KAHUI DAIRY COMPANY

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1929, Page 14

KAHUI DAIRY COMPANY

17TH. ANNUAL MEETING REVIEW OF PAST SEASON. -LITRE COMPLICATES POSITION. The seventeenth annual meeting of he Kahui Co-operative Dairy Company /as held at the factory yesterday, when Ir. W. Fleming presided over practically full attendance of suppliers. The report stated: —Milk was received n the new factory early in October and rom the commencement of the season mtil then the Rahqtu Dairy Company tandled suppliers’ milk on our behalf, lessrs. Bennett, Lovepjrove and Co., milders, and Mr. J. D. Healey, architect, re to be congratulated on the expediious manner in which the buildins was ompleted. The new plant worked plendidly from the start of operations mi-‘ ; Mr. C. Swanson, the contractor, is 6 be complimented on the workmanlike nanrier in which he carried out the intallation. Our produce was handled on onsignment by Messrs. Wright, Stephnson and Co., Ltd., who secured ton >rices. At the latter end-of the season heese was purchased at 82d. Payments to suppliers during the seaon had been , made as follows: August o October Is sd, November to January s 6d, February Is 4d, March to May s 3d and June Is 6d. A further payment of Id over February and 2d over darch to May would be made at the anlual meeting, and as further payments ame to hand for. cream supplied to Pilama and milk to Rahotu they would be laid by way of further payments to uppliers. < The following statistics were supplied vith last year’s given in parentheses for omparison:—Milk, 3,469,0281 b (4,025,140 b); butter-fat, 144,404.11 b (160,327.71 b Leese, 372,045 (427,6601 b lbs milk to b cheese, 9.32 (9.41); lbs cheese to lb >utter-fat, 2.57 (2.66); average test. 4.16 3.98) Whey and starter cream were forwarded to Pihama to be manufactured, md advances amounting to £865 6s Id lad so far been received. IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY. ' The chairman, in moving the adoption if the report and balance-sheet, congratilated suppliers on the splendid quality if milk that had been supplied to the actory. The quality had gone up greaty during the past few years. There yas also room f r congratulation in the act that the output had shown a coniderable increase and if the increase ontinued. at the same rate the factory n a few years would not be large mough. When they met twelve months igo they had no factory but only a heap >f-Fuins. Now, however, they possessed i factory that was not only a credit to ;ho shareholders but an asset to the oad. In erecting the factory they had ooked ahead, having made provision for ik‘vats as against the three vats previously, as it was not good policy to be Iways adding to concrete buildings. They had sent their milk to Rahotu in ,he 'early part of the season and had darted their own factory on October 27. Is a result of having no early cheese ;hey had made no sales, having missed ;he early offers. The plant had been well installed, the manager, Mr. A. JMurdoch,'giving that very careful supervision. The secretary (Mr. A. J. Brenlan) had also taken a keen interest in ,he erection of the factory. Tlie working expenses were down conuderablv. but then it must be rememrered that the season for them had been i short one.. The motion was seconded by Mr. H. F. Annisa. Mr. T. Willcox asked how much milk was supplied to the Rahotu company md how much they expected to receive ’rom Rahotu in further payment. The secretary stated that they had ■arted 879.6921 b of milk to Rahotu, prefacing 37.6391 b of butter-fat. Rahotu was paying out Is B.Jd per lb butter-fat ind therefore there would be an additional £316 to come. With the total >alance available they would be able to iring their pay-out to ls 6 l-3d per lb butter-fat over the whole season.DESTRUCTION OF FACTORY. ■ Mr. Willcox said that as far as the directors were concerned his only complaint had been that they had called the meeting prior to the Rahotu meeting, so that it would not be possible to definitely calculate the final receipts from the milk sent to Rahotu. As far as he could ascertain from the balance-sheet the nav-out over the whole season would be [g’sAd and he was pleased to hear that there would be the additional amount available, though it was a very low pay-out. The company had been placed n its present unfortunate position on account of the destruction of the factory by Are a fact which, he considered, had cost his brother and himself at least £3OO this season. He recognised the directors had done the only thing possible in sending the milk to Rahotu, but that had meant a cost of a third of a penny per lb butter-fat. The most serious loss, though, was thrt by supplying Rahotu with the early season s milk they had deprived their manager of the opportunity of securing a high yield for the season that by the timei the factoiy was ready to receive milk the test was hiHi and of course the yield could not be°obtained. Rahotu had, however, benefited by the heavy yield with the early milk. The working expenses were abnormally high, though the manufac turin" charges were reasonable. The oxer head charges were abnormally high, 40Gd per lb butter-fat depreciation being written off. Milk carting had cost j336d per lb and interest .186 d a total of 928 d, which reduced the cost of manufacture to 2.972 d, a fact on which the manager was to be congratulated. The whole trouble causing the low •nav-out, he concluded, was that the new factory could not be completed in time to take advantage the offers that WC re made ‘for cheese early in the season Factories that had sold then cai y output as high as lOd per lb werei able to make much higher pay-outs. He recognised, however, that the position could not bo uxoided. The secretary gave some particulars showing how the manufacture, etc., had improved. Replying to Mr. T. Willcox, the chairman stated that it was proposed to pay the balance received from Rahotu next •month. Other amounts would be paid as available. CARTAGE TO RAHOTU. Mr '-Kitchingman as a small supplier considered the cost of the cartage of the -milk to Rahotu had been unevenly distributed. His share of the milk eftrted

was one-seventieth, whereas he was charged with one-twenty-second of its cost. It would have been more economical to have carted it himself. . The chairman said the carting had been instituted as the result of a vote of the shareholders and the only way of charging it up was to spread the cost over the season, Mr. P. Kitchingman held that the milk carted should carry its own load. It was pointed out that under the system of a level charge over the whole season the small supplier at the commencement of the season had actually benefited slightly. Ths> report and balance-sheet were then adopted.

WAXING AND STANDARDISATION.

Replying to a question regarding waxing and standardising, the chairman said that the directors had made careful inquiries into the matter and had decided to go in for both waxing and standardising as all the inquiries they had made had proved very favourable. They also intended to instal oil fu?l. The three items were expected to make a saving to the company of about 2d per lb butter-fat.

The secretary questioned if there would be much saving in fuel consumption by installing oil fuel, as at present it was costing the company only Ils per ton for fuel. Companies that had waxed saved from I to 1 per cent., which -was well worth whila. Regarding standardisation, it would all depend on the difference between the price of standardised cheese and whole-milk cheese, when standardised cheese went on the Home market in bulk. At present there was a difference of only Is per cwt, but if the difference dropped to 4s it would not pay. So far standardised cheese was "rading high in New Zealand and so far the reports from Home merchants were quite good. PROSPECT OF WAXING. Mr. Willcox, speaking with a certain amount of personal knowledge, held that if waxing only improved the appearance of their produce on the Home market it was well worth while. Waxing by checking the mould made the cheese, much more inviting to the buyers. During his visits to cool stores at Home he saw cheese that was not inviting. Before waxing, however, it was essential that the cheese must be of good quality and not contain too much moisture. Regarding standardisation he questioned if that would prove beneficial to the trade. They must be jealous of the quality and reputation of their produce. America had lost the English trade years ago through somewhat similar practices. The directors, however, were in an awkward position as, if other factories standardised and paid out better than their .own factory, there would be trouble. It was a matter in which the directors should move carefully. Of course there was the aspect that if half the factories in the Dominion exported standardised cheese the reputation of all New Zealand cheese would suffer, and it might perhaps be advisable for them to be “in the swim.” He pointed out that the Danes manufactured a special cheese from partly skimmed milk, but they would not allow it to be exported as they recognised that its export would be harmful to the reputation of their produce. New Zealand should be jealous regarding the reputation of its produce.

The chairman said other factories were increasing their pay-out as the result of standardisation. The directors would give the three matters very careful consideration.

In reply to Mr. Willcox the chairman stated that it was proposed to retain the services of the farm dairy instructor during the ensuing year. The manager considered that the services of the instructor were very valuable to the factory. For the five vacancies on the directorate there were six nominations, Messrs. W. Fleming, E. P. Norgate, R. Fleming, H. F. Anniss (retiring directors) and P. Willcox and P. Kitchingman. The election resulted: W. Fleming 133, P. Willsox 133, E. P. Norgate 110, R. Fleming 161, H. F. Anniss 95 (elected) and P. Kitchingman 54. Mr. D. Markham was re-elcctcd auditor. A vote of thanks was accorded Mr. J. P. Glentworth, who did not seek re-elec-tion, for his splendid work in the interests of shareholders. Votes of thanks were accorded the manager (Mr. A. J. Murdoch) and his staff for their splendid work during the season, The chairman stated that advice had been received that the average grade for the season at Moturoa grading store had been 92.175. _ At a subsequent meeting of directors Mr. W. Fleming was re-elected chairman of directors.