The Kaiapoi Woollen Manfacturing Company, Ltd.

NZ Truth, Issue 483, 19 September 1914, Page 4

The Kaiapoi Woollen Manfacturing Company, Ltd.

A Ray of Hope for Local Manufacture. A Profitable Year and a Bright Outlook. "Cambist" regrets that he has to find fault with the old fashioned and out of date sot-up of the report and balancesheet of this company. It does not state the number of the annual meeting, nor does the name of the manager appear. This may be a matter of little moment to the people of Christchurch, who prbbably know both, but to an outsider about to invest it is certainly very important he should know how long the business of a company has been carried on, and by whom managed. Besides, it seems, to the writer most Unfair to an important official, such as the manager of a large manufacturing concern, that his name should be overlooked m this manner. The secretary of the company may be a very excellent accountant, and all that sort of thing, but, as a rule,' secretarial duties are: quite secondary m importance to the manager's work. If the latter is a fit and proper person for the job and escapes tho muddling Interferences of the Board? the chances are that it is the manager's brains and ability that make dividends possible, backed up of course by the ,„' EFFORTS OF THE WORKERS. , "■ . The capital of the company is £200,000 fully paid, up m £5 shares, of which 24,661 shares . are ordinary shares, and 4.5,339 preference capital. The Reserve Fund is £40,000, with a further sum of £2417 as insurance reserve. This writer Is sorry he cannot fully criticise the reserves, for the accounts give no indication of the company's age, but he is disappointed with the small sums shown. From this he deducts on© fact— that local industries have had a hard struggle to obtain a footing m this country. Here is a valuable industry, backed by quite a large capital, with practically nothing put aside m reserves after all its years of work. There has, been much blunderIng m its management, and consequent losses m the past. Added to this there has been cold encouragement from past or present Governments,' and, as a rule, neither efficient State . protection extended to the industry, nor wise legislation to help the workers engaged m it. The small reserve points to the first, and the recent strike of the workers plainly proyes the latter contention.). In the meantime the dividends are small on capital and the wages are not high enough to provide for the advanced cost of living. The country is too much m the hands of • : .. BANK-BO3SBD POLITICIANS, > for the good of Its workers. The same class are also a menace to the people who have put their good hard cash Into the business. The> owners of the woollen factories m . England are better treated than the owners of such factories m the Dominion. The former are. amongst the richest classes of purse-proud Britain, while the best that can be said about the business m this country, that produces all the raw products that the industry' depends upon, is that the shareholders ge.t 7 per cent' on their investment. This problem is not a new one. It has not been solved to the advantage of any section of the people, by either this or any preceding Government. It is a problem that requires to be strongly tackled at this moment, and a fresh lot of politicians must take it m hand. The crowd that have tinkered with the vast interests involved are too Incompetent to be further trusted with its solution. On the assets Bide of the balancesheet, all the properties and plant are given as worth £103,823. after writing off £4500 for depreciation. The total does not seem to be more than the. needs of the company demand, but it. is hard to say if these items have been written down to their true values. Machinery is an Item that quickly finds its way to the scrap heap m theso times of Invention and nothing m specially said about this by the chairman. Indeed his remarks, as reported m the Christchurch newspapers, are very meagre "bf sound information. ; How can investors and workers form a fair opinion of its affairs if their figurehead remains , . AS SILENT AS A SPHINX ? Book debts are £47,440. The report says that provision has been made for all bad and doubtful debts. Assuming that all is well m this department, It Is not a large amount, and it proves that tho turnover is fairly active m the accounts. Evidently tho trade is m quick selling lines, which is a sound policy. The next item to be noticed is "Stock, £164,677," The report states that thlH Is "carefully taken," but omits to Bay if the values are on a cost baala, market values, or warehouse values? A lot depends upon how tho values are arrived at m a manufacturing . concern of this kind. Here again. the chairman's regiettablo want of candour is very unfortunate. He may be fully satisfied about tho whole position, but he leaves nothing for the outside public to go upon. It would "buck things up" a bit if "we" only had some solid facts to base indepenjlont opinion oh. It is Independent opinion that la so valuable to all our industries those times, and chairmen of our Industrial companies should help tho public to a sound valuation of the country's Industrial development. ... Two items are left for spealal notice. Tho first is "Sundry creditors, deposits, and Bank of New Zealand, £57,621.*' It will be noticed how all theso differing Items aro lumped together, whereas if the management desired the shareholder* aud other interested parties TO KNOW THE EXACT TFIUTH about the company's indebtedness, these Items would »«. shown separately m the balance-shoot, Apparently neither the chairman nor anyone olse wishes these parties to get thi* sort of information. The Bank of Now Zealand may b«j a creditor for a targe portion of this debt, and "Cambist" hopes It Is, for It could not better advance money than m building up locnl industries. Perhaps tho bank iv tho only creditor, and all tho others mentioned are but financial "kid stake*" to hide the fact. But the rotten method of lumping all the differing items destroys tho opportunity for clear-cut criticism. juKt ax muah as it does the DrlMeh habit of giving praise wnero pralso Is well ileKi-rvod. and censure wheru such Ih desorved. Tho next Item that calls for special notice Ik thq purchase of properties m Auckland and Christchurch. The total of theso l« £.18.044 according to the chairman, He waxed Joyous over the flue building tho company had erected m the Queen City, hut this writer asks himself what U the true Inwardness of this Kinking ot money In bricks and mortar. Ho suKKests nn answer, it to tho hard struggle the company has had for yonrs past agalnftt the Importer of shoddy wooli am from Germany. The importer would rather stook up his shelve* with forolKn Koods than fill them w|ih tho sou tit I. honest productions of our local workers. That is tho problem In a nutshell. What a wasteful unpatriotic villainy It all amounts to, In the light of recent happening*. Gorman textiles give moro profit to our merchant* and banks, than loml toll, so to Shool with the local workers, say In effect the commercial sharks hore noticed. H iH this sort of fiscal policy which thrown Into the limelight the politic* of our governments

and mercantile associations. This sori PUTS IN THE GUTTER OF CONTEMPT the doings of our merchant classes, out strike-breaking superior persons and oui financial quidnuncs. And while tlu wretched, short-sighted, proflt-lumtin§ merchant and banker Is intent upor gathering the profits of sweated goods we have a hard-battling Industry like th< Kaiapof Woollen Manufacturing Companj sinking its money m" warehouses thai would be quite unnecessary if our peoplt ! were true patriots, Instead of being £ ' gang of profit hunters only. No wondei dividends are small m our manufacturI ing Industries. Nevertheless, the position is. not one to make us sad. Th< woollen manufacturing Industr3* nevei had such ' a chance as is has now. Th< I foreigners are busy cutting each others throats, m a literal sense: Then le the people of this Dominion buckle t< .and capture the trade m local manufaC' tures everywhere they can, even at ;th< i expense of ruining every importer In thi : country. We have been too much m thi "hands cf those wretched Importing para< sites. It is time the people put thes< traitors to the Dominion's' best interes In their proper place. They are the cursi of the country and Its real enemies. Tliej are, the real foreign spies, which, alas cannot be shot on sight as the others can We hope the company with which thi! review is concerned will go on and lssui fresh capital. There is plenty of roon for £100,000 more In its business. Th< time has come for the true patriots t< show themselves. Let the Dominion g< m for being self-contained, so that it cai "find every requirement for its use, "mad< on the premises," so to speak. This wil give employment to our- workers and le the world see that we havo the bes talent m the world going to waste foi i want of opportunity.