228 AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION IN IRELAND. 



also aiford those who wish to take up poultry keeping the means of acquiring 

 a thorough knowledge of the industry in all its branches. 



When it is remembered that England paid to foreign countries and the 

 colonies in 1898 £4,4.^2,1 ly for eggs alone, it will be seen that these Socie- 

 ties have a future before them which is only second in importance to that of 

 the Co-operative Creameries. 



One of the most encouraging successes is that of the Irish Co-operative 

 Agency Society. This body was established in 1 893 by 



Trade Federation, a number of the Dairy Societies which found it neces- 

 sary to form a federation for the purpose of jointly 

 selHng their produce in the large English markets, and of establishing a 

 distinctive reputation, and, if possible, a national brand, for unadulterated 

 Irish Creamery butter. Repeated difficulties, incidental to a totally novel 

 and extensive class of business undertaken by farmers hitherto inexperi- 

 enced in large commercial transactions, beset the earHer years of this 

 enterprise. Among these troubles were costly lawsuits resulting from the 

 acts of unsatisfactory officials ; the difficulty of fincincing in Ireland an un- 

 precedented undertaking of the kind ; and, worse than all, the apathy, 

 perhaps not surprising at the outset, of the Dairy Societies generally towards 

 the venture. Thanks, however, to the persevering determination, the 

 caution and the natural business capacity of its Committee, seconded by the 

 zeal and ability of its present manager, Mr. Roche, the Agency Society 

 gradually overcame all its difficulties, and to-day it occupies a perfectly 

 sound financial position, and its reputation as a trading body stands high in 

 the business world. 



Its growth may be best illustrated by the following figures : — 



Year. SALES. £ 



1893 . . . . _ 45,5;4 



1894 - - - • - - 64,85; 



1895 - _ - . _ 75,922 



1896 _____ 110,726 



1897 _____ 116,238 



1898 _____ 133,010 



1899 _____ 159,401 



1900 _____ 177,205 



Total Sales for seven years ;^882,933 



Bad Debts for this period ;^i68 



No better proof, could be furnished of the solid business qualities of the 

 Irish farmers who direct this Society than their having incurred so extra- 

 ordinarily small a proportion of bad debts as £i6S in a volume of trade 

 amounting to over three-quarters of a million sterling. 



The Agricultural Societies now formed a federation for the purpose of 



The Irish Agricul- transacting the business of joint purchase of their 



tural Wholesale requirements and joint sale of their produce on lines 



g . , somewhat similar to those on which the Creameries 



society. Yiaive established the Co-operative Agency Society. 



This federation, under the name of the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society, 



