BIG DAIRY PROPOSAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3493, 22 May 1920, Page 6

BIG DAIRY PROPOSAL.

Q. ' -—--.o‘-.- ‘ ' "PURCHASING WHOLE OUTPUT. tqiurrsn CO-OPERATORS OFFER. HAMILTON','"t.his day. A proposal is now being submitted to the dairy producers of New Zealand for the effective marketing of the whole of the dairy produce of the Dominion. *Three ‘representatives of what is, perhaps, -the largest co-operative concern in the world, the British ,C.W.S. (Co-operative Wholesale Society) are at present in the Dominion conducting inquiries and meeting and discussing big proposals with the lead--ing dairymen. The C.WTS. represents in shares,‘ loans, and -deposits twenty! milions of money. and has an annuali turnover of no less than one hundred millions a year. Thel.ramifica't-ions of this colossal concern extend throughout the whole of the British Isles, with branches in almost every town and village. Its trading operations includel almost every class of article saleable’ 5 over a counter, and the society has its ‘ own farrns'_.' tobacco factories, ironmongeries, starch manufactorics, chandleries, dairies, boot factories, sugar and other warehouses, there being very little in the way of merchandise -that ea.nnot be purchased at any of _its stores, where -_ the members, numbering‘ millions of general public, receive a paper cheque for the 'a.moun"rf of each purchase, and can obtain a discount, which varies with -fhe7“)7e'a.rly profits of the society, whenever theyf choose to hand iii theirelieck‘ sheets. The repres'ent"a'tives of the Society,‘ Messrs W.E . Dudley, Owen Thomas,l and P. Coley, are now offering to dairy ~ producers of New Zealand a scheme of ‘ ,L.".l‘.?‘;}.!‘:!l to-°'l3¢¥%?i9ll in the ?-W391 an?‘ . inarlieting of their produjcé, so that it ‘ ,will.be received in Lond‘o'n and distriputed over. the British Isles tlirough 4 the medium of their many stores. Up ‘ to the present New Zealand produce .I _ has really had no identity in B'r'itain,_ 1 but has simply heel'l""taken over by the ' large buyers and used for blanding , I with -and raising the quality of infer- 1 A ior articles. Under the new scheme,i if carried into effect, the butter Willi be wrapped and sold as New Zealand I butter, the various well—known brands! of‘ the dififerent companies being, of ‘ course preserved. The English representatives, in talking over the proposal with a Star re- , porter, mentioned the fact that while, in 191-}, the imports of butter into England anionnfed to 213,000’ tons, last year they only reached 70,000 tons. ‘This was, to a large extent, due to the stoppage of Siberian supplies. The -.CW.S. directors, they said, looked upon New Zealand as part of Britain, and did not. see why. if they could deal direct with the New Zéfiland produc-,' ers, they should go to a foreign; market. By acepting the scheme, the} New Zealand producers would still con- 1 trol their own market, in cooperation‘ with their fellow co—opc-rators in Bri- . tain. I Travelling with the vlinglish representatives is Mr R_ Ellison, London representative of the National Dairy As- . sociation, who is here again after an absence of nine years, to renew his intimacy with the actual pl'o<llleing operations and conditions. Mr Ellison is also fostering a scheme for the sale of New Zealand dairy produce in England with the object of securing direct { representation -from New Zealand in the fixing of prices and general con-‘ trol; of -their own produce. ' ‘ The schemes were set before a meeting of dairy farmers at Hamilton a couple of days ago, and will be dis- ‘ cussed at the anrl'ual meeting of the. National Dairy Associa'tion at Pal-~ merston North during‘ Show week there. Whether the co-operative preposal is sufiiciently lucrative to satisfy such keen businessmen as Mr \V. Goodfellbw, general manager of the Yuri Zealand Dairy (.30.. or not. remains to be seen. .3.nywaj; the result. of the! negotiations will he watched with the greatest interest. ! , . __ ~