MILK VENDORS' POOLS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21906, 15 September 1934, Page 17

MILK VENDORS' POOLS

PROPOSAL TO COUNCIL — METHODS OF OPERATION j "Pooling would serve to remove j many anomalies, said r " T " . Hutchison, chairman of the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council, at a meeting yesterday, when the establishment of pools in connection with contract and surplus milk was considered. It was reported by Mr. S. lakle. j chairman of the Production Committee, j that it had been decided, with the ap- j proval of the council, to send letters on the question to milk vendors and daiijmen. The letter to vendors said the council had already sent notice to the effect that unless there was a pool registered with the council, with proper books open to the council's inspection, milk vendors and producer-vendors, who also bought outside, were required to pay the full price fixed by the council for payment to thevproducer for all milk purchased. To ensure winter supplies, the council suggested that vendors should form their pool, basing the pay-outs for full price milk to the suppliers on their average June-July production over the past three years. The price would be paid on the June-Only quantity throughout the year, and any balance over or under supplied would be pooled on a co-operative basis. Before registering the pool, the council would require to know the basis upon which the operation was proposed, and to have a record of the names of suppliers to the pool and the contract quantities arranged with each person. The secretary, Mr. N. R. Chapman, reported that a producers' pool might be of three kinds, as follows: —An agreement between a group of dairymen to keep one set of books and sell their production to their mutual benefit, selling only to registered vendors; an agreement between a group of dairymen and a company, which agreed to accept the whole of the production and to sell it to the best advantage, the company keeping the books of the pool and paying each dairyman after deducting a small allowance for clerical work; and an agreement between dairymen to supply a vendor with the whole of the production, a producervendor being required to pool his production with purchased milk, if bought from dairymen. The last-mentioned pool was the one in mind when the matter was raised. The basis of a true pool would be along co-operative lines, and at the end of any period, when purchases and sales were totalled, percentages under any headings of sales could be calculated. Each member of the pool would receive the same percentage payment under the various sales headings, and, to encourage winter production, it might be advisable to divide the year into three periods and set a dairyman's cost of production price for each. Providing the winter period price was made sufficiently remunerative, there should lie an incentive to produce win- [ ter milk.

This might not be feasible, the report continued, and there was a suggestion that each dairyman should be given a contract according to his JuneJuly production, and paid whole-milk prices for the quantity throughout the year, the balance to bo pooled on a co-operative basis. When the sales of whole-milk were less than the total of the June-July quotas, the dairyman would receive whole-milk price on the nearest percentage, calculated on tho sales. All milk received above the contracts would be on a co-operative basis. The reports were adopted.