Cooperative Butter Factories.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, Volume 1, Issue 25, 13 September 1901, Page 3

Cooperative Butter Factories.

.on-, —T^lu3 dissatisfaction among can1 daily farmers wtho do not belong to the co-operative factories is inc.. easing jand it cannot l>e too often j>ointed out ;.that tl.ie jeinpdy is in their own hands. It should l)e plain enough that they ipay for the building, equipment and ! working- of all faetori a, co-operative |ur j rp{/notary alike, only in one cas« (they get the profits and "in the other jthey 'do not, A most instructive article I on. this subject appeared under Coinjinent* in "The Leader" of the 25th, |of May last, in wly'eh was shown the j annual proportions of profits to the 'capital embarked in co-operative factjoiies in the most, conclusive manner j possible. AVarnamhool Factory, with its capital of £;^B7, returnod i'or tho | previous six inontli.s' net ]n-bfits |amounting-to £'4317. Here we have lan institution properly managed, i.oturnir f g actually over tlie capital I embarked, so that the shareholding [suppliers have thei? facto'iy clear of cost <md the addij; on qf qyer 1 \ per cent qf pro lit on their gapital or to put it Another way, 111 per cent re^ turn on their outlay for ' sis nionths' opwa'ions; and yet this factory jiai > its shareholding ,snp])lie!S in tlie tirsl place the highest prices for tlj.eir njilk. j.an I this •will be very muelj. iiic,refis.«d iby the division .of profits at the end of the ypar. Purnhanij Grlenpriniston and Cfllac closely approach th.c !=fj.me results, showing that the Warnambp.:ol is not pile isolated instance, anxl tlie whole twenty one factories quoted ;(atd SQnie of them arc purely cream ![iurcha,sers, no milk being brpught to tlu in, as they are .situated in. the "hill country of South. Grip'p.slarid) return y. i profit to the farming investors that no 'other kind of investment approaches. 'The factories naiiieil above are in tlje I Westei j.i district, bu£ t]jp remainder iof tlie twenty one .ai'e .distributed over every pprtiop. pftJi.e State where dairy* ing is carried on —;Kongwak: ; capital £771, net profits £60,8 for six months;

Glengarry, caji al £; jOO, net profits £3GO for six months, one instance in the GippslanjJ Hill Forest .and othpr Gippsl md country, These small, iftexpensive factories are more suitable to the forest countries, Poowong like Tvongwak, is in the very heart of tlie hill forest country, "where the difficulties of transport preclude any extensive milk .supplies; consequently the homo separator is of necessity the sole sys= tern, AVitli a capital of £.2035 net protits are £922 on the resu'ts for six months, There they are, and.the total capital invested in these 21 companies (" which are by no means the Avhole we have, nor are they selected particularly on ace Aint of their position, hut just as fail' samples of the whole") is £53,981, the net profits half yearly being £19,301, the yearly balance .sheets of the remainder £7238 (for some of the returns are for yearly profits). Taking half the yearly wo Liyo| £22,920 as the resulting net profits for six months—' 4A- per cent, of the total capital invested for the half year ovdy. Putting it straight to our farmers, it means that if the suppliers of these Co-operative factories were supplying proprietary companies they would be handing this £22,920 over lo them, and in some instances'paying for the building of the factories every year. It is marvellous with such a plain statement of affairs that -any farmer .should think of supplying a proprietary factory. If a farmer were asked t» take some of the' profits of his labors and put them into a cc;operative venture, colorable reason might bo found for refraining, but this is not the case. All. he is required to do is to put into the co-operative venture what he now gives the proprietary factories, and it is plainly evident from the figures above quoted that he requires to do this for onlyi two years at the outside, while at the same time he will receive in ly as much, if not more, return for his lab-] ors than he does at present, that is oi'j net returns for his produce. As soon! as the factory is paid for, they divide! the whole of the profits among themselves, besides having the factory and appliances to the good. ! Strange that men Avho are keen 'enough in all other transactions should display such an obliquity of vision in this. Hundreds of thousands ofj 'pounds are yearly hnndedjover* Avith-j out. a murmur as regards this partic-j ■ ular money, "What some grumble atj is the Aveight discrepancies, butter vusults, deficiencies and low prices. lie never thinks of other amounts he squanders, because he will not take '(lie money he gives away at present and build bis own factories, and thus give himself all the profit his produce realises. Figures prove clearly that what he grumbles at now as a Lss i- • ■ but a trifle to what he loses by his own want of perception of the advant-j ages of co-o L eration. j i Then again, the results of the Co-1 ■.operative Butter Companies' Associat-i ion for the dispo.al of the produce, al- • though only one year in action, and! •under great difficulties owing to the ■ supineness of most of the factories in : grasping the advantages, shows fore- . ibly the advantages -of the eo-operat-j . ive principle. The progress of this as-j i sociation is fraught with advantages! fto every factory in the -State, whether! belonging in the first place, to the! ■ company or not; also to the farmers! ]■ themselves, because it caused an mi J mediate reduction of charges among ijthe commercial distributors and agentsJ .all round. : I Avould urge upon my fellow dairy farmers to ponder over this mn^ jo-arefully, bearing in mind they ar« loot required to diminish ilieir p-rese.nl I|incomes from H'-qiplymg proprietary fi companies, but w> take Avi>st fhe.y iiow giva them to b-uUd -a&d <^[! uij> f-ac-tories.

for themselves, keeping the whole bus-j mess in their own hands, If tl|e working expensos of the the factories re- | quired to bo deducted out of the £22,'} 920, it would give another complexion to the matter, but this amount is actually net profits, after deducting all ex-| ponses. That sum, therefore, under the proprietary system, as regards the farmer who supports the private factories, is unaccounted for leakage, and represents the profits to the propriet-i avj company over and above working' expenses. —Yours, &c,, '

( 'o-overative Dairy Ear.mek Korumburra, 27th. July.