816 in tha West Coast Refnger--ating Company, £6068 13s 8d paid up; 2814 additional shares were taken up .during the year in the West Coast Refrigerating Company, making the total *s&l6. Extra shares would have: to be taken up in the Box Company. Their supplies of timber on existing . leaseholds had come almost to an end, and negotiations were in progress with the Tongaviro company to acquire rights over 4000 kcres of their country estimated to yield 130,000,000 feet of timber, including 60,000,000 feet of white pine. Alttough this company had a large sum invested in the Box Company, on which they received no interest, the Box Company, when their present negotiations were completed with the Tongariro Company, should have secured enough timber to last for the Tiext 2o or 30 yeais, even allowing for the estimated development of the dairy industry, and this wag a vital consideration. In addition to the white oine, the large quantities of matai, totara, •etc., that they would then mill for the building trade, should prove profitable •and reduce the price of white pin© for <-rates. The 80-*: Company will have toj pay 3s per 100 feet royalty in respect of the new bush they were negotiating for. but the present market price of white pine was 345, and as it took between 10 and 11 feet to make a crate, the present price of 2 S lOd per crate Avas after all, very reasonable. In regard to requisites he would like to mention a few items. Rennet that in 1914 oosb £420, last year cost this company £4194; salt increased from £300 to £1785; bandage and caps, £602 to £1780. wire nails and staples, £70 to £306; railway freights, £94 to £377-------fuel and pow&r. £1818 to £2571; boxes -and cases, £2120 to £4299; wages, £5496 u> £8398. Total cost of manufacturing, £11,799 to £24,433. Their last gear's cartage was 10 s 3d per ton, Tviucn under the conditions was reasonable. In future th© directors recommend that depreciation be written off as follows: 5 per cent, on buildingIk per cent, on cheese plant; 10 per cent, on butter plant, and 25 per cent ' on carrying plant. In reply to questions the chairman said that the company made only three cases ot third grade cheese during the year, and that was during the e pidennc, so that they had nothing to com??#U° fi£ U s***>****■ They lost about 15.0CVJ libg of whey butter during the epidemic, which equalled about id per lb ot butter-fat over the whole season, lhey had, of course, the extra wages to account for, their employees whilst laid up, were all paid full rates. The average pay-out for the seaeon was 24.20 d. but had interest been 24 3Sd Pay-°ut would have been In reply to Mr York, the secretary sW<Lw£i5 W<Lw£i the com Pany used from 1800 to 2000. Mr York added that the chairman ot the Auckland Chamber of ComJiierce had quoted Hong Kong benzine as being worth 5s 10£ d per case, f.o.b ±Long Kong. Could not this company import direct instead of paying the present exorbitant rates? The secretary replied that unfortunately it was impossible to indent benzine .direct from any company who .had then- agents in New Zealand. Purchases must be made through them i if iai S any leaky tins supplied to •shareholders were concerned, the comPany charged for full tins, and any shareholders who received one not full should immediately notify the fact and <lecline to take delivery of it The company was going to 'build a bulk .store, but was not going into the retail business. They would only stock such lines as benzine, pollard, etc., and take orders from shareholders for any special lines that they required. BONUS TO GENERAL MANAGER. In view of the extra work that devolved upon the general manager during the epidemic, Mr Crowley moved that he be voted a bonus of 50 guineas. Mr R. Harrison moved as an amendment that the bonus be £100. On a show of hands the amendment was declared lost and the motion carried. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. The three retiring directors—Messrs J. F. Kiley, J. J. Kissick, and* A. C. Johnstoae —were nominated for reflection. In addition Messrs W. A -Guy and E. G. Betts were also nominated. A ballot resulted as follows: A. €. Johnstone 420, W. A. Guy 270, J J. Kissick, 244, J. F. Kiley *196, and "E. G. Betts 147. The first 'three were declared elected. Mr J. B. Murdoch were re-elected unopposed for the vacancy caused by the retirement of the T. L. Joll Estate 3-epresentative, who now ceases to be eligible. GENERAL. Mr H. A. Lennon was appointed auditor, Mr O'Callaghan not seeking reappointment. It was decided to pay os each for first grade veils and 2s 6d for second grade. It was also unanimously decided to recommend to the directors that the general manager's salary be increased from £400 to £500 a year. The formal resolution amending the articles of association were carried at a special meeting held at the conclusion of the ordinary business.