124 CO-OPERATION IN THE IRISH EGG TRADE. [Sept. 1895. 



the members of the society. Accommodation will be pro- 

 vided at each centre for storing straw and packing eggs, 

 and one or more horses or ponies with spring carts will be 

 employed for the service of collection. The working staff of a 

 centre will include an expert egg-packer and sorter, with one 

 or more assistants, who could learn their business from him ; one 

 or two local " egglers " (i.e., persons accustomed to drive egg carts 

 and collect eggs) ; and unskilled labourers to be employed in 

 making packing cases. 



The price paid to suppliers of eggs will be slightly in excess 

 of the local buyers' prices in order to secure sufficient trade. 

 This extra price will, it is said, be realised, first, through the eggs 

 being sold fresh instead of stale, and, secondly, by the increased 

 price obtained for the eggs through their being sorted and sold 

 of uniform size, as uniformity is of paramount importance. The 

 practice of holding up eggs for a rise in the market will be dis- 

 countenanced. 



In order to obviate the difficulty usually experienced in securing 

 an adequate supply of eggs during the winter, members of the 

 societies will be encouraged to produce greater quantities of eggs 

 at this season of the year. This, it appears, can be done by 

 better feeding and early hatching. The eggs will be consigned 

 daily to the Co-operative Agency Society, and that body will 

 undertake to market them at a commission of about 3 per cent. 

 The profits of the local societies will be divided among the mem- 

 bers supplying the eggs in proportion to the amount of trade 

 done by each with the society. 



It will be seen that the foregoing scheme is intended for new 

 societies, whose special function will be to collect, sort, and 

 pack the eggs of the district in which they work. It is pro* 

 posed, however, that the creameries and agricultural societies 

 shall immediately take up this industry. To the former it will 

 prove a boon in the winter, as it will enable them to find profitable 

 employment for their hands at that season, while it will provide 

 the labourers with a new source from which to augment their 

 scanty incomes. 



It is maintained that as soon as the eggs exported through the 

 Agencj^ become known and appreciated on the English markets, 

 they will fetch a greatly enhanced price, but it is recognised that 

 this can only be accomplished by. the co-operation of the egg 

 producer. 



