1904.] Poultry Societies in Ireland. 



83 



manager of Dervock Society is paid ^120 a year. The staff, in 

 addition to the manager, consists of four box-makers and egg 

 packers, two of whom are girls, and four collectors. These are 

 busily engaged during the summer season in dealing with the 

 egg business, but during the winter season they also work at the 

 table-poultry business. The busiest season is immediately before 

 Christmas, when some thousands of turkeys and geese are 

 bought, killed and prepared for market, and it is necessary to 

 engage extra workers, chiefly women, in order to deal with this 

 special trade. 



The Dervock Society works over a comparatively large area 

 extending to five or six miles from the centre in Ballymoney 

 direction and up to twelve miles in other directions. The eggs 

 are gathered by four collectors, who travel to the houses of all 

 members regularly, and by this means freshness of the eggs is 

 ensured. The collectors are paid partly by commission and 

 partly by wages ; a good portion of the district is worked 

 by the society's own horse and cart, and this is found more 

 economical than hiring other men's horses to do the work. 



The turnover in the egg department of this society is ,£6,000 

 per annum, which is paid for 2,160,000 eggs, having an aggregate 

 weight of nearly 130 tons. 



The premises occupied by Dervock Society consist of: 

 (1) office ; (2) shed for box-making ; (3) storage and packing- 

 room, in which all work connected with the weighing, testing, 

 grading and packing of eggs is performed ; (4) store-room for 

 empty packing cases, straw, wood-wool, &c. ; (5) stable, harness- 

 room, and cart-house. These are situated in a convenient and 

 central place adjacent to the railway station, and they are let to 

 the society at a yearly rent of £6. The rent is low, but the 

 buildings were not in good repair when they came into the 

 hands of the society. They were simply some old buildings 

 with a walled-in yard, which were taken by the committee 

 and converted into suitable premises for the egg and poultry 

 business. 



The plant and fittings were not expensive considering the 

 volume of work which is turned out. The following statement 

 shows the approximate cost, and gives an idea of the money 

 which must be- sunk in the purchass of n xessary stock and 



G 2 



