182 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION 



individual producers ; but the society itself was to act 

 exclusively as a wholesale milk contractor, and was not to 

 engage in the retail trade in competition either with its own 

 members or with other retailers. 



Starting operations with sixty-five members in March, 

 1911, the society had 115 in August, 1912, at which date, also, 

 it was being supplied with 25,000 gallons of milk a week, 

 including 18,200 gallons from the Wiltshire Farmers, Ltd. 

 It is found possible to pay slightly more per gallon to 

 organised sources of supply, such as the Wiltshire Farmers, 

 Ltd., than to individual fanners, the reason being that the 

 former are able to arrange more conveniently to send the 

 exact quantity needed, and to deal with milk not required. 

 The policy of the society is to make contracts with the best 

 dairy farmers in the best milk-producing districts ; stringent 

 precautions are taken to ensure purity and good quality ; 

 the society supplies genuine retail dairymen only ; all 

 members pay the same price and receive the exact quantities 

 they require ; and selling prices, which are to be uniform 

 throughout London, are fixed at the making of each contract. 



Coupled with what the dairy farmers themselves are doing, 

 this most interesting and most significant development 

 among the retailers would seem to foreshadow some material, 

 if not, indeed, some revolutionary, changes in the future of the 

 dairying industry, to the advantage both of producers and of 

 actual distributors, and without any detriment to the 

 consumers. 



ORGANISATION OF MILK RECORDS. 



The efforts to bring about more remunerative methods of 

 milk distribution are now being supplemented by endeavours 

 to increase still further the financial returns of dairy farmers 

 and small holders through the effecting of improvements in 

 milk production. 



It is hoped to attain this end with the help of a system of 

 milk records and milk testing organised on lines similar to 

 those so successfully followed by co-operative societies 



