AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 210, 24 May 1918, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERA-TION

A MODERN TENDENCY. At the rooms of the Ashburton Agricultural and 'Pastoral AiSKKiiatioii on Saturday afternoon, Mr. H. D. Ac-land addressed a meeting of farmers on the subject. of "Agricultural Co-operation." Mr. A. J. Grigg presided over a fair attendance. Mr. Acland said there was a great tendency at present towards cooperation. Alter referring .briefly to the railways and the shipping of Now Zealand, he said the farmers were- concerned in three things, namely, manufacturing, business, and living. Agricultural co-operation dealt with the business side. On the one hand they had vast combinations, of capital in the form of banks, supply stores, shops, stock and station u 3 i.1 nd ]abour trusts > all(1 on t«e other the organised farmer. The object of co-operation was not so much business as common service. There were certain fundamental rules, such as one man one vote, fixed Interest on sharo capital, profit divided according to patronage, reserve fund, unlimited membership. The farmers should co-operate in all their undertakings, and > make capital their servant, hired for a fixed wage. Shippln" and freezing companies should be on tap", not on top. Co-operative selling and buying would give to the small man all the advantages of the big man,- without cost. . .the Government assisted -the capitalist at tlie expense of the co-operative dairy companies. They had an instance.' of this in regard to the freight on cream, which was mentioned at a recent meeting of the 1-armers Union.. Apart from dairying, very little had ,been done in the way of co-operation. The co-operative concerns in Canterbury were joint stock companies, and until they altered their constitutions limited their dividends, and distributed all profits to patrons, they could not be considered genuinely co-operative. At the same time they had done an immense amount of good, and time and again had prevented combinations against larmers. By proper organisation 'the producer and consumer in New Zealand conld be brought closer together, the proJits of the individual producer increased and the cost of living diminished; \{. ter replying to several questions, Mr Acthanks!' aS MCOrded ' a - heiU ' ty vote *°f