DAIRY COMPANY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13680, 24 August 1908, Page 7

DAIRY COMPANY.

THE ANNUAL MEETING

seventh annual meeting of tin fcouth Canterbury Dairy Company «' held in the- Sophia Street Hall on fcaturdar afternoon. There were ab.ut nve-and-twenly shareholders present at, the outset and about twenty more when tue m--»tinCT h-'d proceeded for some time. fb» "chairman. Mr J. L. Hurdler, moved that the directors report and the balance sh~-t be taken as re.id. thete having been printed and distributed, direr were Tttblished in the "Herald" of the 11th Inst.) He then read an explanatory statement d«almg with b«me of the items in t!i» documents- With regard to the low. t .n .-httei-cmaking (£515) this had been r'dured bv £24 odd since the close of the accounts, and the present, appearance of the market promised a further reduction. A sum of £255 vtas written off for bad and doubtful debte, .this representing several years: and a. considerable proporti'-n of if- might b-j recovered. The total amount written off o n this account, since the formation of the company was not more than i per rent.—a. very good showing. (Later on. it was explained th-.it most »f th- doubtful dt'bts were in the milk-retailing busings, wherein they had met with t-ouie " long-winded" cuc-tomeib.) Jt had been thought advisable, as -there w.juid be a new board that the old one should leave theui a clean sheet- During the rear additional capital had to be provided. Insufficiency of capital had been their great trouble all along, because supplies had not taken up bhares as they ought to have done. Mr Hurdler now urged them to take up the preference shares, strengthening the company und obtaining a safe and profitable investment. The prospects for both cheese and butter were never better, and be urged that the supply of milk should be increased, to. reduce the average cost of the product, and from what he had seen >f the new manager he felt sure they would pretrenta good balance sheet next year. Mr Hurdler expressed the opinion that the incoming directors should endeavour to dispose of their butter and cheese locally, for the benefit of both the company and the consumer*.. Thf whole of the creameries and the central factory had been orerhauled and were in tip to|> condition for beginning the season. The Ternuka creamery would be opened in a week, and milk would be separated there as long as the price of butter k»:pt up. The price of butter fat wouid bs notified duriug the wL'»_<k. The manager and Mr Bowi? had gone into his figures, and agreed that lb «> showed that it would pay -better to tell their products locally than to export them. To make the local trade successful, however, they must have a chairman who vuuld devote a good deal of time to it.

Mr Bowie seconded (lie adopt ion of report ■and balance theet and a general discushion was then invited.

Mr Matthews suggested that the directors, not the suppliers, were to blame for the latter net having taken up shares. Mr Howell said the directors could not be expected to go round the cttuntry bagging suppliers to take shares'. Thi* subject- ir < ls several times referred to during the meeting, until Mr fc'tew;irt, a director, explained that- the directors found eelves untabk {•> enforce the rule about suppliers taking shares, for suppliers when pressed fcaid they would sell their cone and give up supplying it they were forced to take c-harei, and in order to k«:cp up supplies the taking of ehareo had to be allowed to bo voluntary.

Mr Matthews -asked the chairman for an assurance that a. remark made at/ the List meeting about a large supplier having only one bhare did not apply to him (Mr Matthews) as conie people had suppose:!. The chairman gave the assurance, and syid he wished that all suppliers had observed th« rule about i-bares ub well as Mr Matthews.

In reply to Mr Waite. th? chairman •said they had bought North Island butter, of th*> fiist class t>nly, in order to keep their connection, and had distributed it Tinder another brand, the "Walnut" — never'under their own brand; and it hud been a. profitable bitsinteis. The bank overdraft (£1065) had now been reduced, by sale'- of produce in ttock. to £2OO. H._tnunierated the vari' nt cla-v-.-es of nutages making tip th« if?Di under that head. >Lr.\Vaite could pee the list of espeniif. making up the item of "sundriee £346."'

Mr Bowie read a letter from a friend regarding the last rear of the larg-.fct company in tub bland, from which he drew a. comparison encouraging to th'_- tlnueholders.

In reply to a remark by a fchoreholdcr the. chairman tAid it was the custom to pay ncn-ehareholders id per lb let's th;m fehsrebat"holders: for- butter fat. and he hoped the new: Board would follow that custom.

3lr Stewart expressed the opinion that the- principal cause of loss last year was the dry seaeon reducing the supply of milk, while the expenses remained the tame. Some of the dairies were on light land, that suffered"from a dry season very much. It was unfair to take the results ol 'one year only, and that a bad one. If they took the last two years together they •would show a profit.

In reply to .Mr Wreathall, the chairman said that only 78 preference shares had been sold of the 2000 guranfreed by Mr Grav.

Mr Wreathall: Better call it the Melville Gray Company at once. Mr Bowie: If the suppliers took up shales aa they .should do, there would soon be no Mr Gray about it. Mr Wreathall thought that the cost of production. 25 per cent, of the proceeds of sales, was too high. If they could not manufacture for leis than that, it was time to give up. It was a, bigger margin than other companies wanted. The chairman pointed out the long distances some of the creameries were away, and said that every effort- Jiad been made to keep down the cost of manufacturing. Some former grumblers had joined the Board and found that they could do no better.

Report and balance-sheet were then adopted, without dissent. Acting for Mr Melville Gray, Mr W. R. McLaren moved that the number of directors be reduced from nine to seven. The chairman approved of this, and said that the Peninsula and Taieri Company had only four directors. Other numbers were proposed and eventually Mr McLaren altered his motion to five ,and this was carried by a. good show of hands without dissent. Ballot papers were then given out for the election of the five directors, there being eight nominations'. Mr AVreathall, referring to the nomination of Mr R- H. Bowie, said there was a feeling in the country districts that a storekeeper, a butter dealer, should not be on the directorate. The chairman and others defended Mr Bowie against suspicions that he had benefited as. a storekeeper; .Mi" Bowie explained Ms position and said he had not sought a place in the directorate, and Mr Wreathall withdrew his remark.

Messrs Raymond and McLaren were ap pointed scrutineers. Recommendations were made to the incoming Board as follows:

By Mr Waite—That whenever possible work should be done by tender instead of br dar work.

By Mr Matthews—That the company retail their butter and cheese, ani gain the profit now made-by the shopkeepers.— The chairman said it would not p:vy. A ■storekeeper could afford to collect a few shillings for butter because it vould be included, in si large account for m'any tbhigs, but it did not pay men to collect accounts for butter alone. ..""."

By Mr Campbell—That the directors look into the milk retail business arid seo whether it pays or not. Mr W'reathall wished to recommend the- retailing of butter, but this was not approved. Mr Bowie said it had been tried, and it cost the company 3d to 4d a pound to sell it. -JMr • Wreathall said they ought- not to expect it to x>ay freuv the start.

Mr McLaren moved and Mr Bowie seconded—" That with a view to purging the share register it- be a recommendation to the directors (1) to forfeit shares on which the interest oh unpaid calls amountsto the capital paid up thereon; (2) to forfeit on 30th June nest .sh«res- on whWi the interest .on unpaid calk deducted from capital paid up thereon, leaves a sum not exceeding ten shillings.—Carried. The ballot for the elect-ion of two audi'tors was then taken, there-being four nominations. The remuneration whs fixed at £ls 15s each. The ballot resulted in tiie election of Mcssis Granger and Fraser. Mr S. Cain moved a hearty vote of thanks I" the retiring directors, who had done their best in a bad year, and this was carried with applause. The ballot, for new direcU>rt> resulted in the return of Messrs H\ Bowie. G. Bowker, M. Campbell,. ; 'M. r "J. Gray and W. Stownrt. . •'•'■" -- The meeting closed_at'.2.4o pjn. ;