THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1910. AN OBJECT LESSON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10081, 31 August 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1910. AN OBJECT LESSON.

Denmark, which is New Zealand's most formidable rival in the dairy industry, possesses many features so remarkable that they are worthy of* more than passing comment. It is essentially a farmer State, and possesses a farmer Parliament and a far- \ mer Ministry. The legislation of the country, unlike that of New Zealand, is designed to encourage the farmer. The Danish peasant is the direct antithesis of the English peasant who wants to be ruled by a lord. The State of Denmark, in short, is a peasant democracy. Its ruling class is j the small farmer possessing from forty to sixty acres of land, and with an outlook on life that is exclusively agricultural. How entirely successful these peasant farmers of Denmark have been is set forth in a most illuminating article by ! Frederis C. • Howe in the "Outlook" of New | York." The facts which he gives constitute an object lesson to our own country in thrift and co-operation. | "The land," says Mr Howe, "is far from rich, the climate is not of the best, and the winters are very long. But the Danish peasant owns his land. Denmai'k is * country of peasant proprietors. This is the economic framewoi'k of his civilisation. The Danish peasant is his own land-' lord, and he has made use of the Government to.'promote the acquis?. ■ ition of land by the people. About' 1850 qredit societies were organised which supplied capital to the peasants with which to buy land. These societies took long time mortgages, running" from fifty to one , hundred years. TJndeV.these-contracts the peasants pay off ■ both .the principal. and the interest by. instalments. In 1899 and in 1904 the State stimulated this movement still further by laws that enabled the small peasants

to borrow lvsney from the Stat< treasury with which to buy a hold ng. The value of the land is limittec io about £3OO, and the size of the estates so purchased ranges fron sight to twelve acres. Only one ;enth of the purchase money need b( : ound by the purchaser. The Stat< idvances the other nine-tenths anc charges the peasant four per cent. me per cent of which is to repay th< loan. The effect of the law was to in jjrease the value of the land of th< large estate owners, jnst as has th< Small Holdings Act in great Britain But the general effect of the legisla tion and of the mutual credit so cieties has been to check the move ment of the people away from th( land. Denmark is almost the onlj country where this is true. There is very little tenancy in Denmark Over 89 per cent of the farmers owi their farms. ,They work their owi holdings. Only about 11 per cem are tenants. In America the percent age of farm ownership is very mucl less. And ownership in Denmark ii widely distributed. The total num ber of farms is 250,000, with a culti vated area of over ten million acres The very large farms are survivals o: the old feudal estates. They com prise abont one-tenth of, the ' tota agricultural area. There are thre( bhings which make Denmark unique The first is the.system of peasani ownership;. the second is the co-op-jrative movement,, which is well ligh universal; and the third ifr.the Dolitical supremacy of the peasant 4ass. The second and third causes tre, hdwever, due to the first. For *>me ownership lies at the root of ■,he Dane's success.