LIVESTOCK BUSINESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21278, 3 September 1932, Page 10

LIVESTOCK BUSINESS

CANVASSING TO CEASE AGREEMENT IN NORTH An agreement has been reached by stock auctioneering firms operating in ! North Auckland by which the canvassing j of farmers for* private sales of stock will cease. Tho new policy will como into operation at the end of the month. . After remarking that under present circumstances tho stock departments of large auctioneering and mercantile firms had been operating at a loss, tho manager of a prominent firm of stock agents said last evening that efforts had been made to maintain outside staffs at tho previous level, even though reductions had been mado in office personnel. The position had now become such that a reorganisation of outdoor staffs had become necessary, and an agreement had been reached by tho firms concerned. Previously representatives of stock firms had travelled over tho same ground in succession, and the small business they had been able to obtain was by no means sufficient to warrant the expense involved. Expensivo and undue competition in obtaining private sales would now cease with tho abolition of stock canvassers, although there was nothing to prevent farmers wishing to sell privately from approaching firms. During the past few months settlers had been almost continually interviewed by travelling representatives of stock firms, and many had regarded tho visitors as a nuisance. A consequence of the agreement would be that most farmers would offer their store and other stock at district sales by public auction, with tho result that truer values would be obtained and tho market would bo stabilised, to the benefit of both tho stock firms and the individual farmer. Tho system of canvassing which had become so prevalent had been satisfactory neither to the firms employing tho men, as some companies had been forced into the practico against their will, nor to the farmer.