Chapter 21

We were on our third business trip to New Zealand and planned to meet for breakfast in the hotel’s dining room. Everyone was hungry and also wanted coffee. We rushed to clean up and dress, and when everyone was ready, we headed downstairs for breakfast. As we walked into the restaurant, we saw Paul, Sally, Ward, and his wives sitting at a large table, so we joined them.

“Morning, everyone,” I said. “What’s on our agenda for today?”

Mary said, “Good morning, all. As to our agenda, the schedule is for a day of relaxation, so we don’t have one yet.”

Ward said, “Well ... that is about to change I think. If I’m not mistaken, I just saw Maxine headed to the reception desk.”

Frank got up from the table, found Maxine, and brought her back to the table. As she arrived, those of us who had not ordered were giving our order to our waitress. Maxine settled for a cup of tea.

Frank asked, “Did you find out anything interesting yesterday, Maxine?”

“Yes I did. The Ministry’s office confirmed that you could engage in automotive fabrication under the current zoning. I also asked about the Assessment of Environmental Effects. They said that as long as you don’t plan on dumping waste products on the property and use the approved procedures for any hazardous materials that may be required, you wouldn’t have any problems getting your Resource Consent Application approved.

“The local district is in financial difficulty. The tax base that your plant represents will aid them with many of the new programs that they need to fund. They are very willing to work with you in getting the plant built and operational, so there should be no problem with getting approval for the new construction.”

Frank and I had been watching Paul and Sally as Maxine explained things to us and saw them nodding their heads in agreement, although they did shrug their shoulders at a few things she said.

Frank said, “That sounds like good news, Maxine. Jim and I need to check out a few additional items. If everything is okay, we will be making the owner an offer.”

We had ended our prior trip, before Maxine had time to locate suitable properties for our new homes, so I asked, “Did you locate any properties that would be good for a new residence?”

“Yes and they are not very far from the lot for your plant. Both are relatively flat, bare farmland that is zoned for both agriculture and residential use; however, they are considerably larger than the forty acres you indicated. One is two hundred acres and the second is one hundred and ninety acres. The owners are two elderly couples who have no kids, so all they want to do is to sell the property and get enough money to support themselves for the remainder of their lives. I was a bit hesitant to suggest the lots, but the price is ridiculously low, so even if you don’t need a property that large it will be a good investment.”

“When can we see them?” Frank said.

“I thought you might want to see them, so I made arrangements for us to go out anytime today.”

“Good thinking, Maxine. I think we will all be ready to go right after breakfast.”

Maxine gave our bus driver the addresses of the two lots, and then we followed her to the first lot.

Once again, she gave all of us data sheets and described the property. Frank and I were nodding yes to each other. We liked what we saw, even if it was a good bit larger than what we had intended to buy. Then it was back on the bus, and off to the second lot. The second lot was only two miles from the first, and we couldn’t see any appreciable difference between the two lots.

“What do you think, Frank?”

“I like both of them, Jim. I’m not sure what we are going to do with all of the extra land, but we will undoubtedly find a use for it. Since they are basically the same, I think we should go for the larger of the two lots.”

I looked at our wives who were all smiles and nodding their heads. I said, “Well, I guess I’ll make it unanimous.”

Ward spoke up saying, “Congratulations on your new home. My wives and I were talking last night and on the way over here. We will buy the smaller property.”

Frank and I looked at each other in surprise. I said, “We thought you wanted to keep separation between us.”

“As far as business goes that is true, but I like to have my friends close to me.”

I think the most surprised and happiest of us all was Maxine. We were going to offer the asking prices, which totaled about thirty million New Zealand dollars for the three properties. So assuming that all three of the sellers accepted our offers, she, as the owner of the real estate agency and lister of the properties, had just made a commission of close to six hundred and sixty seven thousand NZ dollars for about a week of work!

We decided to buy the property we were interested in for the car’s production line during our last trip. However, we needed answers to a few questions before making an offer to the seller. Maxine gave us the answers to our questions this morning, so we would proceed with the purchases.

After returning to our hotel, Maxine sat down with the three of us over lunch and wrote up the three offer letters. We wanted this to be a package deal, so we added a contingency requiring all three offers to be accepted by the respective sellers. She would present them to the owners’ agents that afternoon, and then it would be just a matter of waiting.

Our wives wanted us to become tourists for the rest of the day, and they wanted to see the sights of Auckland. Frank and I went along and enjoyed ourselves. Why is it that for women, at least for our wives, the main sights of a new city are always apparel shops? Frank and I will never understand why as tourists, we had to try to buy out every clothing store we went into. The telltale words were, “Oh, look. Isn’t that cute?”

Ka-ching ... Ka-ching ... Ka-ching

Early that evening, Maxine called to let us know that the owners of the two residential lots had accepted our offers. She had not heard from the other lot’s owner.

Maxine joined us for breakfast the next day. Our offer expired at 2:00 PM if the owner failed to respond. Maxine contacted the owner’s agent to find out if the owner had a problem with the offer. After five minutes of intense conversation, Maxine asked the agent to give her a moment. She turned to us and said, “The seller can’t make a decision. I think that since you offered full price, he believes he has undervalued the property.”

I said to Maxine, “Have his agent tell him that he set a price. We would like to buy the property and didn’t want to haggle over the price. His price seems slightly high to us, but we offered what he asked. If he decides to decline our offer, then that is okay with us. There are other properties that will meet our needs as well or perhaps better than his property, so we can always look elsewhere.”

Maxine explained our position to the seller’s agent and said goodbye. During breakfast, Ward talked with Maxine about what he needed for his corporation’s site. The rest of the morning was spent sightseeing with our wives. Auckland had a lot of shops.

While we were eating lunch, Maxine called Sally to let us know our offer had been accepted. After a brief celebration, we gathered in my hotel room for a meeting. With a platter of snack food on the table and drinks in hand, Frank started the meeting.

“We need to get back to California, but before we leave there are several things that we need to take care of.

Looking at Ward, Frank said, “Ward would you and your family like Paul and Sally to represent you in the purchase of your property?”

“Yes, I would appreciate their being the go between, and to keep us informed.”

“Paul, Jim and I want you and Sally to represent us in this real estate purchase, and while you are at it, take care of Ward’s purchase as well. Will you need a power of attorney from us to do that or is our informing Maxine of our wishes adequate?”

“Your direction should be adequate for Maxine; but we will put together a Power of Attorney for each of you, for I expect we will need to do other things for you related to the sales.”

“The next item is, we need to open several bank accounts. I think that we should open both personal and business bank accounts in Pukekohe tomorrow. We can make a small deposit initially to open the accounts, and then make a wire transfer after we return home so we will have adequate funds to cover the cost of our property purchases and some initial operating capital. Paul, I would like for you and Sally to make a recommendation as to which bank in Pukekohe would be the best to represent us.”

“Okay, Frank,” Paul said. “Can you do that, Sally, while I put together three powers of attorney?”

Sally nodded yes, so Frank started to continue, but Ward said, “I think this conversation will be simplified if you consider my family as part of anything we discuss this evening. If I have a problem with something you say, I’ll mention it.”

“All right, Ward. My third item is finding an architectural firm to design our homes.”

Turning to Ward, Frank said, “I am not sure what you would like to build, Ward, but I have noticed that our two homes in California are very similar. I think that we should merge our design ideas to create a single home design, and then if we want something different, we can each tailor a set of the plans to meet our specific needs.”

Ward looked at Mary and Karen, and Mary said, “That sounds okay to me.”

Ward nodded to Frank and Frank continued, “Ward, you have been working with your automotive engineer. Is the car’s design far enough along that we can begin designing and building the production line?”

“Yes. Jeff finished the fabrication of our second prototype and we are testing it. He has been documenting the manufacturing process as he has been building the car. If I recall, he is close to eighty five percent complete in defining what needs to be done at each work station of the production line. He told me that he should be complete in around nine months, but that includes a period of time for incorporating any changes in the car’s design that may be necessary as a result of our testing.”

“That’s good news, Ward. It sounds as if we can begin the design of the production facility. We will need to know how much storage space will be required for the car’s parts. We will also need to know how you wish to handle licensing when we go to an outside source for parts.”

“We do need to discuss those items, Frank, but let’s defer that discussion until we can get with Jeff.”

“That completes the main items I wanted to address. Does anyone else have anything to bring up?”

I said, “Oh, yes! We will also need to address incorporating our new companies, and decide how we are going to register the Chocolateen Corporation in New Zealand.”

Turning to Ward, I asked, “Have you received any feedback on the name for our new company that Frank suggested?”

“Yes, I have. Cathy informed me that her sources indicated that they could foresee no problems with using Ward’s Products as a corporate name. They were still looking into the use of Ward’s as a trademark and brand name.”

Paul and Sally gave each other a look for it was the first time Cathy’s name had popped up in our conversation. Ward realized what he said and glanced at the ceiling while he rolled his eyes.

Hoping to divert their attention away from Cathy, I said, “Good. Paul what is involved in creating a corporation in New Zealand and how long does it take?”

“Well the process can be done online and is fairly simple. It can be completed in several days, but the overall process must be finished within twenty days or you have to restart your application. There is one thing you should know, and that is here in New Zealand, all company names must end with the word ‘Limited’, or its abbreviation, so your company name would have to be ‘Ward’s Products, Ltd’ or ‘Ward’s Products, Limited’.”

I looked at Frank and he just shrugged his shoulders. I said, “That’s fine with us.”

Paul continued, “I will prepare a list of the information you need to present and a description of the process. The most complex portion of the process is the development of a Constitution if you decide to have one.”

Frank asked, “What is a Constitution and what does it mean if we do or do not have one?”

Sally said, “A constitution sets out the rights, powers and duties of your company, its board of directors, each director, and the shareholders. If you decide to incorporate without a Constitution, then your company’s operation will be governed by the Companies Act of 1993. Since that will require a long time to explain, I suggest we discuss it later.”

Frank said, “All right we’ll table that discussion for now. Is there anything else that we need to address?”

Once again, I spoke up with, “Yes, we need to address a detailed schedule for moving to New Zealand and we also need to locate a place to live until our new homes are built.

“My suggestion is we work on the schedule during our return flight, and once we get home, we can get together and discuss our housing requirements.”

Frank looked around and everyone seemed to be nodding in agreement, so he said, “Okay we’ll update our schedule on the way home and discuss housing after we get there. Is there anything else?

I was surprised and couldn’t figure out why he said it, but Ward added, “Cathy mentioned a couple of items that I need to discuss with the two of you privately.”

Sally said, “You mentioned Cathy a few moments ago, Ward. Is she someone we need to know about?”

I just had to hear how Ward would answer that question, “Not really, Sally. Cathy works with us as a consultant from time to time. I doubt that you will ever have the opportunity to meet or speak with her.”

Frank was smirking over Ward’s reply when he summarized with, “From what I am hearing, we will need to spend at least another three days here taking care of what we have discussed. For now, I will tell our flight crew that we plan to depart on the morning of the fourth day. Since we may need to leave late in the day, I’ll tell them to plan on our layover to be in Fiji again, since it is only a short flight from here.”

Our meeting broke up with everyone returning to their respective hotel rooms. Frank called Bob’s room to let him know about our departure plans, so he, Jill, and Carol would have the plane ready to go.

I said, “Frank, I think that we and our wives should begin defining what we want in a new home. We should be able to put together a fairly decent list of needs that we can give to an architect, so they can put together a few concept drawings and floor plans.

“Personally, I think we should plan on a larger home than we have now. I suspect our wives will be giving us several more children, and I have been getting the impression that they are considering adding another wife or two to our family.”

Frank replied, “I suspect a larger home is definitely in order. I have been getting similar vibes from my wives. I think we should have a family meeting when we get home to discuss our impressions. If our family is to increase in size, we need to plan that increase and future increases into the design of our home.”

Some years back, I noticed an interesting habit that Frank and I had. When we talked together regarding our wives, kids, and ourselves, we always said ‘family’ for we thought of ourselves as a single combined family and our lifestyle followed that single-family concept. However, when we discussed our family with or around others, we used the plural form ‘families’ as if we were two families sharing a single residence. I don’t know if it meant anything specific, but lately we had used family around Ward. When he was talking with Frank and me, he had referred to us and our wives as a family.

During the rest of the evening, Frank and I discussed the requirements for a new home with our wives. Our current home seemed adequate for our current needs. Frank asked if it would still be adequate, if we each added a couple of wives and all of our wives each had one or two more babies. The general consensus was that we would need more bedrooms, more bathrooms, and the common areas would need to be much larger.

Sandy and Helen told us that with that many people in the house, they would need commercial equipment in our laundry room and kitchen. They also indicated that they would need some help around the house to care for that many kids. Frank and I looked at each other and nodded. It seemed to confirm that additional wives were in our futures. We definitely needed to hold that family meeting. Perhaps several domestics would suffice. In retrospect, the strange thing about that conversation was our wives talked as if they had already decided we would be adding wives and children, but they avoided acknowledging to Frank and I that that was what would happen. To us it seemed the only questions remaining were who and when.

The next day, the three of us opened our bank accounts where Sally recommended, and we signed the powers of attorney giving Paul and Sally the right to act as our representatives in the purchase of the three properties. Of course, we planned to return to New Zealand for the actual closing on the properties. That afternoon Paul, Sally, Frank, Ward, and I investigated several architectural firms. Paul called our first choice and set up an appointment for 9:15 AM the next day.

The one thing in particular that I recall of that evening was prompted by one of Frank’s comments. We had been discussing the number of bedrooms that were needed in the house. Turning to Ward, Frank jokingly said, “It seems to me that Jim and I will need far more bedrooms in our house than you will Ward. Do you have any plans for the extra rooms?”

Ward just laughed and said, “What extra bedrooms? I’ve been sitting here trying to decide if our design will have enough bedrooms for my family’s future needs.

“My children will become the next generation of the Inner Council. Cathy tells me that over the next ten years, I will need to add at least four more wives to my family in order to father the number of children that I will need in twenty years. She also mentioned that I would eventually need twenty five wives. I think that she and the Guidance Council have a schedule that shows when I should add another wife and when I should father our family’s next child.

“What I know for sure is, Cathy and Sam decided that we should add Mary to our family. A while later, the three of them decided to add Karen. The four of them always seem busy discussing the family’s expansion with Cathy shortly before one of them gets pregnant. My family’s expansion is planned. It’s just that I don’t seem to be in the loop when it comes to the planning, and I can’t decide if that is a good thing or not.

“I haven’t described the proposed long-term structure of the Inner Council to you, but, according to the Guidance Council, the next generation of the Inner Council will be structured as a main Council here in New Zealand and a number of satellite groups in other countries. That means I will have to father a lot of children, so we will need a lot of bedrooms.”

Frank and I were surprised by Ward’s reply. I looked at Frank and intending to tease him, I asked, “If we adjust our house plans to what Ward will need, what do you think we will do with our extra bedrooms, Frank?”

“I don’t know, Jim. Maybe we can rent them out to him for any overflow of kids and wives that he may have.”

When we finished chuckling over Frank’s remark, Ward said he would consult with Cathy and his wives to determine what their actual needs would be. Frank and I looked at our four wives and they pointedly ignored our looks.

Ward said, “We will go with what we design for now. We will need to let our architect know that we may need an addition to whatever we build, so he can later design an expansion for my home.”

After coming to a silent agreement, Frank and I returned to defining the requirements of our new home. All our wives would say was, to wait until we got home. So with no input from our wives, we had to guess at how many bedrooms we would actually need. From the look on our wives faces, our suspicion was that Ward’s needs might not be much more than what we would need.

The next day we met with the architectural firm to discuss our needs. We decided to have them do the design of our homes, and we also came to a tentative agreement for them to design our headquarters building, automotive plant, and support buildings. We didn’t end that meeting until late afternoon for Ward discussed with them what he would need for his R&D company. We all agreed to spend the remainder of the day relaxing at the hotel.

The next morning we met with Paul and Sally to discuss incorporating our businesses and other legal issues that we would face in the coming years. When Paul finished reviewing the requirements of the Companies Act of 1993 with us, I said, “Paul, the requirements specified by the Companies Act seem very similar to the way we structured and currently operate the Chocolateen Corporation. Frank and I are planning to operate the new corporation the same way, so what advantages might we obtain by developing a separate Constitution?”

“In general, I can’t think of anything specific that you would gain. Now if you were a small business, many of the Act’s requirements might be burdensome to you and your business, so a Constitution would be a way to unburden yourself. If you have what you call a business plan for the new corporation or for the Chocolateen Corporation, Sally and I can review it to determine if you may benefit from a Constitution.”

Frank said, “Jim and I have been working on a business plan for the new corporation but it is not complete. We wanted to determine what would be required of us by New Zealand before we expended unnecessary effort. We will give you a copy of what we have and a copy of the Chocolateen Corporation’s business plan. That should give you a good idea of what we have planned.”

Sally said, “Good, the next thing we think would be beneficial to discuss with you is employee wages and benefits, which is my specialty.”

The day continued with a variety of topics that spanned both our personal and business needs. We finally finished around 4:00 PM. Paul and Sally ended up with a long list of items that they would need to do for us, some more critical than others. Everyone was in agreement, no more business discussion for today.

After breakfast the next day, Paul and Sally left for their home in Auckland and the rest of us boarded the bus to go to the airport. Actually, our flight crew had already left so the plane should be ready to go when we got there.

Once we were airborne, I went to our office area and connected my laptop to the external monitor and keyboard. Frank and Ward joined me by the time I had booted the laptop and pulled up the schedule. We started down the listing of tasks and task elements. For each of the tasks and task elements that we had started on this trip, we entered hard start dates and adjusted the task durations for changes in our prior planning. We also added a few task events and linked all of the new events to the other events. By the time we finished the updates, Carol told us we would be landing in Fiji shortly.