TE AWAMUTU DAIRY CO.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1680, 31 October 1925, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU DAIRY CO.

CHAIRMAN REPLIES TO CRITICS,

In conversation this morning with Mr Charles M. Alexander, chairman of directors of the newly-formed Te Awamutu Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd., we were informed that quite a number of misleading statements were being made concerning the new company, and he asked for an opportunity of clearing these up. He stated that because the money the cost of the new venture had been obtained so readily without anything in the way of a joint and several guarantee, or a large bank overdraft, certain interested parties were circulating rumours that the new venture was controlled by some proprietary interests. "I wish to say straight out,” said Mr Alexander, “that no more genuine co-operative movement has ever started in Waikato. No one possesses any shares in the company except suppliers of butterfat, and the control of the company’s affairs is vested entirely in the hands of the provisional directors who will hold office on the terms set out in the Companies tAct until the statutory meeting of shareholders to be held in a few weeks’ time. The directors are all shareholding suppliers of butterfat, and this talk about the company being controlled by proprietary interests is utter nonsense. We are not allied in any shape or form with any proprietary company. “The fact that it is optional for a supplier to take up shares does not make the company any less co-opera-tive. As a matter of fact, since the Dairy Industry Act was amended last session, no dairy company can force shares on its suppliers, and it is a pity this amendment was not operating years ago. It speaks volumes for the prospects of the new company, and for the confidence reposed in it, that we are able to start business without a joint and several guarantee, or a heavy bank overdraft. That is the real worry in some quarters, because it places our company in a position to pay out the maximum amount each month. I do not know of any genuine co-operative company which has commenced business under such highly favourable conditions, or with such great prospects of success.”