South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2373, 25 October 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1880.

The prospectus of the South Canterbury Farmers’ Co-operative Association has, within the past few clays, been widely distributed over South Canterbury, and it has also been generally discussed. The objects of this movement have also been enlarged upon by the mouthpiece of the promoters, Mr Win. Bateman, of Christchurch, who has delivered a series of lectures in different parts of the district. In these lectures the advantages of co-operation have been clearly and concisely shown. To-morrow evening the concluding address of the series will be delivered in Timarn. It will then remain for the farmers of the district, if they have been sufficiently impressed with the practicability and advantages of the scheme submitted, to testify their confidence by giving the movement a substantial shape. If we understand aright the disposition of the originators, their attitude is simply a defensive one. It is out of no spirit of hostility to commercial, shipping,, or monetary interests, as they exist in our midst, that they have taken up the cause of the class in whoso prosperity they are intimately concerned. Many farmers during the past two or three years have suffered, in spite of prolific crops, through glutted local markets, heavy freights and the want of reasonable facilities for realising on the products. Handicapped in a variety of ways they have been compelled to sell in the cheapest and buy in the dearest markets. The loss sustained through the decadence of agricultural pursuits has not been confined to the farmer ; it has in every sense of the term been a loss to the community. When farmers, to use a familiar expression, are hard up, every other industrial interest suffers. The draper finds his takings diminished, the storekeeper, baker, and butcher have their receipts reduced, the shoemaker, the blacksmith, and the carpenter all discover that tlieir labour is no longer in brisk request. We arc not attaching any undue importance to farming in Canterbury when we say that nearly every other branch of business hinges upon the prosperity of the growers of wheat, oats and barley. It is evident that any movement which is likely to benefit the farmers of the district must necessarily benefit the whole community. This being the case the project about to he floated demands the most serious consideration. The success of a Farmer’s Association will undoubtedly depend primarily upon careful and' judicious management. It may contain the germs of much usefulness, but without caution, forethought, sound judgment and the exercise of a rigid economy these germs may he killed before they have taken root, and a movement which should have operated like a charm on agriculture may thus he delayed. One of the first things for the farmers of the district to consider is this :—Have they implicit confidence in the sincerity and integrity of the promoters ? If they have, then it is their duty to displaj' no apathy in a matter that concerns tlieir individual interests, hut to rally round the standard of ‘‘ Co-operation ” and gave its advocates their substantial support. We are glad to observe that so far the promoters of the movement have abstained from any declaration of war against vested interests. Instead of declaiming against shipping or mercantile combinations they have set themselves steadily to proclaim a new path for agricultural enterprise. The object of this association is not to oppose any mercantile or other interest. Its operations are to be constructive, not destructive. The movement has a true practical ring about it. It lias emanated with farmers, and it is intended to be co-operative in every sense of the term. The farmers of Canterbury are asked to form themselves into a powerful combination with the object of doing for themselves what they have hitherto entrusted others to do for them. They arc asked to do what a child lias to attempt when it begins to feel its weight under it—to walk alone. Hitherto they have been handicapped' with crutches and leading strings, and the time has come to cast them aside and make an effort to stand upright. Will they succeed? That, we submit, rests entirely with themselves. If they support the Association the Association will undoubtedly return the compliment. The members are not asked to embark in a doubtful speculation, hut in a certainty, A Farmers’ Co-operative Association, properly managed, is |not a gold mine. It is as safe an investment as the Bank of England. Its aim is to compress and unite forces that arc at present severely divided and weakened. There is no reason why the farmers of Canterbury should continue to he milch kine for shipping companies and mercantile combinations. It is surely enough for them to he at the mercy of the weather and the seasons without being at the mercy of all kinds of commercial cliques. If the farmers of Canterbury co-operate there is no reason why they should not he ahla to charter tlieir own vessels, and in time to own a fleet of tlieir own. It is only by organising in this way that the farmers of New Zealand can hope to hold their own against the competition of America and the Australian colonies where Fanners’ Clubs and Associations are already established. We sincerely trust that the farmers of South Canterbury will give this project tlieir earnest consideration, believing that if they do so thej' wifi bequeath it tlieir utmost support. Of one thing they may feel satisfied that in forming a co-opeiative union they are not incurring a serious pecuniary risk. The money they invest, will prove but seed scattered on a fruitful soil, with proper maiiuagemcnt yielding a magnificent harvest. The fanners of the district have now had the objects of the promoters fully discussed, and if they believe that Canterbury is as ripe for a co-operative organisation as the graingrowing districts of Australia and America then let them invest liberally in the full confidence that what money they sink will prove eminently reproductive.