Now a National Produce Board would theoretically acquire the ownership
of all the milk of the country, and it would be illegal to sell on terms that were not the Board's terms. Such Boards may work well, as other nations have proved, but special forms of produce are sold after special fashions ; and unexpected half-technical difficulties occur. In milk the great urban -co-operative societies buy and sell not much less than United Dairies. Is the bonus that they give to customers to be regarded as a subtraction from the price ? Such difficulties can be overcome ; and from the point of view of the farmer who sells wholesale anything is better than dependence on an association that holds the whip hand. Even if United Dairies make a bargain wholly favourable to the producer—if such a supposition may be imagined—it does not follow that all the dozen and a half associations which it represents will regard this as the last word. Indeed, recent history suggests that individual bargains may be the order of the day.
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