The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1889. Agricultural Parcels Post

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 28, 20 August 1889, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1889. Agricultural Parcels Post

Under this beading an article appears in the Nineteenth Century for June whir'li is peculiarly 'applicable/to this • 'colony, and we thiuk the suggestions made therein are .well worthy .of the earnest attention npt only of the farin'ersjand agricultural' classes but'qf the Government. In dealing with the Subject we niuat ask our readers to keep in mind the fact that in Great Britain the railways are the property of private companies, whereas in this colony they are the property of the

people, which gives us an advantage not possessed by those interested at Home. After recapitulating the old methods or systems of barter, or direct dealing between the producer aud th<^ consumer at markets, :the writer goes on to say : — "These markets have fallen into disuse maiul}' from two causes wherever a railroad came ue;ir, it swept away all truces of any local market and made desolate the small country towns, bringing- about a system of centralisation and creating a monopoly in traffic. Cities and c«r tain large town? connected by the rail have undouhtedty enjoyed a better and speedier mode of communication than formerly, but all the producing districts, aud all small towns at any distance from a line, are far worse off than they were. This sj'stein of centralisation has brought into existance a class of middle- men, who absorb the profits which are extorted from consumers, and of which the producers receive no remunerative share. To small growers who live at any distance from a railway these middle-meu have become a necessity. And eveu to those who live at a convenient distance from a railway the great disparity in the cost of conveyauce between small quantities aud large renders the intervention of the middle-man necessary also. That something must be done to remedy this wrong is uovr generally admitted. All small produce, especially fruit produce is greatly on the increase, and likely to continue so Small farms and allotraeuts cultivated on market gardeu Hues will bo the rule and not the exception, therefore it is absolutely necessary there should be some speedier and more economic system of distribution than at present exists. No one can doubt the importance of this increase in the number of small occupations who will take the trouble to compare a years produce of an acre of market garden land in his own neighborhood with a year's produce of the best cultivated farm land under ordinary cropping.

What is needed is the bringing together for the purposes of direct dealing, of producers and consumers as in the old marketing days. Though the railroads cannot effect this the Parcels Post can. Here the requisite machinery exists, and all that is needed is a larger development of it. Parcels of a specified size and weight are now distributed by post throughout all parts of the country. The most rural districts enjoy the same advantages as the largest cities and towns. Though size and weight are limited, there is no limit to the number of parcels that may be sent to and from the same places in the same day, and the local authorities are empowered to arrange for the safe transmission of any amount. Under the present arraugement manufacturers and shopkeepers and their customers are mainly benefitted by the Parcels Post. It confers little or no benefit on the producers and consumers of home produce. The fact is the limits of siz* and weight are too low to make the service generally useful. What ib wanted is a branch of the same service to be worked by the same machinery, to underttke t> (arry diiect from growers to consumers, packages of a limited weight of articles of general consumption- - articles many of which are now a loss to the producers, and always exaggerated in price to consumers by tho extravagance of conveyance charges, and the multiplicity of mid-dle-men. If it will pay there can hardly bb any objection raised against such a special service. By such a service as is here suggested small farmers and their customers wouia !>p brought close together. Farm pi>. duce would be cheaper to the coasu mers and more remunerative to the growers ; both would be fairly treated. It is pitiable to think how greatly th.6 necessaries of life are increased in price owing to the number of hands they are made to pass through, and how much good and wholesome food in fruits, vegetables, &c, is positively wasted because the cost of sending it to those who want it is so great.