202 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
by it, however, the eggs must be dispatched promptly to market 
and sold both rapidly and systematically. 
The small consignments which each producer is able individu- 
ally to supply are usually only sufficient for a retail trade and 
prevent him from obtaining a footing in the large markets. It is 
by co-operation that this difficulty can be overcome, and it is 
essential that the British producer should adopt the methods that 
have proved so successful not only abroad, but in many districts 
where they have been tried in Great Britain and Ireland. 
EGG-cOLLECTING CLUBS 
The most elementary type of co-operation is an egg-collecting 
club. A club of this kind may be formed in any district where 
supplies have to be sent to a market town a few miles away but 
where the number of producers is not large enough to set up a 
regular co-operative society. In such a case the cost and trouble 
of conveying individual lots to market may be reduced, and better 
prices obtained, by making arrangements for one person to receive, 
pack and forward the eggs. In most districts women can be 
found who will undertake this work for a small percentage on the 
receipts. 
The total sum received for the eggs, less this percentage, should 
be divided weekly or monthly among the members of the club in 
proportion to the number or weight of eggs supplied by each 
member. 
Cottagers or allotment-holders living near one another may 
often adopt this arrangement with advantage in place of selling 
their eggs to higglers. 
Unregistered clubs of this kind, however, do not exist in law. 
The responsibility of any trading operations may fall entirely on 
the secretary or other individual taking an active part in the 
business. Such clubs are unable to enter into contracts and, 
therefore, as a body cannot sue or be sued. The business is 
usually carried on by a secretary, and he has consequently to incur 
a certain amount of responsibility which would in the case of a 
