Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 1893.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4495, 7 August 1893, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 1893.

It is gratifying to learn that the effort to float a Provincial Farmers' Co-operative Association has been crowned with success, and that tha institution under the more sensible titlo ol" The New Zealand Partners' Dairy Union" is commencing its career of usefulness, A factor/ under its auspices is to be established at Featherston, whioli will, we presume, be fed by creameries from points along the railway line, In this business, the margin of profit, as compared witb the risks attendant upon it, is small and unless it bo undertaken on a considerable scale it cannot be made profitable, We are not, as yet, aware of the amount of capital sub" scribed to start the New Zealand Farmer's Dairy Union, but we tru6t it is adequate to cover a wide field of operations. The advantage of such an undertaking to small settlers cannot be over estimated, provided that it is worked out on sound financial lines. Of course, in a co-operative enterprise of this character the email settler, who embarks in it, takes a risk, and the experience of the Wellington Meat Export Company during the past year proves that mn in a well managed co-operative enterprise there are elements of loss as well aa of profit. It ii a matter of regret to us that Masterton holds aloof, from dairy; factory ventures, for it is certain that the oharacter of the land in the immediate neighbourhood of the town and the good roads which converge into it, present striking advantages for the successful prosecution of such an industry, Probably Masterton farmers are on the whole too well off to make new departures. As a rule, fresh enterprises are usually developed in hard times whan necessity impelß settlers to cast about for new methods. Times are, perhaps, a little too good for suoh ventures just now. Still, if butter factories and oreameries established in other, parts of the district turn out as successful as everyone hopes they will, Masterton settlers must eventually tike up the industry, At present there is necessarily a certain degree of risk in it, bat when the export trade settles down into regular grooves, and experience leads up to it being conducted under assumed conditions, no [ country town oan afford to stand aloof from it. The development of ■ the New Zealand Farmers' Dairy : Union will be watched with keen interest, It is doing a good work for ! New Zealand farmers, and if the capacity and energy displayed in its : organisation be continued in its future i career, its prospects are good enough, 1