RELATED TOPICS 243 
combines, and trusts, either wholly or partially, were 
beginning to operate extensively in the commerce of New 
Zealand. ‘‘An isolated, highly protected, and sparsely 
populated country like New Zealand, so far distant 
from the world’s markets, especially lends itself to the 
manipulations of trusts and combines. It is a compara- 
tively easy matter for a few wealthy individuals in any 
given industry or business to secure control of the 
output, and by slightly raising prices, to levy taxation 
on the whole community.’’* 
The object of combinations in New Zealand, as dis- 
closed by the investigations made by this Commission, 
is not the elimination of the unnecessary expenses in the 
cost of manufacturing and distributing. These forms 
of combination are beneficial to the whole community 
from the improved services they would have rendered 
in many directions. But the operations of the combin- 
ations in New Zealand ‘‘have had an exactly opposite 
effect, for their avowed object is to corner supplies and 
increase prices to the detriment of the people.’’ This 
does not imply condemnation of combination. The whole 
tendency of economic evolution is towards combination. 
Where traders combine to secure cheaper wholesale 
purchases or better transportation, combination is rather 
to be commended. A good instance of this is the co- 
operative movement. 
(a) The Origm and Nature of the Flour Millers’ 
Association—The New Zealand Flour Millers’ Associ- 
ation was instituted on March Ist, 1901, and in the 
preamble to the agreement which bound individual 
millers to the Association, the following quotation is 
illustrative of the alleged objects of the Association :— 
‘‘Whereas for many years the business of flour milling 
in New Zealand has been carried on practically without 
*Cost of Living Report, Parliamentary Papers, 1912. H-18, 
page lxvi. 
