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HOW THE CORNWALL CHEESE BOARD OPERATES
By GEORGE WILSON
(Cornwall Standard)
HE CORNWALL CHEESE BOARD meets for the transaction of business
in the Board Room, in the Town Hall, every Friday afternoon, at two o'clock.
Appreciating the value of the Cheese Board to the town, the Corporation
grants the use of this room free of charge, which condition has prevailed during
the twenty-one years since the Board has been organized. Previous to the opening
of the Board, the offerings for the day are placed on a large blackboard by the
secretary, and at two o'clock the president takes his place at the head of the table.
The buyers occupy seats on either side of the table, with representatives of the
local press, the Standard and Freeholder, and the sellers occupy seats in the rear,
in close proximity to the buyers, making everything which transpires during the
sitting of easy access to everybody in the room.
The buyers this year consist of the following:
J. A. Welsh, for Jas. Alexander, Limited.
W. O. Wert, for Hodgson Bros. & Rowson.
Geo. L. McLean, for Geo. Hodge & Co.
P. A. Nolan, for G. D. Warrington.
W. A. Edwards, for Olive & Dorion.
J. W. McLeod, for Lovell & Christmas.
S. G. Lawson, for the Swift Canadian Co.
A. Dougald Cameron, for A. A. Ayer & Co.
Some thirty-eight factories and combinations are selling on the Board this year.
When the boarding is completed the president takes the chair, makes any
necessary announcements and refers to matters pertaining to the welfare of the
Board and cheese industry generally. After the disposal of all routine business,
the presiding officer reads the number of white and colored cheese boarded and
calls for bids. Usually the bidding starts at the head of the table to the left of
the President, and goes around in the order of the buyers, but occasionally a
buyer who is eager breaks the customary rotation, which is immediately taken
up by the next buyer and continues in order again. There is never any disturbance
to mark the equilibrium of the Board, and buyers and sellers conduct the business
in the most amicable manner. In fact, this condition prevails to such an extent
on the Cornwall Board that an onlooker would never imagine that eight different
wholesale houses were represented around the Board, each trying to swell the
cheese receipts of his house to the fullest extent. This order continues until
the last cheese is sold.
Despite the fact that the Cornwall Board has been in existence for over
twenty years, there never has been any curb work in Cornwall. The curb or
street is an unknown way of doing business here. Buyers and sellers alike are
loyal to the Board to such an extent that if there should be no sales on the Board,
or one or more factories decided to hold, which has rarely occured in recent seasons,
such holdings are not disposed of on the curb after the meeting, but are loyally
held until the next meeting of the Board. This is one of the noted characteristics
of the Cornwall Board, and is a most commendable one, and one which Boards
in other places would do well to emulate.
The business of each sitting is usually concluded in an hour, but in some
cases, where competition is very keen among the buyers, it has extended beyond
that time.
The Cornwall Board is acknowledged by experts in the dairy industry to be
the best conducted and most loyal Board in all Canada, and this condition has
been brought about solely by the united spirit which has always characterized
the conduct of business on the Board.
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