244 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



profit, and very frequently at a loss, largely owing to 

 heavy expenses of distribution in consequence of each 

 mill-owner in the past having separately disposed of 

 the product of his mill to buyers residing in various 



parts of the colony AND WHEREAS 



unless the cost of distribution is lessened 



a large number of persons now engaged in the business 

 will have to incur further heavy loss and ultimately 

 retire from it, leaving it in the hands of those who are 

 longest able to bear the loss resulting from the unsatis- 

 factory condition of the trade, and other circumstances 

 detrimental to manufacturers and consumers alike will 

 follow. AND WHEREAS the system of sale and joint 

 distribution by the form of agreement hereinafter con- 

 tained, by which it is intended that each mill-owner 

 shall supply to the said Association flour manufactured 

 in his mill to the extent and on the terms hereinafter 

 mentioned, will minimise the cost of distribution and 

 largely tend to ameliorate the condition of the business 

 and obviate the consequences before referred to, besides 

 enabling the output of the mills to be sold at a less cost 

 to the consumer than would otherwise ultimately be 

 the case etc." 



From this, it would appear that the Association had 

 for its objective the combination of New Zealand millers 

 for the purposes of minimising the commercial costs of 

 the industry. Wheat was to be purchased by the central 

 authorities of the Association, and parcelled out to 

 the millers who would sell their flour through the 

 central authority again. It will be noted that the 

 individuality of each miller was to be retained, but he 

 was subject to control by the central authority. The 

 directors of the Association were to fix prices for flour 

 according to "the cost of wheat, and the value of its 

 by-products, and other matters that ought reasonably to 

 be taken into consideration. ' ' The individual mills were 



