Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News THE LAND QUESTION AND DENMARK.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4447, 10 August 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

THE LAND QUESTION AND DENMARK.

This above all —to thine own eelfle true , ind it must follow as the night the day Thou const not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1909.

The land question now looms large in the speeches of the Hon. T. Mackenzie, the Hon. Dr. Findlay, the leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, and the Press. It is strange, however, that although all of these public men allude to the land policy in Denmark, not one of them give the faintest idea of what the people of Denmark are doing on the land. Nor docs the newspaper press of Auckland, although recent books on the organization of agriculture and on problems of to-day give much information.

The Danes afford British farmers an impressive object lesson, showing how to overcome difficulties and make the best of small freehold divisions of land. Overcoming the disastrous wars with France, and then with Prussia in 1866, when she lost her two fine provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, as well as surviving subsequent serious trade depressions, Denmark now shows the world what the sterling qualities of her people and the fertile qualities of her soil are worth. She has reclaimed marsh and moor lands, forest and scrub of over 5,000 square miles since her defeat by Prussia. Her triumph over natural and political difficulties and economic crises is due to the vigour of the people and the skill of her scientists. Her industries in eggs, dairying, bees, and live-stock are most encouraging to New Zealand farmers, many of whom are trying to live by intensive cultivation of small holdings. -A few years ago Denmark was in the hands of a mere handful of owners, and the farmers were in a deplorable condition. The area of the country is not ten million acres, and the population is about two and a half times that of New Zealand. Now there are 86,000 small holders of freeholds, and the law prevents 75,000 of them from being merged into large estates. The Danish exports of eggs, cheese, bacon, and beef, to great Britain alone, even five years ago, amounted to over fifteen million pounds sterling. Large proprietors have had by law to give place to small ones, and since the change the produce of the land is three times what it was, and it is still increasing. England,

1 where large buildings obtain, should ' take a leaf out of Denmark’s book, and New Zealand grumblers at the ( Government’s policy which breaks up large estates on giving fair compensation, should take note also. Socialists too, who want one mammoth landlord—the State—will do well to observe what the magic of contented freeholders on small farms can do. With her small farmerlandlords, Denmark affords one of the best arguments against the Socialist and single-tax propaganda now being carried on in New Zealand and AustraliaThe Danes have resorted with great advantage to co-operative dairying. There are no fewer than 1050 of such dairies in Denmark, with 148,000 members, owning 750,000 cows out of a total of 1,067,000 milch cows in the country. The sum spent in the erection and equipment of the dairies is over £1,500,000. The usual practice is for about 150 farmers in a particular district to raise, say, £1,200 by subscribing each £B, this sum being sufficient to provide a dairy which will deal with the milk of 850 cows. There are also societies for the sale of butter, and there aro Unions employing some 200 capable men to take tests of the milk on the farms of the members, so that the farmers are not absolutely at the mercy of the buyers. In Auckland, when eges are retailed at 2s per dozen, Waikato and other farmers sometimes get only Is dozen for eggs, but that could not obtain in Denmark. The Danes also have their cooperative bacon factories, and in ten years the value of the products went up from £561,000 to £2,500,000 and was solely in the co-operative factories. They have a membership of 65,800. The Danes deal equally well in their co-operative egg industry. The lesson for New Zealanders is, unity of object, effort, and purpose. Self-reliance and honest and fair co-operation would work wonders in the farming communities of this Dominion. The success of the Te Aroha Dairy Company, which held its annual fmeetlng last Monday, is an illustration of what we have said. We congratulate the Company on the steady advance made throughout the year, and we venture to predict that it is only at the beginning of a prosperous career which will prove advantageous and encouraging not only to the shareholders, but to the whole community.