222 AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION IN IRELAND. 



of other creameries worked on the proprietary system. It may be said at 

 once that the Irish dairying industry, and indeed the entire agricultural 

 industry, is suffering from the want of capital ; but if the investment of 

 capital from outside deprives the farmer of the power to control his industry 

 it can bring him but little pecuniary benefit, while it places him in the posi- 

 tion of a servant rather than that of a partner in the attempt to develop it. 

 In short his industry is merely being developed in the interest of the entre- 

 preneur proprietor, who competes with a Co-operative Society, to pay prices 

 for milk which are beyond the power of the Society and which are sufficient 

 to tempt unthinking men to leave their own Creamery for the sake of a 

 small immediate gain, and if this policy is successful it ultimately leads to 

 the failure of the Co-operative Creamery, which must die of inanition, and 

 thus leave to the enterprising and wealthy proprietor undisputed possession 

 of the district. This, from every point of view, must be regarded as a mis- 

 fortune to the farmers whose apathy or shortsightedness has allowed them 

 to let the control of their industry slip out of their hands. It is undesirable 

 that the investment of, say, i^i,000 in the erection and equipment of a 

 Creamery should entitle the investor to control an industry in which the 

 farmers supplying milk have invested, in the form of cows and land, a 

 capital to the extent of i^20,000. It has been already argued that our 

 farmers either have, or can command, the required capital ; the success of 

 their own Creameries proves that they also possess the necessary business 

 intelligence. 



Perhaps the most remarkable feature in the development of Co-operative 

 Dairying is the extension of the " Auxiliary " system 



The "Auxiliary" which is the best proof that it is working satisfac- 

 System. torily. There is still much difference of opinion as to 



what is the best working arrangement between Auxili- 

 aries and Central Dairies. As the organisation of Dairy farmers into 

 Societies for the improvement of their industry by mutual help rather than 

 the creation of a centralised system of butter-making on a large scale (which 

 is apt to come under the sole control of the local committee and thus lose, 

 to some extent, its co-operative character) appears to be more properly the 

 function of the Society, the registration of Auxiliaries as independent, self- 

 governing Societies is generally advocated. But two serious difficulties pre- 

 sent themselves : {a) that of exercising a certain amount of control by the 

 Central Dairy over the purely technical work of the Auxiliary, without, how- 

 ever, impairing its co-operative character, lessening the sense of responsibility 

 of its members, or unduly interfering with its independence ; and {b) that of 

 arranging an equitable basis upon which both Societies may work harmo- 

 niously. Now that the Societies are obliged in many instances to compete 

 with dairies owned by individual capitalists or corporations they are forced, 

 to some extent at all events, to imitate the methods of their competitors ; 

 they must centralise their manufacture, they must adopt a uniform system 

 of working in their branches or Auxiliaries, and they must strive by every 

 means in their power to make their business as profitable as possible by 

 cutting down working expenses, by increasing their output, and by improv- 

 ing its quality. To attain this it is necessary to employ a skilled Manager 

 and Staff at the Central Dairy and to ensure that the results of this skilled 

 labour shall not be impaired by any slovenliness or neglect at the branches. 

 To do this without causing friction requires not only a good system but also 



