CO-OPERATION AND HOME SEPARATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 291, 3 September 1910, Page 3

CO-OPERATION AND HOME SEPARATION.

Address by Mr Allen Bell. An interesting address on the subject of co-operation and home separation was delivered by Mr Allen Bell, of Hamilton, on Tuesday night in Hattaway's sample rooms, Te Kuiti. His Worship the Mayor (Mr James Boddie) presided, and in introducing the speaker, whilst reserving a free hand for himself, promised Mr Bell an attentive hearing from the audience < present. Mr Bell, in his opening remarks, ' referred to the importance of the subjects he was dealing with that : night and said it was necessary to go ' back 25 or 30 years to the period when j co-operative concerns were first started > in New Zealand, as the concerns of : those days being failures proved the ' greatest stumbling-blocks _ in the de- I velopment of co-operation to-day. ' Analysing the conditions, he showed i why the old companies have been un- ' successful. The improved means of communication between New Zealand and the Old Country, and the advent ■ of the freezer, had done more than i anything else to make co-operation 1 possible~to-day, while the fact that the 1 farmer had not had the necessary co- ' operative education in early days was i another reason why failure had been j struck then. A large number of co- : operative concerns were now educa- j ting the farmers and making them fit . to direct such enterprises and handle 1 the commercial end of those businesses. ; Going back to the time when the Far- - mers' Freezing Company was first ] started in Waikato, six and a-half j years ago, he spoke of the hard work ■ and uphill fight that had to be pursued ] in order to establish it, and three ' years ago the Farmers' Auctioneering ; Company. They would all recognise that these two concerns were amongst the most successful in New Zealand, and if they went out of existence to- < day the farmers would not lose a ■ penny, as they had already drawn in benefits and concessions more than the total amount of capital they had contributed. The Waikato co-operative idea was three and a-half years old, i but owing to the difficulty of getting < farmers to co-operate the scheme was only being brought into force, now in- ■ stead of three and a-half years ago. ' One of its branches was in connection with home separation. Farmers had I been approached, but it had been Impossible to get them to assist in home separation, owing to the attitude of < interested writers to the press declar- J ing what a hopeless mess home separation had proved to be. That night he ] came prepared with the practical results of twelve months' work and they would agree that home separation had < come to stay. It was the modern . method, and they must get the most out of it possible. Amongst other i statements in the press was one by_Mr Wesley Spragg that it was not possible : to produce first-grade butter by that ' method. They had absolutely proved 1 that they could turn out as high-grade. < butter as any factory in New Zealand. : Nearly 100 tons of butter had been shipped so far, from the Hamilton fac- ; tory, and out of that quantity, only 35 |: boxes were second-grade. He submitted that not another company in i New Zealand could show such a satis- . factory output for its first year's , working. The average price realised would have been higher, but for their losses by the grounding of the s.s. Kaipara. Other Waikato concerns had insured their butter for 130s a cwt., , whilst they had only insured for 120s. As it was, their butter sold at an average price of 115s on the London market. This absolutely refuted all the statements made against home separation. Last season had been one of the worst in the dairying industry experienced in the province. It had been a particularly hot and trying year and cream came in in all possible conditions. They got their supplies from near Te Kuiti, from Rotorua, by launch down the Waipa and by packhorses. Home separation was a system under which it was possible to turn out the finest grade butter and to pay 2d per lb more for butter-fat than the creamery system allowed. The average cost of the upkeep of creameries was just about £1 per cow. It was a very expensive system and would have to go by the board. AH the same, the creamery system had done a lot for New Zealand, but farmers must keep pace with competition and must adopt the best system they could devise. Home separation was that system. One of its advantages was the reduced cost of production in doing away with creameries. Another was the saving in expense in going to ar.d from the creameries. The average dairyman had a waggon and three horses and he was put to a heavy expense in addition, in the loss of a large part of a man's time, amounting to one third of a day for nine or ten months in the year. Under home separation, instead of a man carting ten cans of milk, he carted one can of cream and instead of a waggon and horses he used a pony. Apart from this,' it was not necessary to go every day' in the week. Three times_ in summer and twice a week in spring and autumn was sufficient. Then there was the difficulty of rearing j young stock. With the system of feeding young calves on factory milk they could not hope to breed robust cattle. Under home separation the calf received the milk fresh and pure and they could build up sturdy animals. He was speaking after an experience of 16 years. His people at home in Taranaki had two places, on one of which they separated their own cream and at the other they supplied a creamery. They found that calves realised from 8s to* 10s more with home separation than under the creamery system. That experience had been borne out in Waikato. Every year considerable losses were experienced through the conveyance of diseases in stock, and farmers in Taranaki realised and we were beginning to realise, that cream- : eries conveyed these diseases. Thousands of pounds had been lost to the farmers of Taranaki through mimitis alone. Another aspect of the ques-

tion was the cost of the upkeep of roads. They knew what enormous expense was entailed. Roads quite capable of carrying the traffic six orseven years -ago could not carry the j traffic to-day. In Taranaki there was ; metal almost everywhere ar.d they j were spending thousands, yet they j were finding it almost impossible to j keep the roads in good order. Dairy- j ing in the Auckland province was in j its infancy. With the advent of the j milking machine they were finding men going into it who would never have touched it under the old conditions and where one was at work now, they would find twenty fully occupied before many years. The milking machine had delivered the industry from its greatest objection: the uncertain supply of labour. With home separation they were only going to have ten per cent, of the traffic on roads. Last year they turned out 140 tons of butter, and paid suppliers lid per lb for butter-fat. TTiey would recognise that the price the farmer received was governed by the quantity the factory could handle. This year, instead of 140 tons, they expected to turn out 400 tons. They had over 5000 cows booked up to the present, and this was going to have its influence on the cost of production during the coming year. Despite the strenuous efforts made to prevent home separation getting a footing, nothing was going to stop it, and it would pay them handsomely to scrap creamery machinery and adopt that system. In Denmark, Australia and America home separation was growing in favour and had been in use for years. Mr Wesley Spragg had compared the prices obtained by the Byron Bay Company and by companies in NewZealand. The speaker wished to emphasise that it would never be possible to get the same prices in Australia they could get in New Zealand. The Byron Bay Company was operating in what was practically a tropical country. New Zealand wa3 the finest dairying country in the world. In Australia there were factories not working under home separation and the Byron Bay Company, dealing solely with home separated cream, topped the market in that continent. In Timaru three years ago there were 15 creameries. Last year there were three, and this year not a single creamery would open, though double the number of cows were being worked. The Timaru Company was turning out butter of the highest grade. Probably in the near future farmers round Te Kuiti would go in for dairying. Near Otorohanga many men were doing so now. The cost of sending cream to Hamilton factory was one fifth of a penny per lb of butter-fat and cans were returned clean, free. They had 500 cows in one district, 700 in another, and nearly 1000 30 miles from Auckland. Arrangements were made for one man to do the carting from each district. The system would give them help until they started a butter factory of their own. Six years ago, when he first saw the King Country, he had no idea of its possibilities. Changes were taking place quickly, and under this system of association in developing industry they would be able to launch out for themselves in a few years' time. Another branch of the industry the company intended to go in for was the production of bacon. At present the practice of the bacon companies was to make the price 3d or 3Jd per lb when pigs were plentiful, and 4d or 4Jd in April or May when farmers had none, to sell. Some years ago he had approached a Southern firm and invited them to come up to Waikato. That year they got 4d or 4Jd ? but since then the bacon companies had put their heads together and the prices went down again. If a good article was turned out it was a safe business to go into and if worked in conjunction with tha dairy factory, and the production of ice, they could minimise working expenses. Next year it was their aim to ship pork Home, and advance 4d per lb to owners. He thought this would place farmers in a position they had never occupied before. They were putting in machinery for the production of four tons of ice per week. It was one of the most profitable industries they could en- i gage in. If three tons per week were i turned out they could practically* pay all the working expenses of the dairy and the working expenses of all three industries would be enormously reduced. Another branch was the general store business. If they could get enough capital it would enable them to import direct themselves. They were not out to do damage to the small trader, but the wholesale houses in the cities, and thus effect an enormous saving. The only thing wanted was organisation, combination and cooperation, to do the whole thing. They proposed to send their butter and pork Home and instead of getting cash, get goods, buying at bed-rock prices and saving exchange. It would save the farmers thousands of pounds. The capital of the proposed company was £25,000. The nominal capital of Goodfellow, Ltd., was £15,000, and the actual value of the stock and plant was about £12.275. The increased capital would enable them to work the various schemes and within two years' j time he hoped to put before them a larger scheme he had in his mind's eye. The shares would be available on | easy terms. Every promise he had j made when advocating the Farmers' ; Freezing and the Farmers' Auctioneer! ing Co., had been carried out, and he. j thought that was an absolute guaran- ! tee that anything he put before them \ now was reputable. These companies ■ were preparing fanners for the extensive schemes of co-operation that were, coming in the future. The i scheme was not antagonistic to the i Farmers' Union, lie had been pro- | visional president of the Farmers' ; Union for the past three, years, he ■ would do nothing to prejudice it. The Farmers' Union was indenting and i wa? going to do a lot of good in sup- ; plying farmers in districts where the : Farmers' Auctioneering Co. did not • ; touch. The Farmers' Auctioneering • | Co. was indenting direct and could : supply iarmers at as low, or lower i prices as any other establishment in • New Zealand. The Farmers' Union

was not going to overlap with a company started by farmers themselves. The Waikato Co-operative Dairy and Stores, Ltd., had been in mind six and a-half years ago. but had not been started beeaut-e they had to go slow, lie was one of the ■?■', -congest of the Farmers' Union in thi3 province and one that was not going to prejudice it in the slightest degree. Mr Boddie asked what advantage the proposed company could offer to the man not able to pay cash?—MiBell said the advantages were naturally not so great. They were prepared to give a limited credit to suppliers of pork and cream, who would have a monthly account at cash rates. Long credits went hand in hand with big prices and traders doing a credit business must have big profits. Mr Pine asked ftow they could supply farmers who were not supplying cream, without clashing with the Farmers' Union?—Mr Bell said they were not clashing with either the Farmers' Union or the Farmers' Auctioneering Co. They were not dealing in manures or seeds. The company would supply stores, hardware, etc., and deal in butter, pork, bacon and ice. Mr Fine said that he could not sec how the scheme would avoid clashing with the Farmers' Union. The president of the local branch had stated that every point put before them that night could be covered by joining the Farmers' Union scheme.

Mr Boddie was delighted to hear of the absolute success of the home separation system, and no doubt they had reached a time when it was going to be not only satisfactory but indispensable. We had bad roads here, almost no roads, and he predicted that by this time next year a dairy company would be in operation and drawing its cream from districts where the creamery system would be absolutely impossible. Probably cream would go to Hamilton for the present, but he saw no reason why in the future',' it should go there, when they could deal with it at Te Kuiti. The bacon industry was a more difficult matter, but he saw no reason why a company dealing with butter should not deal with pigs. He had strenuously opposed co-operative store-keeping. He had lived right in the centre of a district where all classes of co-operative concerns dealing with the produce of the farmers had operated with marked success, but of the stores tried in Taranaki within the last 20 years every one, without exception, had gone to the bad. So. long as the farmer confined his operations to putting on the market his own productions, he was on safe and sound lines. With the exception of two or three co-operative stores all distributing business had failed in New Zealand. The company was entering the arena as out-and-out traders, but the Farmers' Union did not intend to do that, but to indent on absolutely cash lines. The company would not be of the slightest benefit to them, with the exception of the man who supplied butter. But he had no sympathy with dairymen getting monthly cheques, who should be able to pay cash anywhere. He readily accepted Mr Bell's statement that what he was doing was not intended to clash with the Farmers' Union. He asked why, if the cost of riming a creamery was £1 per cow, should the companies pay Jd or Jd per lb more than the home separation compnay does. Mr Bell said the difference was largely a question of the output. A small company, like that at Te Rau-a Moa, was eaten up with working expense?, and only paid BJd per lb. The comnanies in Waikato had all creameries, but of these the Cambirdge Dairy Co. bad only two or three, and it paid the highest price in the Auckland province. That company absolutely refused to erect any more creameries and the policy was a very wise one With increased pro-

duction the Waikato Co - operative Dairy would be able to pay at least £d a lb more for butter-fat in the coming season. Respecting co - operative stores, the chairman had largely answered himself, when he told them that three companies had been successful. The concerns in Canterbury and the Wairarapa were managed by farmers and surely they could get good men here. While it was impossible to get such men 20 years ago the numerous co-operative concerns now in existence were educating the men and making them capable of handling their own affairs. Was the middleamn doing it for the fun of the thing or for what he could make out of it? Surely the farmers were entitled to embark on those lines. Similar objections had been raised when starting the Farmers' Auctioneering Co. and the Farmers' Freezing Co. People did not believe they could be made a success Votes of thanks to Mr Bell for his "very able and interesting" address, and to the chairman for presiding concluded the meeting.