582 Co-operation for Small Holders. [nov., 



per member, and for this the small society is admitted to full 

 membership. The large society can supply anything from 

 a tintack to a steam engine, and the purchase, of coal may be 

 taken as an example of the advantages which a small man 

 . would derive from joining it. This society makes contracts 

 direct with the colliery for from 5,000 to 10,000 tons of coal 

 at a time, and if the small society could take one or two trucks, 

 it would obtain them at a price which might mean a saving of 

 from 5s. to ys. 6d. a ton on the cost at which its members could 

 obtain coal in small lots locally. The small society could also 

 obtain the best seeds, the best cake and feeding stuffs, and the 

 best artificial manure and other requirements at the lowest 

 price possible. 



" Then with regard to the marketing of produce and stock. 

 Take the pig trade by way of illustration. The farmers of 

 Suffolk are very large pig breeders, and the usual practice 

 was to send the pigs to the local markets. This method 

 answered very well when the markets were not glutted, but 

 when they were the results were disastrous ; another drawback 

 was that the pig markets were in the hands of a ring who con- 

 trolled the prices to their own advantage. To get over this 

 difficulty the society decided to have their own expert, a man 

 who is in touch with all the important markets throughout the 

 country. Between £60,000 and £70,000 worth of pigs passed 

 through his hands last year. The effect of this arrangement 

 is that the pig ring has been broken, flooded markets are 

 avoided, and members can rely on obtaining the highest market 

 price of the day. 



" Now there is no reason whatever why this system should not 

 be multiplied indefinitely, and applied to the disposal of fruit, 

 vegetables,, and the like. I came across a case only last week 

 where a man sent 1 ton of apples and garden stuff to London 

 and received in return a postal order for 2s. ; that kind of thing 

 is a matter of common occurrence, and unless steps are taken 

 to organise the producers and to insure as far as is practicable 

 that they shall reap a fair and proper return for their labour of 

 months, I am afraid it will go very badly indeed with them. 

 Then again produce must be sent to the consumer in the best 

 condition possible ; almost everything pays for careful grading, 

 and this, as a rule, could best be done by the experts of the 



