LESSONS IN CO-OPERATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 344, 21 March 1910, Page 4

LESSONS IN CO-OPERATION.

The Danes have thoroughly demonstrated the value of co-operation of farmers, and have brought their country to the forefront in production. Referring to the development of co-operation in Denmark a contemporary says:—lt has been said of recent years that the country has become a huge machine, at one end of which you put in co-ojt-of-ation and at tlie other you get—butter, eggs and bacon. Co-operation, minutely Subdivided and highly differentiated follows the very seed, through every stage of its evolution, until it reappears as a particle of the marKetable product. The seed must have soil to grow in, and there are co-operative credit associations, which enable large or small farmers to buy the land the? till. If the land is' wet, large districts are drained by co-operation, and recently large tracts of waste land have been reclaimed in this manner. Other cooperative societies specialise in supplying seeds, manures and implements, while others run experimental farms where seeds and manures are tested. A society supplies the farmer with st«ara tackle, another with scientific advice concerning his soil, and the most suitable crops to grow, and still another with a High School where technical education is procurable for his sons.' and daughters. The farmer may borrow money from one society to buy more cows, and obtain fodder through 1 other. The "cattle improvement soci-1 ety" advises him a,s to the best kind of animals to buy, and "control societies" tell ihiim the most suitable foods to obtain the larpst amount of rich milk and how to improve his herd by euiling—the milk records being kept by this society. A co-operative society of dairy. managers exists for mutual instruction, and theTe fs a co-operative butter exhibition the year round. Pig breeding

societies tell what kind of pigs to buy and breed, and bow to keep and feed them. Co-operative slaughter houses take all the fat pigs, dealing also wiui all the bv-products, and co-operation has secured legislation "which has practically stamped out pig diseases. In cases of cfiseas'e the society experts are always available to give advice and assistance. Nor does the system stop here. There are agricultural labourers' societies which extend to gardening, fruit and flower growing, bee-keeping and other smaller industries. There are over twenty of these societies, with a membership exceeding 15,000. Their aim is to open continually fresh sources of employment, so that they may be able to save the "one-tenth," ■which will (procure for them the one goal of their ambition—ownership. If once a labourer can put down one-tenth of the purchase money of a holding he knows that he can easily borrow the other ninetenths', and "that with the aid of cooperation "his fortune is.made." All these societies are grouped together, according to their objects in district societies, and from these again are formed the great controlling societies. The relations between them are intimate, and their principle is "One for all and all for onfe."