CONFERENCE OF FARMERS AND GROCERS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 364, 1 May 1889, Page 3

CONFERENCE OF FARMERS AND GROCERS.

Auckland, April 27. j A special meeting of the Auckland Grocers' Association, to which farmers wero invited to be present, was hold in the V.M.C.A. social hall this afternoon to consider matterd iv dispute in regard to the fixing of prices tor butter and eggs. There was a large attendance, the farmers being especially well represented. Mr VV. S. Whitley, Chairman of the Grocers' Association, presided. The Chairman said that the meeting had been called together to discuss the price of produce, and ho hoped all would stick to the point. This meeting, he had no doubt, would bring about some improvement in the relations that exist between the Association and the farmers. Mr 'Wilkinson, of Pukekohe, expressed acknowledgments* on behalf of tho tanners for inviting them to tho meeting to day. Tne meeting at Pukekohe had been very unanimous in condemning the Crocors' Association, but he believed that some mutual understanding could now be arrived at. (Applause.) By request the Chairman explained that the Committee of the Grocers' Association consisted ot ten members, of which five was a quorum, and they met once every Thursday. They had nothing to go on beyond the supply and demand. The Committee was formed out of fifty members of the Association. Mr Allen, a farmer, asked : Is it true that a member of the Grocers' Committee has taken a contract at a ridiculously low price, and still sit on the Committee '! Mr Hewin said that he had a contract, but whether it was at a ridiculously low price or not he was the best judge. Mr Allen then asked whether it was fair that the contractor who supplied the Hospital should sit on a committee to fix tho prices for produce. The Chairman characterised the question as ridiculous, and as not beating on tho matter in dispute. Mr Allen asked tor the name of one farmer who had received 2s 3d per dozen for eggs or Is per lb for butter, when it was known that eggs were sold for 2s 6d and butter at Is 3d. The Chairman said the eggs referred to were sold to tho mail steamer, and 2s 6d was not the price. The contractor's price was not over Is 3d per dozen. At the same time the Association were anxious to know ' if anything had been done contrary to the rules. Mr Allen said he referred, not to the mail steamer, but to a minister ot Auckland who paid 2s 6cl per dozen for eggs. Mr Hewin said it was only fair that it should be stated that it was not a member of the Grocers' Association who purchased the eggs. Mr Allen said there were more than one who paid 2s 6d per dozen. He also asked why the grocers paid only Is 3d for eggs while on the same day they realised Is lOd and 2s per doz at auction. The Chairman said this was easily explained, because the Association could not see ahead of them and anticipated advance in eggs. He had lost a lot ot money on both butter and eggs, and he would say that if the farmers did not like the way in which the grocers had treated them he would invite them to come into town and sell their produce themselves. Mr Allen asked : If the Dairy Association's butter was quoted at Is wholesale and Is 3d retail, and this butter was necessary to make up a deficiency, why was farmers' butter only put up to 8d per lb '! Mr Rowe urged that it was very wrong for the farmers to visit the sins of one grocer upon tho whole. For his own part he acknowledged no fault in the matter, and the pro&ent arrangement for fixing prices was the be&t they had had tor years. As a rule he found the Committee's quotations to bo fair. Mr Allen said that if the committee could not look forward they should look backwards, and fix their prices accordingly. Mr Fiench explained that there was a scarcity of butter when Is and Is 3d was obtained by the Dairy because butter was come in very soft, and the Dairy's butter being firm commanded an advanced price. Mr Allen said that the quotations were for film butter. The Chairman : That is very easily answered ; every farmer's butter is the best. (Dissent from the farmers). Mr Hewin said he never had any scarcity of butter and never had to go to the Dairy Association for supplies, yet he had ofteis of several new dairies. He knew that Reynolds' butter, for instance, was worth 2d per lb moie than any other butter (cries of •' No " and general dis3ent). Mr Wright, of Pukekohe, asked whether it was not an absurdity of the Grocers' Association for a few men to dictate to fanners who hold the premier position in the colony, what they shall take for their produce. Supposing the farmers formed an association and dictated to grocers what they should have for their sugar and tea ? The Chairman urged that they should stick to butter and eggs. This remark was received with laughter by the farmers. Mr Wright said that if the farmers were to act as the grocers did they would be declared lunatics. He advised the grocers to dispense with the Association as middlemen, ("No, no," from the grocers) and to let supply and demand regulate the prices. He thought that Id per lb was sufficient profit for any grocer to obtain on bntter, and he would sooner throw his | butter over the wharf than accept 6d or 7d per pound for it, because that price would not pay the cost of producing. Mr Wright also complained that farmers could not get cash for their butter. This brought a general denial from several of the grocers. The Chairman said this was not the subject to be discussed. Mr Wright said he was one ot the ancient Britons who had never been beaten ; and if the Chairman would not hear him he would appeal to the meeting. If the meeting said "Goon " he would go on. (Loud cries of "Goon.'*) It was a fact that farmers, could not get cash for their butter. He asked did the grocers want the farmers to dispose of their own butter. The Chairman : Nobody will prevent you. Mr Wright then urged that tho Association should bo done away with, and a scale of small profits Id or l^don butter and eggs fixed. Mr Wilkinson moved " That a committee

of three member? of the Auckland Grocers Association and dairymen, and three members of the farmers from surrounding districts be appointed a committee to fix the market price of butter and eag3, and to choose their own chairman." Mr Chad wick, of Pukekohe, Baid he was formerly a member of the Grocers' Association, and knew its working. He mentioned that he had sold eggs for 7cl at auction when the Association wore giving 6d per dozen for them. He then withdrew his name from the Association because he believed it existed for the purpose of keeping down the prices of produce. He believed so now. (Applause from the farmers and cries of "No" from the grocers. ) Here there arose much uproar, and some of the farmeis called upon the Chairman to retire at lie did not know how to preside. Words were bandied about in confusion and things went so far that a grocer gave the lio direct to a farmer. This brought from another farmer a threat to chuck the grocer out oF the window, and the uproar was restored with difficulty. Mr Chadwick stated that two onb of seven of the Committee which fixed the prices were coi tractors for the supply of produce, and it was grossly unfair that they should fix the prices of butter and egga. The Chairman said that the five men were not ruled by two men. The question went back to this, that the whole thing must be regulated by supply and demand. Mr Wright paid that the jii'ocers in their own interest kept the price low because they got as much per lb profit at 6d per lb as if it were Is per lb, and they sold three times as much at the lower figure. Mr Whitehead said that formerly two Queen street grocers fixed the pi ices, and he could not understand how there could be dissatisfaction when fifty men fixed the price. They had been taxed with fixing the price of eggs lower than they brought the following Friday, bub it should be borne in mind that the Association did not know when they met on Thursday what would be the demand for eggs from Sydney on the folio iving day. In supporting tho motion he pointed out a defect in it, viz., that at present the Committee met on Thur&day, while the farmers came into town on Friday. He would very pleased to see the day altered, however, and any three faimers present at the weekly meeting. Mr French suggested that the farmers should meet themselves and endeavour to devise some better means for disposing of their butter. He charged Mr Chadwick with selling butter in Auckland at a halfpenny per pound below the price fixed by the Grocer's Association, and then coming to the meeting to complain that the prices obtained weie too low. Mr French also urged the unfairness of farmers sending their produce to auction for sale in retail parcels. Mr Chadwick said he did not sell his best butter at a half-penny below the market price. In answer to Mr French he said the resolution, if carried, would not. bind the Grocers's Association, but would be a recommendation to them. The resolution was put and carried un animously, and the meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.