The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY LEVIN. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1912 FARMERS CO-OPERATION

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 October 1912, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY LEVIN. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1912 FARMERS CO-OPERATION

I M i'o-ojK'i';i i.imi (j)i u[htly Mipervi vjd ;iik| ni;in;m,.jl by e\j>erUj ilie lai'Hici> hi Nimv Zealand have heloto tlh'in a wide iieid ot iiitnre proiit. Some ]|i'i|ilnl I'l'ilii'i.sm ami detail

loncerning this j)i»>.>iljiiity is contained in a serie.s oi ;irticle.s founded mi tlir observations abroad (if .Mill. J). Acland. In prel aeing his remarks. Mr Acland refers to the past and present cast 1 of Denmark. I'oriy years iigo Denmark was a povert\.slricl\eu country, lie writes. Agricult'llra 1 depression sat heavily upon i.he lain], Wheat-growing no i'i::i■ i' paid, and tin 1 Danish fanner wa> in a very impoverished p<«^iLi<.ll. W hat did lie do!-* i!e had no paternal Oovernnient (aMother name lor other people) {o assist liini, or to lean upon as in Xew Zealand. lie had no Mpure as in England : so lie had eilher to go under or in find a way nut for himself. Well, lie did il"' latter tiling, aml taught the re-t 'be world a lesMin 11\* taking in co-operaiion. small holdings, and selfhelp, and to-day Denmark. whbli is a 'ion f (In l .same size as {-auterburv ( 10,()(l(),()()() acres) exports but'er, bacon, eggs, an<l la rilling produce co I In l extent of (!()(),()()U. The prosperity of Denmark js iittrib.itahle tD two things, co-operation and

.small fanners who have the freehold. And ;i|)|);ireritiy each \s a iK-cesNary complement to the other in order to he. .successful. The system oi i u-opera(ion "appears on'v to take root in a. fanning community which owii.s and does not hire L,u " 't works." Jn Ireland today, now that the fanners kave the freehold, farming is booming l )y f.] lt , aid of co-operation, and the .system is spreading every day. whilst in England, where leasehold prevails, oiio is .always told that the English farmer refuses to co-operate. The 1 l>:| son Kivon is that the leaseholder instinctively feel.s that if he is successful lif.s Tonb will go tip when the 'case expires, and that the product of his labour will K „ to somebodv olse. and tliat the farmers, like nil others, want for themselves the product of their labour. rOlahoi-ntinrr his article and his ■ngnments, XI r Acland remarks that •agricultural co-operation has been defined a.s the application of business methods by farmers, not only to fanning itself, Imf; to the buying of flll necessary stores, implements, ni,in in t l , ofce. y n.ncl to tlfo snlo of their produce bv means of combination. Tint it is more tlnan tin's, as it is a system of solf-liolp and solf-reliaice in combination with one another. ™d t above everything, the organised individualism. Tn a joint stock company the profits go to the shareholders, %nt in a co-operative societv the profits go to the organised individuals or members in proportion to tho amount of hit,sine,ss done bv such members. If the society is for the pm-po.se of purchasing goods wholesale, then each member gets a share of any profit only in proportion to tho amount of goods he lias pure-has-od tlirough the society, and if tho society is for the purpose of mar-

keting or selling goods, then the members .similarly only receive ;i share in proportion to the amount of produce, each member has sold through the society. To take for instance. Supposing a Danish farmer has a pig ready for bacon, what does he do? lie simply sends it to his co-operative factory, and there his work ends. The factory kills it .aixl credits the owner with the market price. Later on. as one ol i.!ie organised proprietors of the factor, he gets his share of any porfits earned by the pig. after allowance is made for interest ou the debt inctired by building the factory. What happen* in New Zealand? The animal is probably taken to >a sale by the farmer or his paid m.an, who wastes half a day in sidling it. and it is then purchased by a butcher, or middleman, who. being always at if. knows the value better that the fanner. There are

commission charges, yard fees. etc.. to be paid, and if the market is overstocked, then he has either to lake it: home or .sell it at m lower rate than the market really warrants. Thus we get in Denmark the organised farmer with his cooperative factory for bacon, 'butter, cheese, etc., whilst in New Zealand there is the fanner with his dealer, his auctioneer. his commission agents and stock agents, frozen meal buyers, and ci hundred and one nrdIfiueii. all of whom arc to lie seen at the country sale, and all of whom live out oi the produce Ironi the la rills. I 1 roni the profits of dealin;;' in New Zealand meat, oih; middleman stepped into the peerage of England and one other at least nb-

tained a baronetcy, A co-opera-tive lactory is established somewhat as iolloW s; W lien il is considered by the farmers of any district that ihey can support a ha.clory they burrow the neces-ary <-a))ital and LiuaraiU.ee tin' repayment in proportion to the number of pigs to be supplied by each as the case mav be. (11 some lactones all the inenibers are jointly and severally liable for ibe debt , it the lactory fails then

■ each guarantor must: pay accordingly. bill this lias not happened for many years in Denmark. The farmers get the market price for their produce as previously explained, and at the end of the year a portion ol the proiit goes to the redemption 0! the loan, so that, in the course ol iinie. the lactory becomes free ol ilcbf and the properly of the local suppliers. In 1!N)'.) tin' average value ol all the Danish co-operati ve dailies uas about, .L'l-V>(.) each, an<i their average debts i'SoO each, so the svsteui was sound enough iinan cially. .Much the same applies io the bacon factories, some of which h.i\e a ery small deiit.s. iaitd oiu* ui'lt' 1 :| 1 ali. There are ;i!i < n 11. II'OII ce"pi'ialuc daii'ies in Denmark with hiO.OiH) inenibers. and lorty bacon curing socieiies wiili about 1(1(1.U(l;i nieinbers, and llie-e variolic hodii , joined together in association; 10 enable all their produce to h • '"■arketed to the best advantage t 1 themselves and sold bv their ageut--111 London to the English merchant.-. I lie rosult is 11nat the middlem'i u t ; :irdlexists in Denmark. The voluntary efforts of individu :f . sell-organised on (lie mo.-t demoMatie ba-is, has enabh'd the larniert«> underiake tlie business of agri'•uliure as well as the lab of it. It lia.s been ,| (lllr M it!io;n State aid.

without ; 1 great expenditure oi'capilal. without law- IVanie-! hy l'ar!i>mont.. and without a revolution. The member* save money as consumers and nialce it as producers. •'" ' hes eai C "-'innlar soe!ofie> for buying wholesale ami disi rihui ing retail aniongsi the iiuMnbers.