price quotations, and information regarding market tendencies, particularly in the case of perishable commodities, assist producers to estimate the approximate value of their produce and to know when and where to consign. They are of equal value to wholesale traders in indicating the markets in which to buy. They tend to the equalisation of supply and demand.

78. The more recent the information, the greater its usefulness, and, for this reason, attention is being given in various countries to the broadcasting of market quotations and tendencies by means of wireless telephony. In our interim report on fruit and vegetables, we recommended the use of broadcasting for disseminating market intelligence. The British Broadcasting Company has now commenced to broadcast market intelligence. This, we understand, is furnished by Reuters and the affiliated press agencies. We are informed by Reuters that at the present moment, reports are broadcasted of the supplies, prices and market tendencies of the following markets :-Islington Cattle Market, Mark Lane Corn Market, Chicago and Winnipeg Wheat Markets, London Hay and Straw Market, Smithfield (London) Meat Market, Covent Garden, Spitalfields and The Borough Markets and the London Potato Markets. In addition, reports are either issued or are about to be issued relating to Newcastle Corn Market and Newcastle Cattle Market.

79. In the United States of America the broadcasting of crop and market reports by wireless telephony has become a definite part of the programme of distributing the reports of the Bureau of Markets. The reports are broadcasted through stations operated by private agencies and by other Government Departments, five Government-owned and seventy-six private stations being utilised at the present time. The broadcasting of crop and market reports by radio in the United States of America is stated to be "in its very beginning and not to be considered fixed or established, but it is a service which the farm public will demand more and more, and for which plans must be made."

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80. The broadcasting of market prices and intelligence generally is clearly a development of the highest importance to this country, and one which must tend to facilitate the orderly marketing of supplies and so assist in reducing market risks. The only question is whether the collection of the quotations and particulars broadcasted should be left to purely private concerns. This is a very difficult and controversial subject. Government control naturally suggests itself as a medium of regulation but, on balance, we incline to the view that, in the present stage of development, the ascertaining and drawing-up of quotations for purposes of daily broadcasting by wireless telephony can best be left to private agencies. In this connection it should be noted that every improvement in grading, every extension of

the principle of standardisation, makes the ascertainment of prices more simple and their quotation more accurate. The Ministry of Agriculture should interest itself in the methods employed and study the possibilities which broadcasting affords of ensuring a more even flow of products from producer to consumer. It should, moreover, take steps to compare the price quotations broadcasted under present arrangements with the reports which it receives from its own market reporters.

(B) THE COLLECTION OF STATISTICS.

81. Statistics of market prices of agricultural produce have been collected and published weekly by the Departments of Agriculture since the year 1904, and are summarised in the annual reports presented by these Departments. The figures are of importance, not only because they afford an indication of monthly and annual price changes for the various commodities dealt with, but also because they are an attempt to furnish official and authentic information regarding agricultural prices from week to week. The weakness of many of the systems of price quotation as they exist in this and other countries lies largely in the possible manipulation of the quotations by groups of traders whose interests tend in the direction of under or over quoting, as the case may be.

82. So far as England and Wales are concerned, reports and prices are obtained from about 50 livestock markets, 30 local markets for home-produced provisions and poultry, nine wholesale fruit and vegetable markets, four wholesale meat markets, three wholesale provision markets, and four markets for feeding stuffs and fertilisers. In addition, price statistics are collected regarding hay and straw, wool, milk, and seeds. The statistics collected by the Scottish Board of Agriculture are upon similar lines, although the number of markets is naturally smaller.

83. The market reporters are specially selected on account of their intimate knowledge of the markets. They are usually men possessing a practical knowledge of the trade, whose ordinary course of business requires their attendance at the markets, although in some cases they have retired from active business. We understand, however, that, in order to ensure that the market reports shall be accurate and unbiassed, the Departments endeavour to avoid appointing reporters who might conceivably have an interest in misrepresenting prices.

84. The reporters obtain their information by personal observation in the markets, and also by personal inquiry where sales are effected by private treaty. In the absence of any standardisation of quality, classification into grades, and the calculation or estimation of average prices for the various grades, have, of course, to be left to the reporters' own judgment. The prices are as nearly as practicable the average prices realised at the

market without deductions for carriage or other expenses borne by the producer.

85. With a view to rendering the statistics more exact, we have considered the advisability of making it compulsory upon sellers or selling agents in certain markets to make returns showing the prices received. Such information would, however, be of little use unless some more or less rigid classification as to quality were possible.

86. In the case of certain articles, such as potatoes, the prices quoted are those ruling at town markets, and may not always represent direct sales by the producer. There may be grounds for obtaining additional statistics of prices from markets where produce is sold by producers, and we recommend that, if necessary, additional funds should be placed at the disposal of the Departments for this purpose.

87. Statistical data regarding retail food prices are collected monthly by the Ministry of Labour in connection with the costof-living index number. The information relates to the first day of each month, and is collected by Managers of Employment Exchanges and Branches from representative retailers doing a working class trade throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including industrial co-operative societies, large multiple firms, and private traders, to the number of over 5,000. The figures are averaged over the whole country, and the averages are published monthly in the Labour Gazette.

88. It has been represented to us that the consuming public would be assisted by the regular publication of comparative wholesale and retail food prices in a form to show clearly the distributive margin. It is suggested that such an official comparison would exercise a restraining influence on the prices charged by retailers, and would help consumers to judge whether the prices they were required to pay bore a reasonable ratio to prevailing wholesale figures.

89. We understand that the Ministry of Agriculture has considered this suggestion from time to time. Obviously a crude comparison of producers' or wholesale and retail prices would convey little to the consumer, especially in the case of articles in which there is considerable variation in quality or which reach the consumer in a different form from that in which they leave the producer. We understand, however, that the Ministry has under consideration a proposal to publish regularly comparative index numbers which will indicate the movement of wholesale and retail prices. We think that it may be possible, by collaboration between the Departments of Agriculture and Labour, to secure a more complete and comparable record of producers' and consumers' prices, and we recommend that the departments concerned should explore every possibility in this direction.

X. THE MEDIA OF EXCHANGE.

90. In certain of our reports we have drawn attention to the confusion that is caused in primary and wholesale markets owing to the diversity of weights and measures by which the various classes of agricultural produce are bought and sold. The fruit and vegetable trade furnishes many examples of this, and we have already recommended that efforts should be made to simplify the system. A similar diversity of measures was for long a prominent feature of the corn trade, innumerable measures being in force in various parts of the country, while frequently measures of the same name varied considerably in practice in different districts. The Corn Sales Act, which came into force in January, 1923, was designed to put an end to this anomaly, but it is limited in its application, and many of the old differences remain, especially in the sale of imported cereals.

91. The variation in weights and measures has an important bearing upon our investigations, and is of increasing importance as the interchange of commodities between one district and another, through the wholesale markets, develops and extends. We desire to repeat the recommendation set out in our interim report on fruit and vegetables, namely, that failing reform from within the industry itself, consideration should be given by the Government to the possibility of introducing standard units of sale as regards weight, measure, or number for fruit and vegetables. It is a matter for consideration whether corresponding action should not also be taken in respect of meat.

92. Probably a more important question so far as retail prices are concerned, is to be found in the British coinage system. Owing to the virtual disappearance of the farthing in many parts of the country the halfpenny has become the lowest coin of the realm in common use, and retailers cannot adjust prices by smaller amounts. As the general level of prices falls, the farthing may reappear in many districts. As it is, however, we have shown in our various reports, that the milk retailer, selling pints and half-pints, is unable to alter his prices by less than 2d. per gallon, except by averaging prices over a protracted period. Similarly, the baker can only alter his prices by multiples of ld. per 4-lb. loaf, although flour prices may, and do, vary by 6d. and 18. per sack, equivalent to about d. or d. per 4-lb. loaf. Without attempting to discuss alterations in the coinage system of the country, we desire to point out that its limitations frequently hinder the immediate reflection of wholesale price changes in the prices charged by retailers. Even when wholesale prices justify a fall in retail prices of d. per unit of weight, the trader must consider carefully before making the reduction, in case a slight advance in the wholesale market may compel him

to raise prices again or to suffer a serious reduction in profits. The retailer, playing for safety, naturally tends to err on the side of caution; wholesale price reductions, unless substantial and apparently permanent, must always be to his own and not to the consumer's advantage.

XI. THE NEED FOR CONTINUOUS INVESTIGATION.

93. In an earlier stage of this report we have expressed the opinion that the standardisation of produce as regards size, colour, fat or water content or other qualities, wherever practicable, should be the aim of producers in this country. Standardisation, however, is not a matter of guessing. The determination of grades, for example, necessitates a wide and exhaustive knowledge of the various circumstances which together govern the saleability of a product. In many countries, the Government prescribes national uniform grades and, where necessary, containers. In others, the industry itself is left to develop its own standardisation. We do not suggest that the situation in this country calls for the formulation and enforcement by the State of national grades for agricultural produce. That may come for certain commodities, in the future, but it is clearly impracticable at the moment. Nevertheless, it is of the utmost importance that the State should interest itself in the efficiency with which the farmers' crops are marketed and distributed, in the costs which these processes entail, and in the acquisition and dissemination of accurate information.

94. One of the most striking developments in recent years, particularly in the English-speaking countries overseas, is the assistance afforded by the State to the commercial side of agriculture, and the extent to which investigation and research are undertaken by Agricultural Colleges and by Government Departments into the economics of marketing. In Great Britain during the past few years there has been a movement in the direction of furnishing instruction at agricultural colleges in the economics of the industry. In our view the subject of marketing should form a definite part of this instruction in all degree courses, in the study and examination for the National Diploma in Agriculture, and in the courses at Farm Institutes and other educational centres where practicable.

95. We are of opinion that considerable assistance of a practical nature might be afforded to producers in England and Wales were they given the opportunity of consulting technical officers experienced in marketing processes. We recommend, therefore, that the Ministry of Agriculture should consider the advisability of obtaining funds to allow of the appointment of a marketing advisory officer in each of the educational districts into which the country is at present divided. It should be the duty