OKITU DAIRY COMPANY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19132, 29 September 1936, Page 14

OKITU DAIRY COMPANY

THE ANNUAL MEETING STEADY PROGRESS MADE FINANCIAL POSITION GOOD The annual meting of the Oldtn Cooperatives Dairy Company, Limited, was held in the Masonic Hall to-day, and was attended by a large number of shareholders. The chairman of directors, Mr. E, It. Renner, presided. The steady progress of the company and its sound financial position were commented upon by the chairman in moving the adoption, of the annual report, already published in the llerald. He stated that the season just passed was the best in the company's existence both for total manufacture and for payments to suppliers. The increase in manufacture and the average payments for finest buttertar each season since the formation of the company are shown in the following

Mr. Kenner continued, saying “The position as far as New Zealand is concerned is that practically everybody ig dependent either directly or indirectly on the success of the marketing of our primary products overseas, and those products can only .be marketed to the best advantage when the. quality is good, so that if the methods adopted by you are good methods ‘and 'proper!,' carried out, you will be benefiting not only yourselves but your fellow citizens in the towns and cities who are to a very great extent dependent on yotu efforts for their own livelihood. “EXCEPTIONALLY PLEASED" “I' think that shareholders and suppliers have every reason to be exceptionally well pleased with the position revealed by the profit and loss account and; balance sheet for the year. During a short period of six years the company has grown from a very small concern with very little capital to an up-to-date factory making approximately 500 tons of butter per antrum, with a paid-up capital of £3400 and reserves, which, inclusive of unpaid share calls, considerably exceed the paid-tip capital, the grand total being over £9500." “Tliis is indeed a remarkable performance, and shows conclusively that the company has been directed on sound lines, and that it has an inherent strength which is probably not. surpassed by any dairy company in the North Island. “You will notice that a further sum lias been placed to reserve, this time to a contingency reserve account. Your directors feel that it is impossible at this stage to gauge accurately the repercussions of the legislation which is being rapidly passed by the present Government, and consider that it is wise to put this sum aside for use at any time that it may he required. It is a wise policy to build up reserves in a time of prosperity, and the directors feel that as l far as your company is concerned it has had a remarkable run of success, and that the suppliers can well afford to put aside again this year a further substantial sum against perhaps a rainy day in the future. ' GOVERNMENT CONTROL “I have no doubt that you are all well pleased with the additional payments that you are getting. The payout for the season is probably one of the highest in New Zealand. Your directors are pleased that their marketing methods for the last season have again met with a fair measure of success, hut you must not forget that the success I which has again been achieved has been largely assured by the efficient management of tlie factory and the untiring endeavours of all concerned in the company’s business during the past season. “We are now entering on a new phase of marketing under Government control; no one knows yet how it will turn out, but I would ask you to remember what Lord Nelson said to his men when entering his last big naval battle with the same uncertainty as to the issue: ‘England expects that every man this day will do his duty.’ I trust that these words will remain in your minds not for one day only, hut every day in the year when you set out to do your daily work. The success- or otherwise of the Government’s hazardous experiment depends greatly on how you do your job on the farm.”* PROGRESS OE COMPANY Mr. M. J. White, auditor, said that the accounts showed a remarkably progressive state of affairs. The present sound position was achieved by the very wise judgment of the company’s directors, and he {jointed to the wisdom of building up a contingency reserve account. This was a unique, meeting, in a way, because it was the first under Government, control. Some people placed their faith in Governments and some in men; the directors were continuing their prudent course by building up the contingency reserve. In reply to Mr. C. Cooper for further information on a point of expenditure, the secretary, Mr. H. P. Hamilton, stated that in future all dairy companies would be required to conform to a standard balance sheet, in which all points of expenditure under certain heads would have to'be shown.

nole • ' 1930-31 . (9 months) Finest Output Payment Tons d. ... 92 12.29 1931-32 ... 158 12.00 1932-33 ... 290 9.61 1933-34 ... 3S0 9.59 1934-35 ... 450* 10.002 1935-36 .... ... 481* 13.37