FARMERS’ INTERESTS

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17282, 25 September 1916, Page 6

FARMERS’ INTERESTS

The prosperity of the No tv Zealand Farmers’ Co-operative Association, ns wo have had occasion' to say in past years, is a very true and. impressive index to tho state of the country, and tho fact that tho great institution came through last season so successfully is tho more noteworthy because the season, in Canterbury at nil events, was far from having been a favourable one. Tho truth of the matter is that tho prosperity of the province is so firmly and so broadly based that it readily survives tho shock of a single bad soason, and even a succession of dry years, while it would seriously curtail the earning capacity of tho primary industries, could not now, we believe, produce such a commercial and financial condition as existed, say, thirty years ago. Of course the Association as a trading concern wisely managed must take account of the fluctuations of the seasons, but the factors of which we are thinking just now axe not under the control of even tne wisest managers, and if tho countiy wero not extremely sound and if it did

lot possess the quality of resilience in a marked degree a bad year would bo bound to leavo its mark on the earnings of a great and representative concern. Tho development of tko association in recent years has been one of the most remarkablo features of our commercial history. Adopting a sound and progressive policy, it was certain to grow with tho population, of course, but it: has not been content ,with so slow a process, and the enterprise and eourago of its directors, the capncity if the management and tho faith of the shareholders themselves in their own business and their own country have brought an extraordinarily rapid expansion. Ono reason for this striking success—and it is by no means tho least important reason—is obvious when one reads tho address of tho chairman, delivered at tho annual meeting of the Association on Saturday. It is not merely an analysis of tho immediate business of the institution, but it is also a closely reasoned survey of the greater movements that affect tho interests 'of tho producers and of the whole community. Tho war has taught us many lessons, and men who a year or two ago would havo held up their hands in horror at. the baro idea of the State commandeering the wholo of the wheat grown in the country, talcing over tho output of meat or venturing into tho business of general shipowners are quite ready now to endorse Mr Pannctt's emphatic views on these questions. New Zealand, in the matter of its overseas trade, is largely at tho mercy of absentee shipowners. When the war is over tho position, as Mr Pannett clearly sees, may be full of peril for tho producers, and as a believer in the principle of co-operation he is prepared to advocate community ownership and control oven of a vast shipping business. In this very suggestive address Mr Pannett virtually invites tho people of tho Dominion, and especially tho primary producers, to rid their minds of old prejudices and to face the larger problems squarely. We shall havo to do some hard thinking before the end of the war, and as Governments are in tlio habit of looking to the people for a lead it will be necessary for tho pooplo to know what should bo done and even how it should bo clone. On the courage and clearsightedness of the community rather than of the Government of the day the future prosperity of the Dominion will largely depend; and in commonding Mr Pannett’s address to tho careful attention of our readers wo may add that the interests of the producers and of tho community in general will be safo if their leaders display the boldness and clearness of vision are here so evident.