THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1926, Page 7

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

PRODUCTION AT MANGATOKI, TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. THE CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS. The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the Mangatoki Co-operative Dairy Co. was held yesterday in the Mangatoki Hall, tlie chairman of directors (Mr. R. H. Free) presiding over a large attendance. In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, the chairman said the unfavourable spring of 1925 had been responsible for a slight reduction in the amount of butter-fat supplied—about 27,0001b5, or 2 per cent. The eost per lb butter-fat to f.o.b. ocean steamer is practically the same as last year, but there are’items of expenditure that call for explanation. There has been an increase of about £2OO in wages. During the year, the employees of Taranaki factories, through their union, moved for an award by the Arbitration Court and, although their demands were not granted in full, they were granted an award for the remainder of the year, and the old system by which they‘were paid in cash and kind had -to be discontinued and all wages paid in cash. Goods with which they have to be supplied are paid for at wholesale rates, also the men are granted three weeks’ holiday in place of a fortnight. ' There lias been a slight reduction in the fuel account owing to electric power bavin" been installed at Matapu and Mahoe, he continued, but the gross savin®' under the two heads has not been very great. However, we anticipate that when'the Tariki scheme is in full workin" order there will be a saving in cost in’ addition to the added convenience. The increased cost of cartage is due to the fact that six months’ leave of absence was granted to the late Mr. Pilkington. Through his death the company had” lost the services of a very loyal servant. The extra expenditure on the lorry is wholly due to the cost of a new set of tyres. At the beginning of the year all produce was held up on account of the skipping strike, the first of the seasons make being shipped early in November, leaving large accumulations m store. The directors made progress payments of Is 8d per lb butter-fat. To do this we had to draw against store warrants and pay bank rate of interest for the u-commodation. During the latter part of the season, and before the accumulation referred to was cleared, there was a further hold-up of produce on account of the Control Board retaining in store in New Zealand a percentage of the make of the flush months in order to even up shipments over the whole season. The combination of these cir cumstahees is responsible for the heavy increase in the interest bill. IMPROVING THE 51LK SUPPLY. Darin" the year fSeaboard went very fully into the‘matter of farm dairy instruction, but before deciding the question the department was, asked to undertake a preliminary inspection of tlw sheds and to report to the company. The beard gave this report their careful concideration and came to the conclusion that it would be in the best _ interests of the company to have an instructor appointed. Under arrangements with the department and the Eltham Dairy Co. we have secured the services of Mr. Picard. The best service that suppliers can render the company is by assisting Mr. Picard to carry out his duties, as, bv obtaining a first-class milk over ths stage, our manager and his staff will be 'in a better position to turn out a really first-class article. In this connection it may be well to mention that it is the expressed intention of the Control Board to pay a premium for superfine cheese. At a meeting of the federtttion recently held in Hawera,♦ at which Mr. Singleton, of the Dairy Division, spoke in favour of the action of the Control Board, a resolution was passed askin" the board to investigate for a whole’ season the prices realised on the London market for each grade of cheese before instituting a superfine grade.. The directors are in accord with this resolution. Turning to .the financial side ot the company’s business, the chairman said it was pleasing to record that the position of the company had improved durin" the vear bv £1550. As stated m the balance-sheet, cheese suppliers have been paid Is 7d per lb over the whole season, with a further id shown as available on the valuation of cheese at the time Of going to press, Since then 2052 cases of white have been sold’at an average price of 88s per cwt., and 598 cases of coloured at about 82s 6d per cwt. These prices are considerably over the estimate, and since these sales have been made, cheese has moved up to 90s for white, and 88s for coloured If cheese holds in the region of these figures, the company will pay over Is 8d per lb butter-fat for tl.t season. There is sHH a balance of 2000 cases has been well maintained, and. of 45 brands of cheese passing through Patea, Mangatoki gained fourth place with an average of 92.687, Mahoe ninth place with an average of 91.731, Matapu eleventh place with an average of 91.66 and Kaponga fifteenth place with an avera"e of 91.588 points. There are 34 brands of butter graded at Patea, and Mangatoki gained third place for creamery and thirteenth for whey. With regard to the coming season, all t!ie plant is in thorough working order, and prospects, from the point of view of production, appear good. The marketing side of the business has been assumed bv the Control Board, and, '.though I am sure that each of us hopes that’the efforts of the board will prove an unqualified success, at the present moment the directors are rather in the dark, having had no indication of what the rate of advance for the season is likely to be. Mr. J. M. Gatenby seconded the resolution, which was adopted without discussion.

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. There being no further nominations lor the vacancies on tlie directorate caused by the retirement by rotation of Messrs R. H. Free, R. Law, and .1 A. Kemp, those three were re-elected. Messrs Walkley and Cameron were reappointed auditors at the same reinuneraton. The directors’ fees and the chairman’s honorarium were fixed at the same as last vear. This decision was arrived at after "Mr. R. McCormick had moved an amendment to the effect that the chairman’s honorarium be reduced from £l'2s to £lOO and the directors’ fees remain the same.

Mr. Huse asked, if a board of nine directors was necessary in view of the action of the Control Board in taking absolute control of all exportable produce. The chairman: Tlie Control Board will only take the place of the agents There will be plenty for the directors to’ do. Mr. Astbury: Do you, as chairman, not think that you will have less work to do while the Control Board is marketing your produce? The chairman: I believe we will have the same amount of work but less responsibility. (Mr. Astbury: Well, that responsibility is worth somethin". The amendment was then lost and the motion carried. DISAPPOINTMENT IN MR. HAWKEN. Mr. J. Marx moved: “That the shareholders express their extreme disappointment at the action of their member (Hon. O. J. Hawken), both as member for the Egmont electorate and as Minister of Agriculture, in his assistance to and championing of the enforcement of absolute control. This meeting feels assured.that such action is premature and will prove extremely detrimental to the dairy industry and in many cases disastrous to supply shareholders. Speaking to the motion, Mr. Marx reviewed the company's, past financial arrangements and pointed out that all initiative had now been taken away from the directors. He believed in limited control, but contended that the Control Board had begun at the wrong end in enforcing the control clause instead of quietly feeling their way. It appeared to him that their member had failed his farmer constituents, and was providing a means for a setback to the dairy industry, It would be no use, he said, for opponents of control to say ultimately, “I told you so,” for the damage would be done and any failure of control would be simply disastrous to the dairy industry. To-day, continued Mr. Marx, nobody can export one pound of butter whereas, if a free market prevailed, eyen if the prospects were not very bright, the company, could make advances to practically the full value received. Mr. Huse seconded the motion, and spoke in support of Mr. Marx’s remarks. A shareholder pointed out that the Bill was already passed and there was no sense in passing such a resolution. Mr. G. Preece spoke in like terms and appealed to the meeting not to support the motion. Mr. Astbury said he did not see why Mr. Hawken should be picked out as the black sheep for the whole party. It seems, he said, a rather invidious action to blame the individual instead of the whole Government. After further discussion, which swung round to the. attitude of the large section of dairy company representatives, who left the 'big meeting of producers in Wellington some m’onths ago, Mr. Marx intimated that he desired to withdraw the resolution and the matter was then dropped. The secretary read the circular from the South Taranaki Federated . Dairy Companies dealing with the purchase of day-old calves by the Patea Freezing Co., and mentioned that arrangements had been made for a lorry to pick up calves at convenient depots. Mr; Astbilry referred to tlie length of time which, lapsed from the time the calves were picked up till they were delivered at the works. He thought thre might be a question of cruelty to animals unless the delivery was expedited. The chairman said he understood this matter was at present being looked into with a view to delivering the calves at Patea the same day. Mr. J. Dawson, testing officer, waited on the meeting urging greater interest in the operations of the Herd Testing Association. v Votes of thanks were accorded tlio directors, the managers and the secretary for their excellent work during .the year. BELL BLOCK COMPANY. A SUCCESSFUL YEAR. THE ANNUAL MEETING. The thirtieth annual meeting *of the Bell Block. Dairy Company was held laist night. Mr. L. J. Rundle presided. The annual report congratulated the company on a successful season. The pay-out. was very satisfactory, and the output had increased by 43,5681bs butterfat. The cost of manufacture and putting produce f.o.b. ocean steamer, including cream collecting, repair’s . and renewals, and all overhead expenses, was 3.06 d per lb butter-fat, depreciation .19d per lb butter-fat. The branch factory at Hillsborough had been rebuilt in concrete at a cost of about £2OOO, and would be ready to receive milk by August 1. After writing off £477 10s 6<l for depreciation there was a credit balance of £5987 9s 4d, which it was recommended be allocated as follows: — The payment of 6 per cent, interest on share capital paid up to June 30, 1925, and a further payment of 23-8 d per lb butter-fat- supplied for the year by milk suppliers, and 1 3-8 d per lb butter-fat to cream suppliers. Milk suppliers would then have received equal to an average payment, including interest, of 19.75 d per lb of butter-fat, and cream suppliers 18.65 d. The average grades for cheese were: Bell Block, 92.49; Hillsborough, 91.61. Creamery butter average grade was 92.73 and whey butter 89.58.

Statistics for the two factories were given as follow:—■ Cheese. —Bell Block, 5,881,5031bs milk; 239,7381bs fat; 641,7001bs .cheese; 9.16 lbs milk to lib cheese;. 2.G7 yield; 4.07 average test; Hil’sboroim... 2.937,7181bs milk; 122,'2Q41bs far; ;i2ff,6Colbs cheese; 9.071bs milk to make lib cheese; 2.64 yield; 4.15 average test; totals. 8,819,2211bs milk; 361,9421bs fat; 9G5,3001bs cheese; 9.131bs milk to lib cheese; 2.66 yield; 4.10 average test. INCREASE IN PRODUCTION. In moving the adoption of the annual report, the chairman said it was most gratifying to report another increase in production of butter-fat representing 7$ per cent, more than last year. In accordance with the wish of the shareholders tlie proceeds had again been pooled, with the usual penny differential payment to milk suppliers, as against cream suppliers. The make of cheese- from August to the end of December was 3432 crates and was sold at 9 1-Sd on the usual f.o.b. conditions. The balance of 2490 crates made from January to the end of April, was consigned, and 7|d per lb drawn against it. Up to the time of closing the 'books, no accounts sales had come to hand, but since then about 1450 prates had been accounted for and surpluses to the amount of £460 were in

hand. When the balance of 1040 crates was sold the surpluses, if any, would be paid out to euppMers. That sounded rather contradictory, continued Mr. Rundle, but it was possible for the debits on 1040 crates to eat up the credits on 1450 crates. He was optimistic enough to believe, however, that the balance now in hand would not be endangered. Butter manufactured totalled 127 tons, of which only 26J tons had gone oveiscas. The balance went into local consumption, Of the 1048 boxes sent overseas about 741 boxes were , sold at Is od f.o.b. and 327 boxes sent on consignment realised Is 4d a lb. Account sales now to hand showed that the company had a credit, of about £4O on this lot.

As the years went by the finances of the company 'became easier, and the directors had decided to suspend the calling of share capital from those shareholders who had their shares paid up to 15s and, further, they have decided to suspend allotments of shares to those shareholders who had supplied the factory for five years or more. The point he wished to make quite clear was that .this was only a suspension and the directors would only be exercising their duties if they called up the balance of share capital or issued fresh shares if the finances of tlie company became embarrassed. During the year the company had joined the Taranaki Federation of Factories, which had the management of the laboratory at Hawera. The company’s contribution to the federation and laboratory was £3O, and a great deal of good had been attained by the sending of various samples of milk for analy-. sis, etc. ■ The cream suppliers’ representation on the board of directors had been left in the hands of the directors. They had decided that as the cream supplied represented in butter-fat about one-third of the total butter-fat, the cream suppliers should have two representatives. As there were already two members sitting on the board it would not be necessary to have an election this year. It was desirable that the election should be carried out on the same lines and conditions as those at Hillsborough. . CREAM GRADING COMMENDED. At tlie present time.there was before the House a proposal for the compulsory grading of all cream. This was a step in the right direction. The difficulty in the past had been that cream condemned at one factory had been taken in by another factory. It was understood that this sort of tiling would be stopped, for the manager would have it in his power to discolour rejected cream, so that it would be impossible for it to be accepted elsewhere. The interest and freezing charges had gone up and this was more or less due to the Control Board spreading shipments. This policy was wrong in Mr. Rundle’s opinion. He was referring to cheese. He pointed out that only two countries were exporting butter to a great extent to the United Kingdom. They were Canada and New Zealand, both of whose makes were seasonal. Any great spreading of shipments would immediately bring New Zealand cheese into competition with Canadian and that, as far as possible, should be avoided. It had to be remembered that grade notes and graders' weights had been the hall-mark of the New Zealand' cheese industry for years. How long would they, remain so if was pur : oucd. Buildings and plant were in.good order. The Jlillsborough factory had been rebuilt and it could be claimed that a satisfactory job had been made. It was impossible at present to give an accurate statement of the cost of the building and plant, but it cpuld be estimated at. £2500. SpeciaT praise rvas due to the manager, branch manager and staff, as they had practically put in all the fittings in the new buildifig, thereby saving the company a considerable amount. .. In conclusion, the chairman, expressed his appreciation of the loyal co-opera-tion of his directors, the manager, the secretary and the staff. Mr. Taylor, the . manager at. the Bell Block factory, had topped the list for cheese at Moturoa, with an average of 92.49, said Mr. Rundle. He congratulated Mr. Taylor on his achievement, and urged that the suppliers should nialae efforts to send a still better article. The motion was seconded by Mr. J. S. Connett, who congratulated the chairman on the work of the company. He was particularly pleased with the new factory at Hillsborough. It had occurred to him that the suspension of the calls on 15s paid shares was a good idea. Under the control scheme the factory would have 60 per cent, of its cheese graded, superfine and the extra Jd would be collected. This was a very fine record for a factory. The report and balance-sheet were adopter!. DIRECTORS ELECTED. Mr. J. Hall was elected unopposed to the directorate to represent Hillsborough suppliers and Messrs L. J. Rundle and H. Sampson were re-elected to represent Bell Block. Mr. R. C. Henry was the unsuccessful candidate. Mr. A. J. Tunbridge was re-appointed auditor. Mr. Connett advocated the appointment of an instructor, who could give advice where required. This would result in a better grade of milk being supplied all round. The good name of the produce had been built up by the man who took a little trouble and supplied the best milk possible, and the manager who made it into the best article. The average grade was made by combining the product of the milk from the supplier who was particular and that from the man who eent poor milk. Mr. H. Sampson proposed as a recommendation to the directors to take steps towards obtaining the services of a farm dairy instructor. He agreed with Mr. Connett that the appointment would prove of great, benefit in raising the standard of milk and cream supplied. Mr. Stanley seconded and the motion was carried. In reply to a question the chairman said the new board of directors would consider the matter of holding a function to celebrate the opening of the Hillsborough factory. The chairman was voted an honorarium of £5O, and the directors’ fees were fixed at 15s a meeting. A vote of thanks was passed to the manager. . An address, in the course or winch much useful advice was given to dairy farmers, was delivered, by Mr. P. O. Veale, the scientist in. charge of the laboratory at Hawera, who was accorded a vote of thanks. Subsequently the shareholders were "iven supper ‘by the ladies, and a vote of thanks was accorded Mrs. Rundle and her committee. Mr. Ruudle was re-elected chairman of directors. MANUTAHI COMPANY. THE ANNUAL REPORT. The seventeenth annual report of the

Manutahi Co-op. Dairy Company states that the proceeds of the produce already disposed of provides for a payment to the suppliers of Is 6d per lb butter-fat over the season just closed, and there will be a further payment made when the balance of the produce now on the water is disposed of. The annual meeting, to be held at the factory on Friday will be asked to elect three directors in place of Messrs S..C. Tonks.and S. E. Macdonald, who retire by effluxion of time, and Mr. H. Hamilton (deceased). STATISTICS. Used for cheese-making.—Milk, 8,584,1621b5; butter-fat, 333,284.51b5; cheese, 894,4321b5; milk to lb cheese, 9.5971b5; cheese to 11b butter-fat, 2.681b5; cheese test, 3.88; weight of cheese, 399 tons Gcwt Gqr. Used for butter-making.—Milk, 136,5251b5; fat, 54611b5; butter, 64981b5; test, 4.00; over-run, 18.99; weight of butter, creamery 2tons 18ewt 2qr, whey 5 tons 13cwt 3qr 161 b. The totals for the season are:—Lbs. milk, 8,720,087 (decrease (633,070); but-ter-fat, 338,745.5 (decrease 26,866.2); average test, 3.895; milk separated (including starter milk), 434,525; butterfat in cream sold, 17.381.75. The weight of butter made from each pound of butter-fat used for the manufacture of butter was 1.18991b5. The weight of cheese made from each pound of butter-fat used for the manufacture of cheese was 2.68.