CO-OPERATION SUCCEEDS

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1930, Page 16

CO-OPERATION SUCCEEDS

PRODUCERS FREEZING WORKS TWENTY-NINTH ANNUAL MEETING EXCELLENT POSITION SHOWN. ! The twenty-ninth annual meeting of ’ shareholders .of the Taranaki Producers’ Freezing Works Co., Ltd., Was held at New Plymouth yesterday, when Mr J. Brown, chairman of directors, presided, representatives of 30 shareholding companies being present. The report stated that the company commenced the season -with a balance in store of 6835 boxes of butter and 3804 ' crates of cheese. Of butter there were received during the year. 316,042 boxes (being an increase on the orevious year of -73,816 boxes). There were flipped overseas 297,734 boxes to London, 10,737 to West of -England, and 1235 to Canada), and 3661 boxes were disposed of within the Dominion, leaving in store on June 30, 1930, 21,462 boxes. Of cheese, there, were received during the 12 months" 237,869 &ates (being a decrease of 4824 below the previous°year’s quantity). were shipi ped overseas 214,336 crates’ (192,861 to London, and 21,475 to West of England), and 358 cfates were disposed of locally, leaving in store on June 30, 1930, 26,979. Of the total cheese received, 94,504 crates were full-cream, 143,106 standardised and 259 modified. In moving the adoption of the report aiid balance-sheet, the chairman congra-; tulated shareholders on the ' very line year that had been experienced as far as the freezing works and production were concerned. He could not congratulate them on the prices, but he thought < the season had turned out better than, most had anticipated. , They had. been advised to produce more, and North Taranaki had obeyed, that injunction. He thought the increase was’due to better methods of farming, including topdressing and culling.- He would nut like to prophesy that the same rate of increase would continue in, the future, as he thought that on, many farms, the limit of production ■ had been reached. PROSPECTS UNCERTAIN. Mr. Brown said he did not know what the prospects-as regards price were for the present season. Present reports were that the market was firmer, but the prices were still very low.' He felt, ‘ however, that they must face a period of .lower prices.? The season was not ■ opening as favourably as last year. At this, time last year they Avere offered ■ Is. s|d. for butter, but there were no such offers this year. Advances this year would start at Is., but lie did not know whether that would be kept up. There had- been an increase of 73,816 boxes of butter handled in the works, or ,30, : per pent,, but a deci ease, of 4824 crates of cheese, or 1.9 per cent. In ! butterfat. the . increase had been 12.1 i per cent. . '..: Since the last meeting additions to the. works had been completed and, had proved ,a valuable adjunct, . Indeed, without, the . new ■ storage., they, cotild hardly have' got through the season. They had experimented.' .with a .. new method of insulation... S,p. far., it was proving very satisfactory. ..If it.-.wajs : A success.it Id mean a. great .saying,.of space and of- expense, and any., further renewals would be carried out similarly. ' They had so far insulated two storeys, 1 giving additional capacity fop 17,000 crates of cheese. A .further story,could be insulated if desired-. Two. new; .cheese elevators and a butter box,-.elevator iliad been installed, effecting a big saving in labour. Practically all the labour now .required was for■ the.work In the chamber. ~The butter box . el.eyator. handled . 1200 boxes an hour, and the. cheese .elevators 750 crates an hour. He invited ' I delegates to visit the works at any tiine. The storage capacity of the works I .was. 87,000 crates of cheese and 57,000 boxes of butter. Since the last meeting ■ it had been found necessary to pull down 1 the old chimney stack. The bricks .had been sold, and so had one of the boilers, as the works were now practically run by electricity. . ECONOMY IN WORKING.' During the year the company had held ■ in store a total of 25,565 tons of dairy produce, an increase of 1309 toils on the previous year. Despite this, the charges for electric power were only £2B more, while coal was £2O less. Wages showed '• an increase of £563, partly due to the increased quantity handled and partly • to. the fact'that standardised cheese required more handling. Repairs and re- ’ newals’^wfeS-'only >£294; as compared with previous year. During the employees had joined a and the directors had subsidisOSWeir contributions £1 for £1 The directors had decided shareholding factories a on the amount paid for even without that their ehargO^i^> ; been the lowest in New 44 shares had ; been' by companies owing to There' was, however, - no iiiteh’tfoAj!,.to call up further share ’ . . Mr. factory directors to • watch mqretijlosely the timber used for a cheese c.rAtp?ljattens. The chief grader .had . poiiife'K'put that 50 per cent, of them insign.us, some of them so full o'f-jfenbt-s that it was no . wonder they were knocked about. Indeed, whereas one ~ man 'hi the past could easily cope with repairs to crates broken in handling at the works, it’ how took two men all their time.. .The captain of one overseas ship had informed him that he..took a'pride in landing produce in good order,:.-'.but now on. landing one would of the crates had been in a£isihvay smash. The questibft of dust money had again been raised*by the shipping companies and the (Railway Department. The compay hadl i’cceii ed an account for £l7 in that but had taken a firm stand to pay it. The manager hast®|brmed .’him that with . the new regulation requiring cheese tbSMeS-kept at, a temperature of 50 per of 45 or 40 per cent., there .more mould and more trouble New Plymouth was the only,?pm?b.iin New Zealand at which He held -that if anyone tp extra pay because of dust?||gßtiould be the men in the works, (iiflyip’ot the men on the wharf. Indeed, ■ their cpmplaint was ■ THE STORES. . Mr. Rrowii¥said he was very proud of the cool'stores. They were the best in New . Zealand, being substantially . built and, economically workpd. There

were five acres of freehold , land with ■; the buildings and. plant, as well as five houses on which they, did not owe one . penny. In seconding the motion, Mr. -Rundle 1 (Bell Block) asked whether (he question of dust money concerned waxed cheese. The chairman said that some of it did. Replying to Mr. C. A. Marchant (Cardiff), the chairman said that it would take £6085 .to make the proposed rebate to factories. He considered electric. • power was more economical than coal for their work. Mr. Marchant said -the directors, were to be congratulated on -the * very fine position shown. There was nothing to cavil at. It was a treat to be connected with such a .flourishing concern. Mr. A. Morton pointed. out that a good deal of the rebate was made possible by the fact that in many cases compahies had. to pay second and third month storage. Moreover, the works had been very economically managed. Replying to Mr. W- C. Gredh, the chairman said that some years ago . a resolution had been passesd to the effect that any rebate should be. paid pro fata to the amounts paid for storage. Mr. P. J. Peterson: (Waitara-Tara-naki) asked whether it was a fact that preference in unloading was given to produce arriving by lorry. He thought it was only fair that companies using the train should get equal treatment. The manager . (Mr. T. Nixon) said that produce arriving by train during the day was stored at once, but if it arrived after 5 p.m. it had to wait until the next morning. For the two vacancies on. the directorate, Mr. H. M. Purdie (North' Taranaki) was re-elected unopposed, and Mr. L. J. Rundle (Bell Block) was elected in place of Mr. J. 8. Connett, who did not seek re-election. Mr. C. H. Wynyard was re-elected auditor, • . ‘ ■ Votes of thanks were accorded the directors, and the chairman's honorarium was increased from £5O to £75. Votes of thanks were accorded tha manager and chief engineer : (Mr. T. Nixon), the secretary (Mr.:V. Elliott) and the staff. Eulogistic reference, was made to the services rendered by Mr. Connett, the retiring director, and it was resolved to place on record appreciation of his services.