The Hastings Standard Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1896. THE CO-OPERATIVE DELEGATES.

Hastings Standard, Issue 134, 30 September 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1896. THE CO-OPERATIVE DELEGATES.

For the Cause that lacks assistance. For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance. And the good that we do.

It was a happy idea of the Minister of Agriculture to bring together the producing and trading representatives of the colony and the Manchester Cooperative Delegates by inviting them to a banquet at Bellamy's, and both sides are destined to profit by the business. The touring delegates have made it plain that they have not come to the Colonies with any charitable feelings. They have come to trade with us if we have anything to offer them that is worth buying; but, as one of the delegates stated in his speech, " our directors want pounds, shillings, and pence pat before them clearly," or in other words it must be advantageous to the society to trade with the colony. At the same time the delegates say plainly, "we dent want yon to trade with 11s without making a profit." It most be mutually beneficial, and that it can he made so the delegates have clearly demonstrated. The lines that are open to us, and with which the Co-operative Delegates •ce pleased, are dairy produce and

frozen mutton. We have nothing tor j be ashamed of in our butter and cheese. We have the finest dairy country in the world, and when our l dairymen care to put sound, honest work into their manufactures the quality is equal to the best in the world, but unfortunately the temptation to produce a quantity at the expense of quality is too strong for some. It is well tS note what the delegates say as to quality: "We must insist on the best quality, or our j people will not buy the supplies." It is best or nothing at all. John Bull is a fastidious fellow, and those who cater for his creature comforts must study his whims and fancies ; but in I all things he insists upon the best, for which he is prepared to pay the best price. In frozen meat the delegates hold out hopes of a fair business. The speakers at the banquet showed conclusively that there exists in the Old Country a very strong and almost' impenetrable prejudice against frozen meat, and the frank admission of one of the delegates is that after seeing the pasture-lands and the sheep and the process by which they were converted into frozen mutton he became converted from an enemy into a friend. Mr Clay, the senior delegate, was good enough to say that he was convinced that the meat is as good as can possibly be produced, and that he had acquired enough' information to be able to tell those who had sent him on his travels that the breeding of the sheep was of the best and most suitable. If this powerful Co-operative Society takes up the frozen meat question seriously we may hope to see an extensive and profitable business done, because the Society would help to break down that prejudice which now hinders the effective advancement of the trade. When we reflect that the Society numbers amongst its clients about one-seventh of the population of England we can readily conceive the immense advantages that must accrue if the frozen meat trade is successfully exploited by the Society. Of course the middleman stands to lose, in proportion to the amount of business done by the Society and the colony. It is the object of the Society to get rid of the middleman, and if in J the contest that is now about to begin he should go under it is impossible to feel the slightest pity for him. He has fattened and thrived at the expense of our producers," and the connection has not been beneficial. If the prospects held out by the Cooperative Delegates are realised by i half, the colony will have done well|; but we shall have to maintain quality at all hazards if we are to do a good and profitable business.