70 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION 



as to ensure that honest and best returns will be received for 

 the produce sent to market, an organiser of the Agricultural 

 Organisation Society reports : 



I know instances of men posing as commission agents who are 

 not on a level from the point of view of honesty with the ordinary 

 hawker, though to judge by their beautifully-got-up letter-paper 

 one would really think they were men of great importance and 

 thoroughly to be relied upon. In one case that I know of a 

 grower sent 40 worth of goods to a man of this type, and has not 

 yet received a single penny. Another salesman had a ton of 

 fruit sent to him, and after a good deal of writing the grower 

 obtained 4, though the current market price was /i8. These 

 are not the worst cases I know of ; I could give scores of others. 



If, instead of consigning to distant markets, the grower 

 disposes of his produce to a higgler who comes to his door, to 

 an agent who buys the crop as it stands, or to a dealer in the 

 market of the neighbouring town, he may still receive less 

 than he might obtain through an agricultural co-operative 

 society specially organised for the purposes of sale, while the 

 said society would save him the time he would otherwise 

 have to devote either to going to market or in hawking 

 round his produce in his own neighbourhood, thus enabling 

 him to devote more attention to his proper work of pro- 

 duction. 



UTILISATION OF SURPLUS STOCKS. 



In addition to more markets and improved marketing 

 methods, there is a great need in England for some organised 

 system under which, in times of over-production, sur lus 

 stocks can be kept back from markets already over-supplied 

 and on which they would only lead to a lowering of prices 

 all round, and be converted, instead, into bottled fruits, 

 dried vegetables or other saleable commodities on which, 

 apart from the consideration just suggested, additional 

 profits might be made. The same course should be adopted 

 in regard to lower grades of produce which would equally 

 prejudice the market prices but might well be used for these 

 other useful and remunerative purposes. 



