Eltham Dairy Factory Company.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 28, 5 October 1894, Page 3

Eltham Dairy Factory Company.

ANNUAD REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS.

In pre entiug the second balauccsheeVto the sbareho’ders, the directois are pleased to b-o ab’e t o show good results from the year’s operations. Milk suppliers have been paid Bid per gallon of 10 bs, equal to B£d per gallon of lllbs, besides carrying £SO to a reserve fund for depreciation, and leaving a further estimated balance of £GO us 6J to be carried forward. This est’mate is based upon the last account sales, which were the lowest for the season, but in the case of a further fall in tbe price of cheese this amount no- I'* ro.PDod.

was luuue out a good deal of cheese was still unsold, and it is unsatisfactory to know that when all was cleared, and the net returns to hand, the balance was better than bad been anticipated, so that the total paid to milk suppliers for that year amounted to 8 G-7d per gallon, anl a small balance was left over of £1 Bs sd. Had this been included, it would have made the total payment 8 7-Hd per gcr gallon of 101b*, equal to 4 1-Bd per per gallon of lllbs, a price that makes dairying pay very well indeed, and need leave no regrets in the minds of the promoters at having started tbe Company. Besides doing good to themselves, they have done good to their fellow settlors all round ; for when the Co-operative Factory started, the price •of milk at the private factories was raised; and the outcome has been the flourishing state of the township and neighbourhood. Sections have doubled in price, and farms have risen in value by £1 or £2 per acre. In walking through the township, as many ns six or seven buildings might sometimes of late been seen in course of erection at one time.

In regard to tbe lesser, price for milk realised this year, as compared with last, the Directors find that it would be economical to enlarge the factory, so as to work up all milk during the day, instead of working at night, tbe expenses of extra firewood, kerosene, &0., being considerable. In this connection, too, starting the factory earlier" in the spring, and "working later in the autumn, would be an economy, and will probably, as at Cardiff, can* 3 the question of getting a separator again to crop up. During this winter and spring, one factory has realised 13-kl per lb for butter in Wellington, and about 24lbs of milk made a pound of butter, which means about ud per gallon for milk in the case of a factory being co-operative, and that is not to be desjnsed, when you add the skim milk for early calves, and remember that the manager’s f alary is running on whether the factory hr working or not. The disposal of next season’s output of cheese has been under consideration by the directors, and an effort is being made to sell it f.o.b. ocean steamer. Owing to delays at port of shipment, and other causes, the company realised little or no benefit from the high prices for cheese ruling for part of the season in London, At the close of the first season a shipment was sent to Glasgow, and the net amount realised was muck better than the previous, shipment sent to Loudon ; but this year the net returns received for one shipment sent to Glasgow do not compare favorably with the London returns. Railage and freight to Wellington has cost £2OO, By shipping at Waitara, it is hoped to save very considerably under this heading during next season.—Eltham Guardian.