NEW ZEALAND REFRIGERATING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1915, 3 August 1888, Page 17

NEW ZEALAND REFRIGE RATING COMPANY.

The annual meeting of fehnreholdc;)-^ o f the New Zealand Refrigeratiug Company (Limited) was held at the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday afternoon. Mr Jotm Roberts occupied the chair, and thera were. &bout 20* shareholders .present.

THE ANNUM REPORT. The Chaibman, \iy moving the adoption of the report, whiojv has* already been publisher*, said : b l need scarcely say that the result of the year s operations shows a very satisfactory outturn, a^d I imagine very few remarks of mine will be necessary. As a rule, so long as a company s affairs are progressing satisfactorily, and the company is doing well, very few inquiries are made about anything ; 8 o I take it for granted very little is required from me tomake the position of the company clear. I will however, niako a few remarks which will be interesting ho the shareholders. During the past year I maj say that the outturn of tho w.o?kß has been a very large increase upon any pievious year. I will give you a few figures with regard to the past three years, to show what tho past year s work has been in comparison \vitfa the previous, ones. During the year ending June 188Q, the uuniber of sheep froaen was 100 981 • dUti «i o h S ycHC eudia 8 Ju " e 188 ?. tQ e number was 93,247.; and during the year which has just closed, we haye deal's with 146,561 carcassed 1 his showaa, very marked increase, and as I have frequently remarked before, the lare- eoess, of the business which is done by the coaapauji regulates tbe profit. A minimum quality was required to pny ordinary expenses, ami everything beyond that contributes ve?y largely to* the net result. If the works a?e only kept, going, and fully going, it mewas. that we can. make handsome profit at tho present rate off chargts, but if they are only kept half oi- a third going thb profit is absorbed. The works iniglit perhaps have done mwe, and could have done more, last year bad we beeu compelled to do ™ ore - 'po aottt»l operations of the year show that both vcflks were pretty well iv continuous operatic^. At Burnside they were continuously in operation; and at Oamaru, with Bomo slight stoppage, they were pretty well employed too. If you take the number of days of working you will find the average woilring to be oue-half the capacity of toe works* or, that if we ißene forced tt> work tit higher, wessur* we could very easily take 200,000 oueLi* w^T"^ *? ? ab wU * the applies wo W * s* F<^. time - The P rofi * which ha & been made during tbe past year has raised thequestion to the bft?; rd a 8 to whether it would no.* be expecuer.t in the interests of shippers to make some DOucessiou in the charges. As I iuiv«> already stated, tha profit was so dependent upon the work; that tua company got to perforat that it is a matter of uncertainty what the outcomewill be of any year. Hence the board are inthis po3U<wa now that they cannot say what concaaaioa they can make until She year has batUi completed and the profit ascertained Ifc piy ba argued that as w$ fcave made a very handsome profit during the past year, some concession should be made to shippers on thafe account; but shareholders will remember this timelast yearwhjinwe metit was distinctly stated that for the previous yearehdiau 2887 the allowance for depreciation had beeu somewhat smalh Wo Sjund ourselves last year writing out the «XBtof repairs of only some £500 against the Oamaru machinery. That was looked upon as a fair allowance and at the same time the directors felt that if a sum had beeu available they would have liked to have made a larger sum for tear, a.n.d wear.. We have in the disposal of the proQfc Kga.de,, I think* ample provision for writing dawn! th.c works at what I consider a very fair, cosUndeed. I find that tke original cost of the Oaraara and BarnsMe works amounted to £399.982; but. the works now are written down at £28 445 i 5m?55? tbat . 8m f * he Btdrt w e haye written off S s*7^* 3 ° per CCnt ' u P°» th « original coat. That brings down, as I said before* thr-. eosi withra very reasonable hoands indeed* ami Jbe dlrocton-those of theta who remain on the board and those who retire, if re-eieeted-are piepared to say, if durtog the coning year the works be kept very &!ly going, a large quantity of work performed and a correspondingly large profit made, and provide that a fair and reasonable dividend be paid to the shareholder, taat they wil? consider the question of making some return to shippers. Our work and profit is entirely derived from shippers, aud ie is only right that w« should to nome extent Bee fc ?L^ n^ rYe fc , he ' r lnter f ßfea - Up to the present lime the only concession mado to shippers » thu: For some lew months auy mutton that at Fort Chalmers the company' W ;

borne the railway freight to Port Chalmers, which is about equal to 4d a carcass ; [so that to give a corresponding benefit to shippers at Burnside the directors have made a concession of 4d per carcass to them. This we propose to continue, so that they will get a direct benefit equal to one-sixteenth of a penny reduction. It is also probable that the directors may see their way at the end of the year to make a further reduction of one-sixteenth of a penny. That will be a matter for the new board to deal with. It is also intended, in the event of any meat being shipped at Oamaru and railage not incurred, that 4d shall be returned to the shippers there also ; so that Burnside and Oamaru will be on an equal footing. In reference to shipments that have been made during the past year, I would draw your attention to the tendency which seems to exist — viz., the increase in the quantity shipped by each shipper. Three years ago there were 120 shippers, who shipped on an average 841 carcasses. Last year we had 107 shippers, and an average of 915 carcasses ; and this year there is a decrease to 71 shippers, shipping an average of 1310 carcasses. That seems to point to the fact that the shipment is being gradually left to the larger men to do. It is in many respects a matter to be regretted that the small shareholders do not see their way to send their quota and assist in some way in feeding the London market with frozen mutton. However, one can hardly wonder at the small men shirking the risk in the light of the experience of past year 3. The average return for the past year was only about Id per lb net. This with a 601b sheep means only ss,for the carcasses, and, allowing Is 2d for the skin and Is for the tallow, it means an average return for the very best of our sheep of something like 8s 6d. That is not, I think, an adequate return, and must account for the disinclination on the part of small men to face the risk of shipment. It seems strange that the trade should have developed in that direction. However, it appears that the shippers are getting fewer every year, and that the quantities are getting larger. With reference to the liabilities of the company, you will find if you tot up from the balance sheet that they come to £10,000 as compared with £8000 last year— an increase of £2000. That is not to be wondered at, because, as I indicated last year, a new refrigerating machine had to be provided for the Burnside works and also for Oamaru, besides the increased storage at Burnside. Something like £6000 has been spent during the past year in alterations and improvements and the extension of the works, so that our indebtedness having only increased £2000 shows to some extent what we have been doing during the year. It will be noticed that in those accounts before you that reserve fund has disappeared, The directors thought it was prudent iv these days of property tax to apply that towards the reduction on works, for after all it was really a reserve to provide for any necessary contingency, and we thought that we would be dealing fairly and for the benefit of all concerned if we wiped out £2500 and applied it in reduction of the cost of the works. You are aware that during the past year considerable agitation has taken place in reference to the reduction of frozen meat freights, and it seemed likely a month ago that Id a pound was likely to be established as the rate of freight. Lately the movement seems to have somewhat subsided, or been lost sight of altogether, and now there seems to be nothing known about this reduction. Circulars were sent out by some of the freezing companies, who stated that if they got a certain number of sheep they could secure freights at a Id per pound. What has happened lately I do not know, but it appears there has been some hitch, and I fear the negotiations that were in operation have failed to some extent. You are all aware that the Fifeahire and the Elderslie are under charter to the company for two years yet at l^d per pound, and I am sure shareholders and shippers alike feel grateful to the owners of these vessels for the very handsome and generous way they have met us. When the other steamers reduced the frieght from l^d to l£d per pound, the owners of these ships also agreed to make a reduction to ljd. That was put into effect on the past voyage of the Fifeshire, and will be maintained on the coming voyage of the Elderslie. That means a direct loss of £2500 to the owners, and their action demands at the hands of shippers and all interested here some substantial recognition, and I am quite sure that all those getting the direct benefit now will not forget that they owe something to the owners of the Fifeshire and Elderslie. I think I have touched upon all points that might be of any interest to the shareholders and those interested in the trade, and with these remarks I beg to more the adoption of the report. I might say that it is a matter for gratification that during the past few days private advices .have been received stating that frozen mutton hi£S been fetching s|d per lb in London, which means something like 3d per lb to the shipper. I hope this state of things will continue, as nothing tends more to our prosperity than the continued increase in the value of our products.

Dr LindO FEnGusoN seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.

A VOTE OF THANKS.

•Mr A. C. Begg said, before proceeding to the next business, he thought it was fitting that a hearty vote of thanks should be given to the owners of the Fifeshire and Elderslie for granting the company a reduction oa freights. He would move to that effect.

Mr W. L. Simpson seconded the motion, which was carried.

ELECTION OF DIEECTOES.

Mr Bell, in proposing that the retiring directors, Messrs Brydone and Robertd.be reelected, said it was well known to the shareholders that these two gentlemen had borne the heat and burden of the day in inaugurating this, which was really the pioneer refrigerating company of New Zealand. He thought the thanks of the shareholders of the company and of all shippers of frozen meat were due to Messrs Brydone and Roberts and the directors of the company for the efficient and able way in which the business of the company had always been conducted. Mr Kempthohne, in seconding the motion, said the balance sheet was so entirely satis-,, factory that little need be said, but he thought the directors who had contributed so greatly to the present state of the company's affairs should be re-elected. The motion was agreed tc. ELECTION OF AUDITOR.

On the motion of the Chaibman, seconded by Mr Brydone, the retiring auditor, Mr Callander was re-elected at the remuneration of 30gs per annum.