THE SALE OF PRIMARY PRODUCTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17974, 29 June 1920, Page 4

THE SALE OF PRIMARY PRODUCTS.

Tooley street is reported to be "disagreeably shocked" by the decision of the New Zealand farmers to distribute butter and cheese through the British Co-operative Wholesale Society instead of following "the old policy of trusting to private traders." It is some time now since the Three Tailors of Tooley Street spoke for the people of England, hut their position was hardly less tenable than that taken up by the Tooley street produce merchants. The New Zealand butter producers have simply agreed tentatively to an arrangement which they believe will be advantageous to them as sellers. It is pointed out bv Tooley street that the Co-operative Society acts on the basic principle of buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest, and that the society at present sells Danish butter. The Tooley street merchants would surely not contend that as buyers and sellers of butter they habitually buy in the dearest market out of pure regard for the interests of the New Zealand farmer. The New Zealand producers were not aware, until they sold their produce to the Imperial Government, oxactly what it cost to place their butter, cheese, and meat in the hands of the consumers. The farmers are now convinced that the price exacted prior to the Imporial commandeer was excessive, and that the C.W.S. proposal is the most advantageous available method of placing the surplus on the English market. "The dairy producers of the dominion," said the chairman of

directors of tbo National Dairy Association of New Zealand at the conference held at Palmerston North last week, "had carried on their co-operation right up to the point when their produce left the shores of New Zealand, At that stage they had placed their produce >n the hands of others and accepted the return forthcoming. Realising the disadvantages obtaining under this system, producers throughout the length and breadth of the dominion considered it a desirable thing for them to strive to evolve some co-operativo system which would bring them into closer touch with, the consumer, and lessen the number of those who at present stood between producer and consumer." Another. disadvantage under the old system was that the identity of New Zealand butter was lost, much of it getting into the hands of the bleudei and being used to sweeten and make saleable a commodity much less palatable than New Zealand butter. Under the Co-operative Society's plan the identity of New Zealand butter will be preserved. Tooley street suggests that the New Zealand socialistic trend has predisposed the dominion farmers to accept the offer of an allegedly socialistic British organisation. That is surely poor reasoning in the light of the facts. The New Zealand farmer cannot be misled by socialistic promises, and in this matter of marketing his produce he is reaching out after h. better share of the product of/his labour. He becomes a partner with the C.W.S. in a new company to market his produce, the price to bo fixed by a board of control in which the dominion producer will have an equal voice with the Co-operative Society. This method also overcomes the financial difficulty, and secures an outlet for New Zealand produce through the numerous shops owned by the society. In the event of the Imperial Government- desiring a continuation of the "commandeer" the producers may, of course, vary their immediate programme by some arrangement with the Food Ministry, but the record meeting of close on 500 producers which met at Palmerston North last week would not likely have been impressed by the shock which has upset Tooley street, even if the cablegrams had indicated it earlier. The farmers have proved the advantages of co-opera-tion, and they claim that they will teach Tooley street a lesson. One of the delegates threatened to extend the lesson to the bankers, to which end he advocated the establishment of a cooperative bank. There has been some talk of late in favour of the establishment of some more or less nondescript independent banking organisations, bat while of late the business of banking has prospered exceedingly it should be remembered that it is a highly specialised form of business, not only hazardous if loosely run and badly managed, but fraught with disaster to the ientire community in the event of failure. On the other hand, t"he farmers of New Zealand have experienced the benefits of co-operation in their own operations within the dominion; it will be interesting to watch the result of the experiment in extending the same system to the United Kingdom.