CO-OPERATION.

Evening Star, Issue 4078, 22 March 1876, Page 4

CO-OPERATION.

r ~. Tethe.Editor; Slß,—l ; have been a careful observer of the queaiionthat has agitated the mind of the good people of Dun-dia for some time. I refer to tile- unempl-yed workmen’s, question and the. threatened reduction of wages m some quartets. lam nqt going to say. one word against the employers of labor, for I th uk Upon the whole they are as goad as f’;e workmen themselves would be -if the latter were .placed in tbe same position. Neither do I believe that an increase of'trades unions Would, remedy. tbe defect. . To r . every careful observer 1 of the state of the labor market in this City, it must be plain th tthe present; e-lati'-ns between capital and'labpr are anything bat perman ht ; and trades uhions f sVon the old basis of separation. Alfaough it is quite natural that, work ng men should resort to such unions .to secure to themse.vi s a larger share of the profits of their labor, yet it is evident that there is some hing wanted by which the schism between capital and labor would r be comp'eiely healed and capital and labor ysett d Ja .the same person. A remedy for this ds. I thicfej to found; in the organisad nof co--1 operative socieiea. Firit, by tim es ablifihmeijt of retail stores, wheie the auvai,ta>;e of having the necessaries ot life fee. from adulcrauon: would be found (fur exam pie, no poison in pickles or sand iu sugar), ai.d then.-to find -at the end of the year a i considerable sum of money accumulated at the .store' against a r rainy day. becoudiy, cooperation as applied top oduct on. The application of this piinciple hj hj been carried out to a great extent in Euglar dand m the Continent. Although there have been failure s, yet on the whole it bas been a g-eit succe-Sj and- greatly remedied many growing evils in tbe sooiitlsys-t«m-of:Epglaud.wo-operationhas a great powlr in utilising a great muni er of small savings and thus woking men ate put into a position in which they can'copewitfi tbe capitalist in bis own fieldpf labor, r, The problem nas beeu successfully solved in various countries, and llrust the working paen of Dunedin will unite hand and means in at least making a beginning in tbe establishment of : a. co-operative general- store for tbe distribution of the necessaries of life free from adulteration, in which the grand principles of co-operation will be carried out in a division of -profits. _ Hoping to see thki question fully discussed in your widely-circulated paper.—l am, &c., Dundedin, March 23.