FARMERS' REMEDIES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 279, 7 July 1888, Page 6

FARMERS' REMEDIES.

The following article upon the present position of the Agricultural industry in Great Britain .appeared in a recent number of the Nonconformist, a newspaper of very wide circulation and influence in England : — " Of the various economic questions which perplex social observers at the present time, none is more pressing than that which is heard on every si ie : How is the business of the farmer to be carried on ? The agricultural interest represents one-fourth of the entire capital of the United Kingdom, and far exceeds any other single interest in importance. For it to remain stagnant amidst the even moderate prosperity of other interests, would be a national calamity and a cause of ruinous social disorganisation. Proposals for restoring agriculture to such prosperity as many of us can remember are not wanting — some of them good as far as they go, but inadequate. The additional security given to the capital of the tenant by recent legislation was a piece of justice too long delayed, and the removal of restrictions upon ownership was a wise measure. Nevertheless, farming remains unprofitable, and must continue until the cultivator gets better prices for his produce. This seems to be the absolute condition of prosperity. During the last few years there has been a great outcry for a renewal of protective duties on grain ; but. it may be hoped that what has already passed in the present Parliament will put an end to all delusion in the matter. The enactment of the Corn Law of 1815 was followed by a great deal of disturbance — the military were called out, and five persons were hanged. In 1842 there were serious insurrections caused by scarcity of work, low wages, and food afc liigh prices, and these had to be put down by military force. Those times would not be permitted to return. Cheap food is of vital importance to the nation at large, and we shall continue to buy our wheat in the cheapest market. It is to these unalterable conditions that the farming interest has to adapt itself. How is it to do so? "Oneway in which this may be done, without the embarrassinp'aid of the Legislature, and with a certainty of success conesponding to the effort, was explained a few days ago at the annual meeting of the Farmers' Alliance by the well-known agricultural authority, Mr W. E. Bear, in a paper on 1 The Farmer's Share in His Produce.' Of late the excessive influx of agricultural labourers Into our cities has drawn towards that class a portion of the solicitude felt for their employers ; but with better times for farmers there would be an improvement in the position of labourers. Now, it must be very evident that in their present; situation, j having to contend with unprecedented competition, farmers must not be weighted with any superfluous load. Yer, as Mr Bear points out, they are so. Under existing arrangements they are keeping, be-ides their landlord?, who have a large stake in their industry, vast numbers of unnecessary middlemen, who live out of the producers. These persons are the distributors of the produce, and of the-u it is affirmed that the sums they levy upon the farmer are out of all proportion to any service which it is possible for them to render. ' Every one of these classes who is not neces«ary a<* a distributor is as much a burden upon his fellow-men as if he were a pauper, or, rather, as a score o>* more of paupers, according to his style of living.' We must not reproduce the array of figures by which Mr Bear makes good this position, and which are given in considerable detail under the heads of corn crops, green crops, meat, dairy produce, and so on ; but may &tate generally that while £16,000,000 represents the farmers- share, middlemen get no less than £119,000,000 extra. Now, if this latter sum represented the fair remuneration of nectssary service, there would he no more to be said. But who can believe it V The position of the middleman ha-« of late been much scanned in all the greatconcentrnted depai tments of commerce and a sharp line has been drawn between what is merely customary and traditional, and that which can justify itself on the score of utility. But now, as to farm produce, every intelligent householder knows that the retail price of the quartern loaf the joiiitof meat, or thequartof milk bears no true and fair relation to the sum which the producer gets for 'hese ;it tides, and the same is true all I'ound. One man ploughs, sows, and reaps, and another, with a minimum of exerti n, walks i>ff with a large share of the harveut. Mr Bear doubts whether farmers have averaged more than a shilling a pound for butter during the hist three yeai'a. as vast quantities have been sold at sixpence a <d sevenpence in Ireland and a good deal at sevenpence and eightpence in England ; but the retaileis' average he puts atone shilling and fnurpenco— a low sum, except in summer. On poultry, pigeons, and eggs he says we may safely put fifty per cent, as margin between what is paid to the farmer and what is charged to the consumer. For the suburbs* of London he would make the difference one hundred per cent. " The question now arise?, How is thi-» disparity to be got rid of, and the farmer to be righted? Mr Bear's remedy is selfhelp, and one of the most hopeful means attaining the end is co-operative selling. He adds co-operation buying, but upon that hide the subject we will not now enter. His conviction is that ir farmers would co-opeiate to sell their own produce to consumers as far as possible, they would find the retailing branch of the business far more profitable than the productive. The remark we should be disposed to make from the point of view of neutral observation is that this might well take place in the case of farmers cultivating near great .towns, where a large sale could be confidently relied on. In small towns the business of a distributor is one demanding knowledge and judgment to guard against loss from unsold stock. In the great centres of population it would be almost automatic ; everything could be cleared off by a salesman who simply knew what he had to selland what the publicwanted to buy. The co-operative selling of farm produce has

been, to some extent, prejudiced in the eyes j of townsfolk by the petty and, it muat be said, unseemly form in which it has too often met the eye. Undertaken with spirit and with all proper conveniences, it would be sure of success. It should be observed, however, that many of the shops opened as • Farmers' Meat Supply Associations ' are merely thead ventures of speculators trading under a false name. Mr Bear mentions one genuine concern at Warnngton \vhich is a complete success. Even however in small towns the system may be made to work, although not with so much precision as in large cities. Mr Bear adduces the experience of the Hon. John Bateman, who has established a shopatßrightlingsea, in Essex, for selling the farm pioduce grown by himself and others to consumers. Ho makes on an average 30s for every bullock, 5s for every pheop, 2s 6d for every pig, and 3d for every gallon of milk more than he could obtain if he did not sell by retail ; and this is in a very small country town, where farm produce is cheap. The whole cost of starting the business, including that of the land, buildings, fittings, horses, carte, and so on, was only £917. " There is no doubt that in this direction is to be found one of the means for restoring a portion of lost agricultural prosperity. The hundreds of thousands and evpn mil lions, of population concentrated upon a limited and accessible area, and buying for ready money, is an advantage to the cultivator far and away greater than anything which the most extravagant ' protection " could give him. The chief difficulty of applying this remedy is that f-irmeit?, as a rule, are not a co-operative class. Gregarious at markets, they do not, for the most part, unite as other classes are prepared to do in plans requiring mutual confidence, patience, and perseverance. But this is a matter of habit, and as we are all just now under the somewhat severe discipline of circumstances, and are likely to remain so, ire may not despair of a change of opinion and feeling even in the least innovating class of the community/