BIG DAIRY PROPOSAL

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 537, 4 June 1920, Page 2

BIG DAIRY PROPOSAL

marketing DOMINION produce PURCHASING WHOLE OUTPUT BRITISH CO-OPERATOR'S OFFER. A proposal is now being submitted to the daitV producers of New Zealand for the efffctu* the whole of the # Dominion. Three, representatives what is perhaps the faigest Operative concern in the world, the nnlisii C.W.S. (Co-operative Wholesale bociety) are at present in the Dominion conducting enquiries and meeting and discussing big proposals witn the leading dairyiften. The C.W.S. represents in shares no less than one hundred millions of money, and has an annual turnover of no" less than one hvindred millions a yea?. The ramifications of this colossal concern extend throughout the whole of the British Isles, with branches in almost every town and Sot Its trading opefttions in- . elude everv class of article over a counter, and the society has H its own farms*' tobacco factories. ironmongeries, starchj-manufactones, chandleries, boot-v,factones, suear and q]ther warehouses, there Sg very little in the way of mer- ' *anv of its stores, where the mem y bers, numbering millions of the ge oral nublic, receive a paper checK ox 3? amount of each purchase and can obtain a discount whichv-nes with the yearly profits of the society, whenever they choose to hand in their check sheets. The representatives of the society,, ' Messrs W. E. Dudley, Owen Thomas ' and P. Coley, are now offering tto the r dairy produce's of New Zealand a I scheme of mutual co-operation in the control and marketing of their produel » that it will be recejved in London and distributed over the Bn- " t.ish Isles through the medium of 5 their many stores. Up to,the i New Zealand produce has really had no identity \n Britain, but has simply * been taken over by the laalge buyers I a nd used for blending with and raising the quality of inferior- articles. Under the new scheme, if earned in- - to effect, the butter will be wrapped „ and sold as New Zealand butter, the f Zvarious well-known brands of the ' different companies being, of course, n reserved. 6 The English representatives, in r i talking over the proposal with a a newspaper reporter, mentioned the , fact that while, in 1914, the imports of butter iijto England amounted to 213,000 tons, last year they only „ reached 70,000 tons. This was, to a ? large extent, due to the stoppage of p. Siberian supplies. The C.W.S. direct'l ors, |they said, looked upon New Zealand as part of Britain, and did not r see whv, if they could deal direct k with the New Zealand producers, ' thev should go to a foreign market. IS By 'accepting the scheme the New l„ Zealand producers would sj ill control a their own market, in conjunction I with their fellow co-operatojfs in d Travelling with the English repre- ■' sentatives is Mr. R. Ellison, London ->i ijepreseiVtaitive of the National Dairy n Association of New Zealand, who is L re here again after an absence of nine n- years, to renew his intimacy wtth the id actual producing operations and conditions. Mr. Ellison is also fostering ie a scheme for the sale of New Zealand dairy produce in England with the as objecjt of securing direct replantation from New Zealand in the fixm, of prices and general control oi their own produce. The schemes were set before i meeting of dairy fanners at Hamil ton recently, and will be discussed ai atj£he annual meeting of Ihe Nat Pf" r- W Dairtv Association at; Palmerston •e North during show week there. Whe0, ther the co-operative proposal is sul-, d, ficiently lucrative to s w AnJfJV id keen businessmen as M,r-W. 1 n- low," general manager of the New Zealand Dairy Company, °r hot, re?o mains to be seen. Anyhow-the result ie of the negotiations will be watched c- with ithe greatest interest.