WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 January 1929, Page 3

WELLINGTON NEWS

CO-OPERATION AND SELLING POOLS.

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, Jan. 28

Co-operation of consumers has achieved remarkable success as is attested by the Co-operative Wholesale Society of England. The capital of these concerns is of course found by the members, and strange as it may appear the members are not so keen to receive big dividends as they are to receive big bonuses on their weekly purchases. In New Zealand we appear to have organised co-operative trading companies on wrong principles, and it is feared that the management has not been equal to controlling such businesses whatever may he the position now. On 'the other side of co-oporation, that is co-oper-ation for selling voluntary co-operation is not known in New Zealand. The view here seems to Be that any movement for co-operative selling must* be compulsory, and compulsion is only possible through Government interference and control. It is this idea, which is a fallacy, that has given us the Aleat Control Board and the Dairy Control Board with their drastic powers over the property of the individual • then we have fruit control, honey control and kauri gum control, and the sawrnillers wanted an efficiency board set up by the Government with Government representation and control and a battalion of inspectors; even the wool brokers must have a Wool Committee with a Government representative and under Government control to regulate the quantities of wool to be offered at the sales in January, February and March. This dependence on Government interference and control is an indication of business incapacity and an utter absence of the spirit of co-operation. Voluntary co-operation is infinitely better than compulsory co-operation. It works more smoothly and gives better results. AVe have an example of successful co-operation in the Canadian Wheat Pool. For several years after the war the Canadian Government through the agency of the Canada Wheat Board controlled the wheat market of Canada. Grain prices became very high and in the autumn of 1920 wheat was about 13s 4d a bushel in Winnipeg. By the autumn of 1923 the price had fallen to below os per bushel. Under the circumstances farmers made strong efforts to get the Government Wheat Board re-estabiisiled as a permanent- institution. hut these failed, the Governmentconsidering it unwise to interfere in what was essentially a trade problem, and one for those interested to solve. No doubt the Canadian wheat growers arc now glad that they were foiced to seek out a solution for themselves. When the Government AVlieat Board could not be re-established a campaign was launched for a voluntary pool, and out of this came the voluntary con-' tract wheat pool. To-day the largest single business in- Canada is that of the Canadian Wheat Pool owned, controlled and directed bv the Canadian farmers. There are four provincial wheat pools, three in the AVestern province, and one in the province ol Ontario. The Prince of AVales, who owns a farm in Alberta is a member of the Alberta Wheat Pool. The three western pools are linked together in one central agency, which is a subsidiary of the throe pools and is owned and controlled by them. The three western pools have a combined membership of about 140,000 farmers, and maintain elaborate organisations, operating through a net work of local committees covering all parts of the three provincial provinces. The official title of the Central Agency, which has its headquarters in AVinnipeg, is “Canadian Co-operative AA’hcat Producers, Ltd.,” but more popularly known as the AVheat Pool. I lie capital of the company is £30,000, and during the last fiscal year its turnover amounted to about £64,800,000 gross. Five years ago the pool was merely a marketing theory in the minds of the farmers of AVestern Canada. .To-day it is one of the main factors in the grain marketing system of Canada. The members of the provincial pools enter into a contract which binds the farmer to deliver to the pool duiing the term of the contract all wheat grown by him except registered seed wheat. These contracts cover a period of fivo years, and the first period of five years expiied on August 31 last during which period the pool marketed approximately 760,000,000 bushels of grain with a total turnover in money exceeding £220,000,000. Furthermore during the period the three provincial pools have accumulated through elevator and commercial reserves over £4,000,000, and they now operate 1400 country elevators with a total capacity of 50,000.000 bushels, and they also own terminal elevators vjith a total capacity of nearly 35.000,000 bushels. In addition to its important work in connection with marketing the pool encourages the western farmers to grow the most desirable grains. The farmer when he delivers his wheat to the pool receives an advance and later received the average price per bushel 'realised by the pool for the reason on sales of wheat of the same quality.