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 [ae 
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 ete.’’ 
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 
