J. R. CORRIGAN.]

111

I.—loa.

44. Mr. Hawken] Then, the ordinary factory has no knowledge whatever and can get no information as to whether or not it was treated well on the market ?•—The only people that can give you any information of that description—that is, anything like correct information—would be the New Zealand Dairy Association, because they felt they were not being treated well, and in consequence they appointed a Board for their own purposes two years ago. A Mr. Wright is in charge of that work. Ido not want this Mr. Wright to be confused with the Mr. Wright of the Dairy Division. At any rate, he can advise the New Zealand Dairy Association as to what is going pn, and very often they can beat us in the price obtained for butter and cheese, due to the fact that he is on the spot and is cognisant of what is going on. 45. Mr. Forbes] Is not Mr. Ellison at Home ? —Yes, but he is the representative of the National Dairy Association, and also acts for the Marketing Association. So far as Mr. Ellison is concerned he does not get right down at the bottom of the business, or, at any rate, he did not do so when I was there in 1912, and, moreover, I could get more information than he could. No doubt this was due to the fact that ho was well known, and that I was a tourist, and no one knew who I was. 46. Mr, Langstone] I suppose that under normal conditions the same amount of butter is consumed pretty well every week—that is, the demand is there for butter ? —Do you mean in England ? 47. Yes ? —I think so. You can only assume that that is so. 48. I take it that the variation in price which you have referred to is due to manipulation ?— There is no doubt in my mind about that because they obtain information from here which is surprising. So far as the agents at Home are concerned they can tell you how much butter is coming from Argentine, Canada, New Zealand, and other places, and it is wonderful how they know the amount of butter and cheese afloat and what is coming to England. 49. Do you think there is any competition at all between the Tooley Street merchants to get control of the produce for sale ? —There is a big lot of it going on out here amongst the agents ; but I cannot tell you about their working at Home. 50. You think that they endeavour to get the better of one another if they are able to ? —I do not know whether it is getting the better of one another or getting the better of the public, but nevertheless they get there on every occasion. As a matter of fact, none of them go bankrupt.