ECONOMICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The British method of distributing Farm Produce to 

 the consumers has afforded ample scope for criticism ; but it 

 offers a splendid opportunity for the State to make what 

 would prove to be one of the greatest reforms in the history 

 of this country. We have allowed a state of affairs to exist 

 where essential foods are " shuttle- cocked " about from one 

 person to another, to an alarming extent before they have 

 reached the consumer. Much of this transportation of food 

 was quite unnecessary, and simply had the effect of pushing 

 down the price paid to the Farmer, which means dis- 

 couraging Food Production, and raising the price charged 

 to the consumer, which means increasing the burden unneces- 

 sarily on the poorer classes. 



// the Nation is to obtain the maximum amount of security 

 for its citizens in the shape of Home-grown food, it is absolutely 

 necessary to reduce the labour employed in distributing food to 

 the very minimum, so as to set as much labour as possible free 

 for the production of essential Foods, e.g. meat, grain, fruit, etc., 

 from the land ; and it is only the countries which adopt this 

 principle that will be able to hold their own, in the long run, 

 among the nations of the earth. 



This country is in a very advantageous position, seeing 

 it has one of the finest markets in the World at its very door. 

 Hence the chief thing remaining is to suggest a system or 

 organisation that will enable Farm Produce to be distributed 

 with the minimum amount of labour. 



DISTRIBUTION OF CHEESE. 



It is fortunate that the Board of Agriculture should 

 already have given a lead not a big one, but an exceedingly 

 useful one -in instigating a scheme to demonstrate the 

 advantages of collective cheese-making in various counties 

 in England. No doubt the primary object was to conserve 

 surplus milk and provide a valuable nitrogenous food which 

 could be stored till required ; but these demonstrations 

 have done a great deal more. Take for example the Welling- 

 ton Cheese-making Centre, carried out as a demonstration 

 by the Herefordshire County Council during the season of 

 1917. 



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