A SHOCKING CONDITION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 17968, 8 September 1920, Page 6

A SHOCKING CONDITION.

i DAIRY COMPANY’S ACCOUNTS. GOVERNMENT AUDIT SUGGESTED, BUT WITHDRAWN. An adjourned meeting or shareholders of the Cambridge Co-opera-tiv Dairy Company was held in the Cambridge Town Hall, over 250 being _ present. Mr Edward Allen presided,. At a previous meeting clerical errors not disclosed by the balance-sheet were admitted by the directors. The meeting therefore declined to adopt the balance-sheet and a resolution was carried that a Government audit should take place. Later inquiries showed that the process- necessary would be complicated and tedious. Mr ,L S. Fisher consequently gave notice of motion to rescind that part of the resolution relative to a Government auditor being called in. and the meeting was held accordingly. The proceedings were uproarious at times, and got out of hand. The meeting lasted for four hours. The first debate centred round the admissibility of the motion, one shareholder quoting two legal opinions that it [was incomplete hi its terms, and therefore not in order. The chairman, advised by the company’s solicitor, ruled the motion in order. Mr Watson thereupon moved that the chairman vacate the chair, but this was defeated.

Mr Fisher’s motion was then submitted. A fierce debate ensued, statements being freely made by one or two speakers that the accounts were in a shocking condition. The chairman and his colleagues combated these assertions, and assured shareholders that although there were disrrepancies, there was nothing in the nature of financial loss. Mr Watson declared that as one result of an interim investigation it had been found that the shareholders were richer by ill.ooo than they thought they were. The merits of Government versus private audit having been exhaustively discussed, a ballot was taken, and the motion was carried by a majority of S 3 votes.

Subsequently Messrs Sanson and O'Meara, of Hamilton, were appointed to conduct the audit, a motion providing for Government inspection of the accounts, if desired, also being passed. The meeting was adjourned until the re-audit is completed. Throughout the whole trouble the directors have emphasised their desire to get the whole position cleared up, and they diclaim reponibility for inaccuracies due to either the staff or the auditor.