FARMERS' CO-OPERATION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1972, 17 October 1888, Page 2

FARMERS' CO-OPERATION

AN ASSOCIATION TO BE FORMED. A eeend meeting of farmers to decide what steps Bhould be taken In regard to the formation of a 00-oparatlve Association, was held at the Arcade Chambers yesterday afternoon. Th^re was a large attendance and Mr G. W. Leadley waa voted r,o the chair. A letter was read from Mr W. Strachao «ho stated that he had Interviewed tho Ohristoburci AasooUtion In raforeoo to atartin; a brauoh m Ashburton. This, however, they had declined to do, though tbey desired to work lv harmony with any body that might be formed here.

The Chairman said that it would be remembered that at the previous meeting, a deputation, of whioh he was a member, was appointed to wait on the direotors of the Ohriatohuroh Association, and oonfer with them as to establishing a branch of their business at Ashburton. The deputation was to have gone last Saturday, but as ha happened to be io Ohrlstohuroh on the previous Tuesday ho took the opportunity to interview Mr f arnbull, the manager of the Association, and one of the leading direotors happened to be m the offioe at the time. He had a long conversation wlthjthese gentlemen, and he found that their opinion of the Aahburton district was not a very flattering one. Mr Tarnbull had formerly bean oonneoted with a grain agenoy business, and while In that position had had dealings with some Ashburton men, the result of which had, doubtless, been the formation of his very unfavorable opinion of this plaoe. He (Mr Leadley) pointed out to Me Tcrnbull that he formed hla opinion of Ashburton as It was seven or eight years ago, and that there was » vast differenoa between the Aahburton of then, and that of to-day. He assured him that the farmers of Ashburton oould stand alongside any In Oanterbuiy, and not lose by the comparison. He asked these gentlemen to go through the Digest and oompare the liens In Aehburton with those m other districts, when it would be seen that the farmers here were m no wiae at a disadvantage, as only one-tenth part of the liens In Canterbury applied to Ashburton county. However, he soon discovered that the Chriatchurob Aaio elation

were not by any means going to throw

themselves into the ABhbarton farmers' arms, m regard to starting a branch here, though he was assured that directors and. Association would be only too glad to give an Ashburton Association all the assistance m their power, short of this. On Saturday last ha wired to Mr Tarnbull, asking him the result of the directors' meeting, and he reoeived a reply to the efleot that the direotors, generally, were not favorably disposed towards atartlng % branch at Ashbartoa, bat at ihe same time were prepared to assist a looal Association m every way m their power. Therefore, it would be Been that there was no hope of the Ohriaiohuroh Association starting a branch here, and all they could hope for would be their advice and the benefit of their experience. It was now for the meeting to decide what

should be done — whether they would go on as an independent Association or allow the matter to fill through. There was one thing he h»d noticed since the former meeting, and whioh showed the benefit a

Sooiety of this sort would be to the

farmers, and how muoh It was needed. The Ashburton merohaots seemed frightened almost out of their seven senses at the

aotlon taken by a few farmers.

He did

not know why they should be so. They told him that It wan almoat impossible for them to* make a living now, bat if that was bo, he did not see why they should be frightened of another Association starting. Me 1. Sargent thought they Bhould form an Association at once, There was nothing to ba gained by delay, and if a few of them stuck together there was no doubt of the .ftffiir being a auooeps. Mr Mosa, the Secretary pro tern, said that he had received pledges tor a number of shares from gentlemen who had taken no part at any of the meetings as soon as the thing was started. The Chairman said that ha noticed that some ni9D — and these men whom an Association suoh as that proposed would mesb benefit — seemed to fight sby of it. Why this should be so he could not understand, as the Association woald mean a saving to some of them of £200 a year or so. Mr Sargent Bald that probably these men had been unfortunate m their dealings with companies started hete m the past, and ib was a case of a burnt child dreadlne tho fire. • A desultory discussion ensued as to the principles of management of some companies that had been floated fn Ashbur* tun, and the opinion was generally expressed that to the style of management their non-euooeßs was due. Mr W, T. Llll was thoroughly In favor of starting a looal Association, though at first he was m favor of going m with Ohrlstohuroh. There was a great deal Inoooperation, even though muoh capital were not put m it, whioh would result In a great saving to • the farmers, and there were many little •« wrinkles " known to a few lndlvlduallylwhioh If they banded together would result m benefit to them all. That there was something m -it, could be seen by the attitude of the merchants here. One of them told him that he would not sit on the Association, and he (Mr Lill) Informed him that he wai nob heavy and could not smother It if he did. Another merchant had offered if the Aaßodlavlon gave him their business to supply them with goods at the Ohrlatchuroh prlooß. If they stuck together the affair was bound to be profitable. As to the argument that men with money should not be allowed to take up a lot of Bharea, he did not see any obj-jotlon to them doing so, provided they were farmers. One merchant had told him that they were starving already, but if that were ao the starting of the Association would not make any difference. He did not think they should go m to b mother anybody ; he did not know that any merchants. in Christohuroh had failed because' of the starting of the AsßQQlation there, and he did not think if they started here the merchants need be killed. What the Association was wanted for waa that there were many things whioh the farmers now had to go m foe single-handed, and for which they had to pay through the nose, and the only way In whioh .this ooqld ho remedied waa by qorahinlqg

The Chairman thoughtjth»t;it would be advlaable for ttie meeting, seeing they were evidently determined on oarrying the thing through, to appoint a provisional directorate, selecting a few aubjjtuatial men from each djgtrlgt aiy prp?islonal directory, a#d If th%a.e geDttemen were willing to stake Jgl or bo for preliminary expenses, credit In shares could be given them when tho company was formed. This wonld simplify matters a good deal. As to what Mr Lill had said m refeieDOd to men, no long as they were farmers, being allowed to take np as mtny shares as they liked, there was, a goqd deal to be said on bo^h sides, of the question; At the laat meeting he (the Chairman) had expressed himself opposed to any man being allowed to take up moro than a few ■hares, but when he went to Ohrlstohuroh ho was told a little of the early history of chat Association whloh showed that the men with a large stake m it h<\d done it gr«at qervloe, Soon after the Qhrlutohurph Association started, the directors reoelved a letter from their banker, the result, doubtless, of outsld* Influence, telling them that no more ohequeß would be oashed save those given In liquidation of the Company, olearly showing that the Intention was to stamp It ont. Now if the Association bad oomlsted of men with a small cumber of shares these could have afforded to lose the money which they hadpaid up, but to tyen, holding 20Q ihares,

with £2 paid ap, tha matter was serious. There were only five men In the Ohriatohmch Asß'ieiatlon holding the maximum nnmber of 200 shares, but these five, seeing that if they did not do something their money wru'd be lost, combined and Rnbaorlbed £7003 to pay off the overdraft. The aooount was removed to another hank, and ever since then the Association' had flourished, their KUrcesa Wna; assured. This ahivred that the praeenos of moneyed men might aometimas bo aa advantage . His personal feeling, was, however, m favor .of« the shares being dlatrlbu'ed over as many shareholders as possible j supposing they thay Issued 2000|ahs res, he woald like to see them held by 1000 farmers, because then they woald start work with a large constituency He bad been discussing the matter with a f aw friends that day and a suggestion had been thrown out, that .the farmers should combine themselves In a sort of mutual aid aoolety on co operative principles, iasus a pros* peotas and oall up a few shillings per share. They should then go to one of the merchants and a»k him on what terms he woald do their business, and they might depend th^ie terms woald be more favor iblegthan at present. Sapposing that five hundred farmers so* combined it would- mean a considerable aoceaslon of business to the merchant, and he would be only too glad to make concessions. Therefore if they did nothing further than this It would |be of immense benefit to the farmers; If he could only get 25 pee cent knocked off the general expenses of the farm it would mean something considerable at the end of twelve mon'hc If the meeting wished it he was ready to become one of the provisional director und stake £1 or £2 towards advertising the prospectus and other preliminary expenses, taking ont the money thus m shares when the company was formed.

Several other gentlemen expressed their willingness to become provisional directors.

Mr I. Sargent proposed, Mr W. T. Llll seoonded, tmi It waa oarrled unanimously : — " That a Farmers 00-operatlve Association be formed for the conduct of the business of the farmers of the district, and that a provisional directorate be appointed for the purpose of drawing up a prospectus and aeoartaintng the number of shares to be obtained."

A strong provisional directorate, with power to add to its number, w»s appointed. The Chairman congratulated the meet. Ing on the progress 'that had been made.

The meeting then adjourned, it being understood that the provisional directors would assemble, to decide on the preliminary steps, on Saturday afternroa.