1914
The Hon R Heaton Rhodes placed at the value of the honey production for the Dominion just over £50,000 when he formally opened the 1914 Conference. The conference was held in the Esperanto Hall, Wellington, on 17 June. Mr James Allan (Wyndham) was re-elected President of the National Beekeepers’ Association of New Zealand. Mr JS Cotterell (Te Aroha) was re-elected Vice President. Mr HW Gilling (Taranaki), Mr S Hutchinson (Hamilton East), Mr CA Jacobsen (Little River) and Mr A Ireland (Christchurch) were on the Executive – all had been on the Executive during the previous year. Mr RW Brickell was secretary for the Association.
Membership stood at 256, with an expectation of doubling that number in the coming year.
Conference debate centred on the best methods of getting good returns from exports to “Home”. A significant change to the constitution allowed for district associations to collect fees from members and remit an amount (on a sliding scale based on membership) to the National. This resulted in a sense of compromise that brought a number of other associations such as Canterbury into the ‘National’ (though the final amalgamation of the Canterbury Beekeepers’ Association, begun in 1907, did not occur until late 1916).
The first issue of The New Zealand Beekeepers’ Journal appeared in July 1914 as a result of proposal from the conference.
In the middle of 1914 Major AEM Norton, managing-director of the Bristol and Dominion Producers’ Association Ltd (B & D) visited New Zealand. Major Norton had previously been the Trade Commisioner in England for South Australia, and had promoted the branding by country and regularity of supply as a means of continued sales. He was so confident of being able to sell good clover honey into England that he offered to contract to the NBA for a minimum of 100 tons to a maximum of 500 tons a year for three years, on the basis of 4d FOB minimum price, with 5d being a possible return.