CO-OPERATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 36, 10 February 1872, Page 4

CO-OPERATION.

(From the Southern Cross.) " Co-operation " is unquestionably making advances, and it will advance according as education and intelligence become diffused among the masses of the people. It is the most profitable direction to which combination among the working and artizan classes can tend, and it is free from those objectionable features that have made strikes . so disastrous to both employers and employed. By the system of co-operative societies alone can the thews and sinews of the handicraftsman place him to some extent on the same platform with the capitalist, and the pence of the poor purchase advantages which are generally regarded as belonging exclusively to wealth. There are circumstances indeed in which such societies are not required; and when legitimate competition reduces the prices of goods or the profits of industry to a minimum, there may not much benefit accrue from grouping the pence of the poor or the labor of the many into co-operative effort. We do nut assert that co-operation is absolutely required in the circumstances of our towns and cities ; but the success that has attended the co-operative society at Whangarei, during the short period of existence of a co-operative society and store in that place, proves how admirably the system is adapted to the circumstances of many of our country districts. From the 3rd of October to the 16th of last month, or little over three months, the profits to the members from the operations of this co-operative store bave amounted to IS per cent, on the invested capital, although the selling prices to members had been considerably reduced below the prices heretofore , ruling in the district. As an illustration also of the manner in which the same principle may be extended to manufactures, we find a remarkable instance of what co-operation achieved in Paris : — " In 1848, at Paris, " 14 working pianoforte-makers clubbed together £80 for the purchase of tools and materials, but they had no working capital. By dint of clever contrivances they raised for this purpose a trifle under £10. They worked hard and steadily for two months, not touching a farthing as wages. Sympathising workmen in employment elsewhere, who were intently watching the movement, assisted them individually, and kept Jtheir households going, though often on less than half rations. With the proceeds of their first sale, they paid their debts, and then divided a small dividend, reserving 32 sous, or Is. 4d., per man, for a fraternal repast, for . they and their families had not tasted wine for a year. For a month longer they contented themselves with drawing five francs per man per week. Then : >g'rad_aily they commenced to surmount their obstacles and

privations, but they did not take all they earned as a co-operative company, in wages. They drew as little as they could, and permitted the remainder to go to the capital fund. In 1850 their number had increased to thirty two. Large workshops rented for 2000- francs per annum were no longer large enough for their business. They had 40,000 francs to their credit against 6000 francs liabilities, and they had as many as seventy-six pianos under construction. Two years later the circulating capital of the concern was 56,000 francs." In these efforts at cooperation there are various circumstances that contribute to success. Each member or worker, as tbe case may be, is personally interested in the success of the scheme, and will manifest that interest in a way that could not be elicited by mere mercenary motives. But there is one element pervading all such co-operative efforts that contributes more than all others to success, and which is specially deserving of attention, from the fact that its great advantages are not exclusively the result of co-operation, but are within the reach of ordinary trading. Iv the principle of cash, and only cash payments, the main value of co-operation appears to consist. In the Whangarei Society's report we read : " They have strictly adhered to the rule of purchasing everything for cash, and selling only on the same terras." The necessities of the system, which relies on persons of limited means for support, compel this, but this feature thus forced on the system by necessity becomes its vital principle, and generally ensures its success. We observe that, recently, in the capital of Queensland, a " Co-operative Baking Society " has been established and has produced a feeling of consternation among the bakers of the city. It appears to have been originated mainly in consequence of abuses of the credit system, which from the extent of losses habitually sustained, compelled the adulteration and tbe raising the price of bread to such an extent as to call loudly for reform. The price at which bread can be produced by the young society by a system of exclusively cash purchases of material and cash sales of bread is such as to threaten to compel the adoption of the cash system on the part of all the bakers in the city. In presenting these illustrations, we do not urge the necessity for the formation of a co-operative society or a co-operative store in the city. But the elements of success in the system are deserving of consideration, from the influence which this cash system has in lessening the cost of articles to the general community. Under the credit system of trading so rampant in the city, the man who pays for his goods pays also for the losses sustained through others ; and this system has not merely the effect of producing loose and extravagant expenditure in living on the part of those who use and subsequently abuse the credit system, but has tbe practical and tangible effect of raising the cost of living to the whole community. If cash trading could onlybe introduced by the establishment of a cooperative society, then a co-operative society would be a public boon ; but we do not hesitate to say that it is quite in the power of our retail traders,, by the formation . of a society or league, or even by a mutual understanding, to confer all the maiu advantages of a co-operative society, by suppresing credit, and establishing trade on such a basis that the honest purchaser may only have to pay for the goods which he himself consumes. , >v

Thirty clerks in the Treasury Department at Washington are enjoying trips to Europe at the expense of the country. A New York paper complains that "France is imitating us in the matter of railway slaughters." Spiteful. — An old bachelor writes thus, in his spite, commenting on a recent moonlight night : — " We left our sanctum at midnight last night, and on our way home we saw a young lady and gentleman holding 3, gate on its hinges. They were evidently indignant at being kept out so late, as we saw them bite each other several times."