N.Z. PRODUCE IN LONDON.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18924, 12 February 1927, Page 12

N.Z. PRODUCE IN LONDON.

COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES. I REPRESENTATIVE INTERVIEWED With the object Df encouraging mul building up of reciprocal trade between the co operative organisations of Great Britain and those in this country, threo members of the Co operative Society of Great Britain are at present in the South Island, Hearing the completion of a tour of New Zealand. They are Sir Thomas Allen. Mr W. T. Charter, and Mr .T. English. With them is Mr G. I). Maefarl.me, chairman of tin; New Zealand I'rodtice Association. London. Interviewed by a representative of The Pkks< hist evening, Mr Charter said that the first purpose of their visit to Xew Zealand was to try to build up a larger reciprocal trade between the co operative societies of'this country and those of Great Britain. "We are very big users of New Zealand produce, and joint partners with the Now Zealand Marketing Board," lie said.

Questioned as to whether the Control Boards in this country would in any way interfere with their plans, Mr Charter said that he saw no reason why there should be any interference, and he thought that if the Boards acted as they had done up to the present time, much of the work of his Association would be rendered necessary in future "One has to remember," said Mr Charter, "that Denmark is undoubtedly New Zealand's strongest competitor on tho butter market, because it is much nearer England, is able to put its products on the Home market in a fresher state, and bv regular sailings is able to control the high-class butter trado in the United Kingdom," when referring to the competition between New Zealand and Denmark on the butter market. "However," continued Mr Charter, "with the great improvement in New Zealand butter—cheese has always been good—together with tho active propaganda in the interests of tho tmpire's productions, Now Zealand butter is now a very strong competitor on both the London and provincial markets. Both New Zealand and Danish butter obtained their popularity through uniformity in texture, colour, and packing. Through tho Co-operative Society the buvers on the English side of the water can relv on butter of a certain brand being uniform in character from one year's end to another. Happily, Now Zealand, by the excellent quality of its butter, and the satisfactory manner in which it is packed, has commanded a largo sale for itself even in the face of the keenest competition." Ho hoped that the control now in existence would work for the benefit of both tho producer on this side and the purchaser on tho other, thus giving the consumer the greatest value for his money. t . ~ „., "Of one thing lam certain, sam Mr Charter, "and that is that there is every desire on tho part of the principal importers so to handle New Zealand produce as to give it as prominent a place in tho London and other mnrkets that its quality deserves." "In regard to the meat control here, said Mr Charter, "I think tho system here for grading and for regularity in shipping will popularise it greatly in the future. The great thing the consumer on the other side requires is a class of goods which, whilst being uniform in character, is practically equal In quality the whole year 'ound. Thero is another important factor, and that is the absolute necessity of regulating the shipments of produce so that * the Home mnrket is regularly fed. Bofore, however, New Zealand can rank ns n competitor to tho Argentine in the meat trade' it will have to get some fnr quicker means of transport," said Mr Charter.

A Big Organisation. Dealing with the size of his organisation, Mr' Charter said that it waß a federation of 1200 retail societies in Eucland, Ireland, and Wales, with a membership of over 3,000,000 heads of families, "which meant that connected with the organisation there was practically one-quarter of the population of Great Britain. "Scotland," he said, "stands by itself with its own organisation." . "During the war," continued Mr Charter, "when the Government undertook the rationing of foods, just over one-quarter of the people registered with the Co-op. Organisation for their supplies of sugar. The trado of the society as a wholesale concern was Inst year £78,000,000, but the trade of the constituent bodies consists of oyer £300,000,000, making the Co-operative trade total £378,000,000. Connected with the organisation is a bankmg department with a turnover of £300,000000 a year, and an insurance department with a premium income of over £3,000,000 a year. There are several largo flourmills" using 10,000 tons of wheat a, week. When it is remembered that it ia entirely bought by the Co-op. for the consumer, and not for speculation, one can easily realise what an enormous number of people are attached to the organisation. One and a quarter million pounds of tea are weighed and packed on an average week. In spite of the fact that the organisation owns 46,000 acres in India and Ceylon, that did not supply more than ten day's output from tho packing factory per year. Tho society also are large manufacturers of clothing, boots, and shoes, jams, pickles, and soap. In fact, we have exactly 101 factories, each of which is turning out articles for household consumption and use, and seeing that Britain* is essentially a manufacturing nation, of which our Co-op. members form a very important part, it must be borne in mind that we must have a market for our manufactured goods in order to have the money with which to buy the New Zealand products."

Buy British. "The primary reason for which we are travelling this country," continued Mr Charter, "is to wold together the interests of the producing and industrial co-operators in New Zealand with their colleagues overseas who are manufacturing more than they require for their own consumption. I notice that the name "Co-op" is very extensively used here, and one can only assume that, if co-operation is practised there should be no difficulty in the formation of a close' relationship between the countries, which will mean a further demand for our manufactured goods from Home. "Of course," said Mr Charter, "as Britishers, we recognise that you have the right to support your own manufacturers first, but where you do import goods we feel that, price and quality being equal, British goods should be preferred to any other. If there was one thing that struck us during our visit to New Zealand it is the extreme loyalty of the people of this country to the British Constitution, and their extreme desire to do an increasing business with their brethren across the sea."

"One thing more," said Mr Charter, "and that is to tell you that the dividends last year on the £300,000,000 volume of trade amounted to almost £20,000,000."