EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.3. 



assistance of various authorities on the questions within the 

 terms of their reference, and the following attended the 

 meetings held, and gave the Committee the benefit of their 

 experience : Mr. M. R. Margesson, British Produce Supply 

 Association ; Mr. R. A. Anderson, Irish Agricultural 

 Organisation Society ; Mr. Algernon Fawkes, late agent to 

 Lord Vernon ; Mr. F. E. Walker, Escrick Dairy Factory ; 

 Mr. R. T. Haynes, South Shropshire Farmers' Trading 

 Association ; Mr. Alec Steel, Eastern Counties Dairy 

 Farmers' Society ; and Mr. H. Cecil Wright. The Committee 

 further convened a conference on agricultural co-operation, 

 held in the rooms of the Society of Arts on December 8th, 

 1897. Representatives attended from many different 

 associations, and among those who were also present were 

 Mr. (now Sir) T. H. Elliott, C.B., Secretary, and Major Craigie, 

 Assistant-Secretary of the Board of Agriculture. The 

 main purpose of the conference was to consider " the ques- 

 tion of the desirability and feasibility of extending the 

 principle of co-operation for the purchase of farming re- 

 quisites and the sale of agricultural produce, and the means 

 best adapted to that end." It was thought that the chief 

 object in view had been attained by the practical nature of 

 the speeches made, while the direct outcome of the proceed- 

 ings was the passing of a resolution as follows : 



That this conference considers it is desirable to establish some 

 form of communication between the various British and Irish 

 co-operative agricultural organisations, and respectfully requests 

 the Central Chamber of Agriculture to initiate this movement by 

 calling representatives together on a future occasion. 



The report eventually issued by the Committee included 

 a detailed account of agricultural co-operation (i) in 

 Great Britain, (2) in Ireland, (3) on the Continent, and 

 (4) in the United States, Canada and Australasia ; and it 

 further gave certain conclusions at which the Committee 

 had arrived. Corroboration was found for the view pre- 

 viously expressed by the Central Chamber, " that co- 

 operation for purchase and co-operation for sale form two 

 separate problems, and that the solution of the one is easy 



