MARKETING OUR PRODUCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 June 1920, Page 2

MARKETING OUR PRODUCE.

To the Editor. Sir,—ln common with hundreds of others have been waiting to hear something deflate regarding the proposal of dlstributinp mi- produce through the big Co-op. of Engmd. We have but little information througl lie Press, and that little goes no way tovards giving us. an opportunity of considering lie subject. There's too- much supposition ;o far, as to the benefits or otherwise of tl« iroposal—that is, if the Information, as discussed in your columns, is anything to g< 11. I have for years periodically througl our columns advocated that some mean! ihould he devised by the producers to obIterate the . vast number of parasites llvng on them as shown by the brokers, th< ommission agents, the distributing merchants 'tc, which the present Systran has brough nto being, and any schemo that can brini is clnscr to the consumer of the Old Lane .hould bo welcomed. Now quite-recently Mr ilnxwell in your columns tries to throw coll voter on the scheme whereby the producer: if N.Z. would deal almost direct with th< consumer, and I take exception to the state nent that the C.W.S. is purely a co-operativ. lUylng concern. The Society was originate! n 18G4 by individuals suffering as the faran ?rs of New Zealand do now (by the exces live charges of persons and concerns the: could do without), and, after hoart-breakini itruggles for many years, has evolved Into Ihi iresent gigantic concern—and, all workers til consumers, whom we want to reach withou .ho medium of the parasitical crowd! Wi aimers want the materials manufactured b; :hc C.W.S. They want our raw product: md our food products, and It should go with nit saying that, dealing direct with the ar Izans in their several brunches* of lndustr; md being co-partners with them under tin >o-operatlvo system, should be of rautua .'cneflt. With regard to the discrepancy o neinbership as quoted by Mr. 51., I presume lie booklet quoted from was prmtea nefon he amalgamation of the trades unionists am lie labor organisation, which, per cable, tool ilace In February or March last, I think However, I have no wish to question tha' me way or the other, and in fact It doesn' nuoh matter. What I want to know is: 1: lie dairy farmer willing to still continue ti jarry the load which he has to under tin present system, or Is he going to try wha [ consider the only means whereby he cai ;et the full, value of his efforts? Ho surel: mows how lie Is treated—whether his produc s sold In New Zealand or consigned. Hi mrely recognises that he is at the mercy o he "poolers" and the "ringers". no matte ivhat he tried In tho past. The C.W.S. I, 'ar from being simply a co-operative buylni :oncern. Almost everything the farmer nov imports from England or America Is maim 'actured under co-operation by this huge So ■lety. It owns flour uills, food factories joot works, textile mills, soap works, print ing works, clothing factories, farm em fruit lands, coal mines, pea plantations' tin I'late works, biscuit works, confectioner; manufacture, corset, hosiery, and bnske ivorks, furniture and brush making, etc, am finite recently they acquired the works fo making motor cars. In order to obtain sack it the minimum of cost for Its shareholders it established works In India so as to den ilirect with the Jute grasses; it made ar rangements with the farmers of Rhodosin fo the whole of their maize crop; it has Its owi timber area in Canada, and quite recently again, it has entered Into the trawling liusl ness, and co-operators can have meals o fried fish or their own fish In co-op.-ownei fish-shops. All the articles made by th factories naoned are needed by the farmer of New Zealand, and surely there's goflng t be a marked benefit' to us In Joining hand with the producers of such. With regan to the farms acquired for producing mill; etc, I can supply situation, area and prlci paid and date of purchase to- any Interestei person; also the situation of any of the fac lories named and the nature of the busines done yearly, and in every Instance a succes lias been made. Why* Because these peo pie know and understand what co-opera.tloi la and the value of It. The fanners o New Zealand do not know what It Is ye! and there Is no need to emphasise that con tentlon. Tho way they support their co operative concerns (bacon, dairy and other is quite evidence enough. When Mr. M puts tho tag of Socialism to the efforts o the people to lift the yoke of exploitatioi it simply proves that he doesn't know /wha Socialism stands for, and also shows that ii common with too large a number of New Zea landers he has neglected to keep hi toucl with the world's movement of the worker to show that the old style of economics ar out of date. If they do uso the saying "We, we the workers of the world," are no the farmers of Taranakl workers' also? do not include in that those who fa run th farmers, understand. Are the farmers ahray going to bo shut-eyed to the way they an humbugged, politically and otherwise? Whe: In New Zealand there are something bctweei forty and fifty thousand farmers of al classes, and that number produce the where withal everyone else In the Dominion lives it's time they took a hand in reducing th cost of living to a minimum, and I cnalntaii It Is only through true co-operation that 1 will be brought about, and from what little can gather of the C.W.S. proposal I believi that that Is the means to bring it about. Tin workers of the factory and the workers of th. farm can with mutual benefit co-operate. Win has In the past been hindered by all means pos slble that amalgamation? Who stands to los< If it comes about? There is only one answertlioso who In no way produce!—l am, etc., , JOE B. StMPSON. Maketawa, June 20, 1920.

dependence and disinterestedness is alien to the University is significant. It is the monopoly apparently of a group of which further details are anxiously awaited. Meanwhile the attributing of questionable motives to those whose only apparent offence ia to differ from Mr. Fitzherbert—for whom, by the way, I hold no personal brief—might surely have been supported,by moTo convincing evidence than he has produced.—l am, etc ,

DOUGLAS SKYMOUR. Hawera, June 24, 1920.