FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 195, 22 September 1909, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

A MARKETING IJUESTION. CONSIGNMENT WITHOUT RECOURSE. The experience of last season (says the New Zealand Times) is making operators on local butter and cheese .markets very cautious. The principle of buying the, whole season's output can hardly lie regarded as sound business; it partakes of a distinctly speculative element. This fact was clearly borne out by last season's experience, as the majority, if not all, of those who bougut outputs for the season paid prices which the subsequent level of market values did jjot justify. The lesson to several buyers has been a .bitter one, and they are not prepared' to take the same risk again. As a result few sales arc likely to eventuate. The best price offering is lO'/id, a full penny below the best salt's of last season, and even this Is only being given for the very best brands. The tat price offered for cheese is said to be s'/4J, and here the brand lias to possess, a. certain reputation to secure this value.

The great bulk of the factories will consiga, and no doubt the majority of these will consign on the principle or "u-dvancc without recourse"—a syst"m which contains a considerable element of danger. In dealing with a reliable firm it should be quite «ul!icient to receive a .safe advance, and for the dany company to accept tne risk of a loss. Is it reasonable to suppose that all firms —and every firm dealing i n Now Zealand dairy produce is not necessarily stable—can afford to give an advance up to ninety and even a hundred per cent, of the current value of the artic.e, hand over all the prolit made over thi;., and be prepared to shoulder any loss accruing in the event of the produce realising anything less than the amount of the advance, and this all fur a modest torn mission of from three to four per cent.? The dealer in butter is not a philanthropist. He is in the business for what he can make out of it. Some firms, it is true, can be depended upon for a fair <leal, and they have been foiced into this method of doing business by rivals. The principle is palpably suggestive of unfair dealing when a season opens well and then becomes demoralised. Already this season advances without recourse have been offered up to Hid fo r butter and .Id fur cheese. I'nder such an unbusinesslike proposition it is'doubtful if a firm can afford to. take the risk and give the dairy companies' all the profit they make.