CO-OPERATIVE FARMING IN ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 277, 19 February 1874, Page 2

CO-OPERATIVE FARMING IN ENGLAND.

Th» following » no account of the management of Bi ampton co-operative farming, by a correspondent of the Labour Nttot : — The Brnmpton Co operative Firming Society (Limited) rents & farm of 148 acres, consisting about half of pasture and half of tillage, at a rental of £1 per acre, being the •a.ne amount at that paid bj the out-going tenant of the property. The capit il of the company consist* of •hares of £5 each, of which £1 may bp paid on deposit, and 2s every week until the whole £5 i« p»irt up. The amount of capital at present subscribed » £612, of which £185 has been supplied by niue gentlemen who tnko i\n interest m the tno\ement. and the remainder (£427) by fifteen labouring men. Mr Morrison, M.P. for Plymouth, subscribed no less i sum than £80, besides helping in *hat appears to be a more important matter, viz., the drawing up of sound rules for the society's government. The largest sum subscribed by any labourer *a* £50, aud this man, a genuine working man, i<» the manner of the firm. The sura of £174 has been spent in stocking the farm, and on labour, <fco. There it a good tized farm houie, in wi.ich the manager and one labourer (being all the band* at present employed) lire. They have their ront free, and the former receives 18s 9d, together with nn allowance for going to market, while- the latter r^criTe* 16s. Ku ont* who i« not a member of the society )s regularly employed on the farm, though labourers who ire not members are occasionally employed on jobs The application of net prnQts i« to b<* a* follows — 10 per cent to be devoted to a depreciation fund ; nn amouni not exceeding 6 pei cent to the payment of a dividend to thr shareholder*; then there i« to he pmd " to every poison employed by the tofictv n* an otJWr nf, or Hbonror tit* tbo nine ineVi turn of money as shall neither exceed one-tenth part ol such net profit*. noi % oDc-pljth part of the salary or wife* enmed by such oflieer or labourer during the Iwrlve month" " Any proFti remaining after f hese payments are to be applied (1) " in iorining a reserve fund to provide agaiimt eaiualties," and (2) in paying an additional dividend. Then there is a provision thnt " the meuibers «.b.all have power to appropriate a sum of not less than 2J per cent of the net profits in forming a fund to pnnroto flio nval and intellectual welfare of its members, or to spread among their cotmtrrmen a knowled^p ot theprmoipl<'i« of ro-on^rsfion " The primary virtue ol the tociftv «'itn»n-t!i iv its offering an tnreutiTe to providauee, bv giving sgrieulturn) labourer* an invp-.tnii nt foi* tht a 1 fcaT\nj|B in tin- lund 'W o ujc all i-.oil 1 i k 3ly to save momy wln.ii we oee a good investment for il in the special business which «u understand or are connected with. At Leintvardme tlie a^iicu.'tuinl labourer sees this faun before his \cr^ «,yo» , und then there wo ino fcllo« agricultural labourers, not onl.> working— some of them— on their own proport} , but '"rnwing — nil of thorn — tlio proßts of the concern. He hunaHt beoome«i, in fact, if he joins the society, a faruioi , and take* the Jaiuati'* prolit*. Ho sees thus the reason for saving in a ne*r light Antagonism between labour and c.ipuul cea»e^ uhen the khou'r- beoomes a oapitalitt. But how is »b agricultural inborn or to save, on his wages, enough to belong to such a society ?' I leav# othert to answer iliu question, apd content mystlf simply by remarking that the labourers at Leintwardine li»w nian»i(dd i+. Wag*-, theraju^ «nt|j. prewJi.r ti^v , 17§ a we«k. In 1871 *h«y w«« -nt)tn iO« to 12s. On* of the labouring •bareholder- of the form, f< i- nample, has raised his capital gradually out ot wages wbioh wort, when he ! commenced saving, iodio years ago, at 7s a week, and two i years iigo onlj , on an averaje, at lla. j