EAST TAMAKI DAIRY COMPANY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18077, 29 April 1922, Page 11

EAST TAMAKI DAIRY COMPANY

(Published by Arrangeniciit.;

i A good deal of misunderstanding is apparent by current reports concerning j the formation and policy oil the East Tamafci Co-operative Dairy Ctimpany. It i has been repeatedly reported that the I suppliers who broke away from the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company and | formed the East Tama-ki Ccmnanv have , gone back t» the old concern. Possibly ,in the minds of some who made this statement the wish was father to the : thought. Tho facta are exactly the re- | verse- In May last about 75 per oent. of the farmers who were supplying to the cheese factory in East Tamaki decided to jet away from the pld Company and start afresh for themselves. The cheese factory had been started and carried on by these same fanners and at the amalgamation it was handed over to the NewZealand Co-operative Dairy Company. In 19?0 and 1921 were dissatisfied with the treatment they received from the directorate and from the Hamilton office. The main cause was the Tact that a good number of Tamalti farmers were producing winter milk which the Company sold for town supply at Is 3d to Is 6d a ga'lon, equivalent to 3s 4d lb. butterfat and in spite cf this valuable trade the Companv did not pay Tamaki any mora than <t paid Aka Aka, Orini or Enkuhia. "Hiere were other transactions which the local ranpliers could not reconcile with the allege! policy of the Company. As they have been recently told, dairy fanners zre not business men. Perhaps they could not understand bnaness. However a decision was arrived at—that tie case was hopeless; that it was wiser to get out even if it meant-the loss of all that had been pat into the old Company, The new group started operations on June 1. 1921, by collecting '..heir milk ut a receiving stage on the roadside and sending it to town. At the" same tirie factory buildings and plant were erected. The new Company has increased in number of suppliers and turnover since its inception and is now faced with the need of extensive additions. But the farmers of East Tamaki have never tried to evade their obligation to the New Zealand Co-oDcrative Dairy Company. They offered before they left to purchase the East Tamaki Cheese Factory at its foil capital value. It must be borne in mil d that these sams men had built the factory and had handed it over at the amalgamation? But when they found it no longer possible to remain under tho Hamilton directorate ihey were- prepared to relieve the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company of any liability as far as their factory is concerned. It has been repeatedly stated that a prin ciple of the New Zealand Co-operatire Dair" Company is that each factory should be financed bv its own supplie-s. . East Tamaki believed this and is ready Ito take over its own concern. Recently I the question was revived. It is apparent to tile most- casual observer that 'he cheese factory of six vat capacity, which is now being run with a supply cf one vat Kid employing four men must be a losing concern. As the result of an' informal conference held recently in Arckland the directors of the East Tamaki Companv offered to lease the cheese factory from the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company at | a rental equivalent to "k per cent, ou I the capital va'ne. This offer was refns€<„ ;no reason given, nor anv counter pr■■>Inosal made. Tho shareholders of the Mew Zealand Co-operative Dairv Companv should know »ie facts iso that thev maw if thev wish, discuss (the action of their directorate m regard 'to East Tamaki. In conclusion the 3&st ! Tamaki Companv has established its posiition and the shareholders have decided 'to increase their factorv by installing ■j a n au-to-date butter makine plant to be , readv for the coming spring Their , financial' position » sotmd. _ and , next season tliev will he m the . position to offer the beppfits of their ' oTsanisation to anv suppliers who will \ vuid their home-separated cream to \ Papatoetoe station.