SWEDEN’S METHOD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20103, 24 November 1939, Page 10

SWEDEN’S METHOD

COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT

STORES AND HOUSES

SOCIAL PROGRESS SEEN

A method of reducing the cost o! living without the aid of Government legislation, and without interfering with private enterprise, was explained in an interview in Dunedin by the Rev. D. C. Herron, of Knox Church, who recently returned from Britain and the Continent. It was in Sweden that Mr. Herron cable in contact with the co-operative movement, which appeared to be solving the industrial and social problems of Sweden, in quite a different way from that in which .New Zealand and other countries were endeavouring to straighten out their affairs. It was not a Government measure, but just an organisation by the people themselves which they were evolving step by step.

This co-operative movement, he said, had a membership of 600.000, each member possessing a 100-kroner share. The share might be purchased for cash, or it might be acquired by accumulation to that extent of the 3 per cent dividend to which purchasers at the co-operative stores were entitled. Good Wages Paid The organisation paid good wages to its employees, while at the same time endeavouring to keep down the prices of its goods to the lowest possible level. There was not. however, any attempt to cut prices with a view to unfair competition with privatelycontrolled businesses. The contention was that if by the means employed, and by paying standard wages, a cooperative organisation could place goods on the market at reasonable prices, it was entitled to public support. There were 400 stores in Stockholm alone, and these were supported by 80,000 members. The movement went further than selling goods retail, however. It had factories which turned out many of the articles which it handled. Another branch of activities of the co-operative movement was the building of homes for members, These houses and flats were fitted with the latest labour-saving devices and were altogether of a good type. There was also provision for reduction of rent according to the size of family possessed by the occupants. For instance, if a tenant had three children, tire standard rental was reduced by 80 per rent; if live children, then by .50 per. cent. Houses might be purchased on ■liberal time-payment terms.