No. 3 (1921) MANUFACTURE OF FISH OIL AND GUANO 243 



often the case in view to increasing profit. The result is that a 

 promising business is being ruined, and it is reported that con- 

 signments to Japan have been refused entry there because of the 

 excess of sand. Moreover, this is being practised in cases where 

 distant planters seek to deal direct with manufacturers, for in such 

 cases the manufacturers seek an immediate large profit knowing 

 the difficulty that a purchaser would have in recovering any loss, 

 and caring only for the present. 



148. To combat this tendency and various disabilities, the 

 Fisheries Department have sought to obtain a union of the manu- 

 facturers in any given locality in a co-operative society for obtain- 

 ing the following advantages: 



(1) Members would support one another against any unscru- 

 pulous middleman or buyer who might wish to take advantage of 

 the ignorance and isolation of an individual ; 



(2) they could, from the society's funds, make loans or 

 advances either in the usual co-operative way or on products 

 handed over to them ; 



(3) they would obtain information as to markets, whether as 

 to localities or as to current prices ; 



(4) they would obtain the latest information as to methods 

 of manufacture, whether of oil or of guano ; 



(5) they would co-operate to obtain any special items of plant 

 as for refining oil, etc. ; 



(6) they would bulk their products and thus enter the market 

 not as petty sellers of petty parcels, but as owners of important 

 quantities such as 50 or 100 tons of guano or 50 tons of oil, etc., and 

 thus be able to deal direct with large consumers or buyers on 

 favourable terms ; 



(7) they would, in the interests of the society, watch the work 

 and products of their members, and would thus be able, by refusing 

 badly prepared goods, to fix a standard and compel adherence 

 to it. This is the object of the Japanese Trade Associations for 

 Staple Products, as shown in the following paragraphs 193 and 

 194 of the present writer's Bulletin on "Agriculture in Japan," 

 published by the Fisheries Department. 



Trade associations for staple products. — These associations (Dogyo- 

 kumiai) differ from both the preceding categories, being groups of persons 

 engaged in a particular industry or trade, associated in view to prevent 

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