FREEZING SPACE

Waikato Times, Volume 84, Issue 13207, 24 June 1915, Page 4

FREEZING SPACE

MEETING AT AUCKLAND. FARMERS AND DEALERS. ALLEGED UNFAIR DISTRIBUTION. By Telegraph.—Own Reporter. AUCKLAND, Thursday. The special meeting of shareholders in the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Co., held at Auckland yesterday to discuss a resolution relative to the allotment of freezing space, proved abortive. The meeting was called at the instance of a number of shareholders, the resolution proposed being es follows: "That stock belonging to shareholders shall be slaughtered and the carcases frozen and stored upon the company's premises in priority to the stock of nonslmrehoklers, and that the directors shall from time to time take the necessary measures to carry out the terms of the resolution." The attendance was small. Mr J. S. Ambury presided, in the absence of the chairman of directors (Mr J. Barugh), who is at present in Wellington as a member of the deputation to the Premier on the question of securing additional shipping space. Mr Ambury said it was unnecessary for him to say anything relative to the resolution, which was framed by a number of the shareholders. The directors and shareholders present were sufficient to form a quorum. Mr S. McCardle declared that he was practically responsible for the petition which had resulted in the meeting being called. Unfortunately, owing to an error as to the date of delivery, many of the proxy forms had been rendered invalid by arriving too late. He moved an amendment, therefore, in order to rectify the error and to ensure a fuller attendance of shareholders, that the meeting be adjourned for a fortnight. The amendment was seconded by Mr Cameron (Ohinewai). Mr Mahoney (solicitor to the company) gave a lengthy explanation of the legal position.

Mr H. Johnstone (Hauraki Plains) said he wrote to the company several times to know who was getting all the space, but he received no reply to his queries. It looked as though some "hanky-panky" business was going on. He also wrote to the chairman on the same question and received no answer. The speaker considered he was entitled to some consideration. Other • people could get space and sell it again. He knew of one instance where a schoolmaster got an allotment, while legitimate farmer shareholders were refused. They could not tell him that was straight dealing. It was not. Why did not the chairman answer his letter? Let, he said, the letter be read at that meeting. Mr Ambury said it was not the duty of the chairman to reply to every letter he received on questions of this nature. Mr Johnstone: Read the letter here, then.

Mr Ambury: A meeting of this description is not the place for the reading of such a letter. Mr McCardle entered into a lengthy discussion with Mr Mahoney relative to the legal position in the event of his amendment being carried, when Mr Ambury remarked that he had allowed Mr McCardle a good deal of latitude, and suggested that he should resume his seat. The motion before the meeting that day, said Mr Ambury, had been standing on the company's books since February last. Mr F. C. S. Lawson (AVairamarama) complained that he had written for space and had been refused, and had therefore been forced to acquire it through exporting firms. In answer to one enquiry he received a letter from the company's secretary to the effect that the company was only allotting space to shareholders, "and theefore his application was refused." By the same mail he received from Mr Stringer his debentures as an original shareholder. He wrote to the secretary asking how he reconciled the two letters, but received no reply. He had found it useless to address communications to the company. Mr Ambury said he was at a loss to understand why Mr Lawson should have received two such conflicting documents. Perhaps there was another Mr Lawson. Mr Lawson: Not in the same district. The speaker asked, in the event of the meeting lapsing and the resolution being withdrawn, if the directors, by the resolution at present on the books, would treat the shareholders better in the future. Mr Ambury said the impression that the exporters got all the space was a wrong one. The present block was, of course, due to the shortage of ships. The company was fully booked up in March, expecting to get the produce away. The ships were curtailed, however, and the March bookings therefore extended over April and May before relief came. When the position was realised the directors passed a resolution practically prohibiting the allotment of space to others than farmer shareholders. Mr Ambury went on to explain that when the company was first formed they could not persuade farmers to freeze, but the exporters came along, bought the meat and shipped it away. Ho had always advised the shareholders to have their own killing done, but they would not be persuaded. When, however, the Imperial Government commandeered the meat there,was a general rush for space, everybody wanting to freeze their own meat, and rightly so. At the same time it was very hard on the exporters to be "turned down" entirely. The speaker assured the meeting that had it not been for a delay in the landing of the machinery, and had the necessary shipping space been available, the company would have been able to freeze every hoof in the province. The directors were accused of all sorts of things, but he did not care a hang what any shareholder said about him. He knew he had acted squarely, and could speak for his fellow-directors that they had done likewise. Nobody had received any special favours. Auckland was not receiving its fair share of the shipping space. Everything was being done to get a more equitable distribution. The speaker mentioned that one large exporting firm holding many shares in the company was really entitled to about one-third of the space, but had not received sufficient for a single hoof. Should the resolution before the meeting be carried it would mean that this

and other exporting firms who held many shares would demand their full quota of space. He therefore advised the withdrawal of the resolution, and asked the shareholders to rely for fair allotment upon the one passed by the directors. Mr Lawson agreed that the exporters could not be overlooked. Mr J. C. Allen (Morrinsville) considered that the present state of affairs was largely due to the chairman of the company assuring a meeting in Hamilton two years ago that the enlargements »vJiich were to be completed at Southcown by September, 1913, would be far in ~\cess of possible demands upon the sMce, and that the difficulty would be to ge+ stock to fili the buildings. He was sorry Mr Barugh was not present to give the meeting his views on the matter. Had Mr Barugh not made the statement mentioned, in all likelihood new separate works would have been operating in Waikato. With regard to the allotment of space, the speaker Mas a farmer and a shareholder and had never sold to outside firms until this year. All the space allotted to him from January Ist to May 31st, 1914, was one truck load, equal to eight head. This was not because he did not apply, for he made application continually. During this five months the exporting firms put through thousands of head. To his mind this was not giving the farmer, who was a shareholder, the consideration to which he was entitled. Early this year the secretary promised him a certain amount of space, which was later cancelled by the directors. It seemed to him that if the secretary of a company made a business promise it was the duty of the directors to uphold it. The chairman, Mr Barugh, was also chairman of the Waikato Farmers' Cooperative Auctioneering Company. What did that company do this year? What they said they did was, that believing there would be a shortage of space, they applied for all they considered they would be likely to require, and advised clients to do the same. It seemed to the speaker, in view of the fact that Mr Barugh was chairman of both companies that this was a very unwise thing to do. There was also another matter which called for some comment. It had been mentioned to the speaker by several farmers that there were two prices for stock—one if they were successful in getting their own space, and a lower one if they used the space held by the exporting com* panies. The speaker's view was that an exporting company which traded its space in this way should not he given allotments. The Freezing Company was a farmer's concern, and if lambs were worth Gd per lb, the farmer shareholders should get 6d whether they had hooked their space or not. Mr Ambury said the company had always advised its clients to sell at the highest price. He was surprised at a man of Mr Allen's standing making the remarks he had in Mr Barugh's absence. If Mr Allen knew Mr Barugh as Avell as he (the speaker) did, he would not have made such an assertion, especially during his absence.

air Allen: He should have been here He is chairman of the company.

Mr Ambury: He is at a far more important meeting. The speaker repeated the otter made at Hamilton last week that the company was prepared to find the power if the farmers would spend £IO,OOO in the erection of additional buildings.

Mr McCardle rv id the chief ground for complaint was the granting of space to wealthy men holding only a few shares, to the detriment of the legitimate shareholder. The men he referred to were dealers who held only sufficient shares to earn them the title of shareholders. These nen simply loafed on the others. The only way to prevent this illegitimate trading was to allot the space on the lasis of the shares held. They would then be forced to either invest more capital in the company or drop out. Mr Johnstone st-id that the Wellington companies were getting sufficient space not only from the produce of their own province, but for a good deal of the northern meat also. Mr Ambury said the reason for this was that the directors of the southern companies were, in a number of cases, also directors of the shipping companies. The speaker added that the time might come when the exporters would be the only people to do the business. He would sdvise farmers to sell to the exporters, even though they got as much as Is per 1001b less. They did not know how long they were going to he bound up. Mr Ambury added that he had been told by representatives of the Matamata branch of the Farmers' Union that a large number of the shareholders who had signed the proxy forms did so under the impression that the resolution was moved by the company. Mr McCardle said he did not see how this could be, as the signatories to the requisition calling the meeting were largely residents of the Matamata district.

With the consent of his seconder, Mr McCardle eventually asked leave to withdraw the resolution, in view of the one already standing on the books of the company to the same effect. The motion of • ithdrawal was put to the meeting by the chairman, and resulted in 12 voting for and two against. The motion was, therefore, withdrawn, together with the amendment for an adjournment.

Mr Lawson asked how it was that one farmer was granted space and his neighbour refused? He suggested, as the directors had nothing to hide, that a monthly statement of the allotments be drawn out.

Mr Ambury said that if a man living 20 miles from the railway applied for space for 15 head of cattle and the proportion allotted him happened to be four head, he would not trouble to drive them in. The company had, therefore, to allot a truck load as the least quantity. The discussion then lapsed, and the meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the chair.

WAIKATO GRAZIERS IN WELLINGTON. DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER, By Telegraph.—Press Association. WELLINGTON, Thursday. The Prime Minister was waited upon to-day by a deputation from the WTai-

kato Grr.ziers' Association, which was introduced hy Mr J. A. Young. Mr N. G. Gribble urged that it he a recommendation to the Government to take all necessary steps to prevent any company buying and freezing on its own account to the exclusion of producers wishing to freeze on their own account. Mr Massey stated that lie would he pleased to do anything that he could. Mr Campbell Johnstone asked that the Government give a definite announcement as to its • intention witli reference to the meat in store, hut not f.0.b., also wliy the price of beef was reduced ? Mr Massey asked for further information on this point. Mr E. McGregor represented that it is most desirable that the producers should he represented when the prices for meat are fixed or altered. Mr .Massey stated that the Imperial Government was not making any profit, and that no middleman was exploiting the supplies. Mr W. C. Morgan asked that in cases where stock have to be railed long distances, owing to the blockage at freezing works, that a concession be made in the freight charged. Mr Massey said that he did not think it would be necessary, hut he considered that provision for freezing space was the remedv.