THE PROGRESS OF CO-OPERATION.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14347, 6 May 1912, Page 6

THE PROGRESS OF CO-OPERA-TION.

During the- last ten years remarkablo progress has boon made in tho extension of the principle of co-operation in tho Unite<l Kingdom. The last report on Agricultural Co-operativo Societies was issued in 15)01, and reviewed British co-operative movements down to 1599. A renort lias now been iss-ned by tho Labour Department of the Hoard of Trade covering the succeeding decade, and a portion of the year 1910. During this period not. only lias the ground previously covered been maintained, but now fields of activity have boon j entered upon, w> that one of the dis- j I thu't.'ve features of the present report I is- tho iiwat variety of enterprises embraced. Tho greatest progress i> shown to have liw'ji made in tho different forms of agricultural co-operation. Thefo societies may bn divided into three main classes —purchase and sale societies, productive societies (that is. dairying and fnrminj.." and small holdings and allotment societies. Most of those ! societies differ essentially in character j from the societic, engaged in industrial production, since they are not established as a rulo in the interests of tlie consumers or workers. The members arc nrincipally small farmers, who use tho society for tho collective manufacture of butter and cheese from milk provided by themselves; for the marketing of this and otlur oroduce raised upon their farms, and for tho collective purchase of seeds, manures, implements. <<t(.\. in bulk, with a view to obtaining letter terms than would le possible if tiny bought individually. hi this rebpeet the Uritish dairy farmers' cooperative societies aro considerably in advance of tho > co-operattro dairy i factory companies itt ,Xcw Zea-

iaii'J, as here practically uo Inisi- | no;s is <?ono fr.r shareholders ' boyoivl tho tmrchnso of milk or cream, i nri'l tho manufacturing of cheese or . butter. Tho agricultural derolopmejit J of rn-oper.itina may b<. , tlated from liW-5, : but isn to about i?0l, agricultural co- • oprvation wrs, except for a fevr isolated j soeiotios, confined to lrol:ind. ivhere it j hn.s been promoted by tho Irish Aari- j cuitural Organisation Society. In 11301, " howpror, an Agricultural Organisation j Society was registered iti London, and j this was followed tn 100-" by 11k> regis- , tratioa of a similar .'-nrieiy for JScot- j land, both bt-insr worke.-l on similar | lines to those of tho Irish .Society. The I' activitios of 'r.eifties have resulted j in a. rapid trrov.-th in the extpnt and importance of agricultural co-operation in Great Britain. Between ISO-j and ' ifOf) ihf co-operativo soeictios of all kinds making returns increased from oS (■lβ for production and ]2 for distribution , ) for tho whole of the I'nitod Kingdom to C 53 (;)17 for r.ro-j duction and 333 for distribution), while | tlirir combined sales increased from IS") 1.379 to 1 , 3.iJ0f),L72. Of tlie societies reporting in 190°. 4-31 c? 9! for proiluotion, and JOO for distribution) wrro in ; Ireland, and their fales amounted to j £2.W'2,Z2~i. The.so figures, however, do j not include those relating to tho small 1 holdings ehJ allotment,-; societies, most j of which are of recent formation. The j asfiregatii membership recoi-ded by dis- j tributiro and productive co-operativo ! sociciips of nil kind* in 1009 was ■ j?,r»O7,2ft'3, an increase of 917.221, or 55 I per cent., ::x compared with ]8K). The j value , r> 1' the total trade of all societies i ('exclusive, of banking, credit, insurance. | and building society transactions) -was, j in 1909, nearly l'.V2 an incrcaso j sincn 1599 of ofij- millions, or 7.3 por j cent. By far the greatest volume of | co-op era tiro trading is still done by tho jjroiip of industrial co-operative societies. In 1009 these societies numbered 1-1580, and had an ngexejente Tnerabersbin of 2.ol2.()l-S; their total distributive and productive business amounted to nearly 12S million pounds, an increase of nearly ol million?, or 73 | per cent., over IS9P. These figures are I sufficient to show what an important factor co-operation is now becoming in t!:o domestic trade of the United Kingdom. The Farmers' Co-operative Associations hare been a. grant success ns trading concerns in New Zealand, and the, dairy industry owes its preatest success to co-operation aznonp: suppliers, but in other directions relating to production and distribution, co-operation makes little or no headway in this country.

Tiio Prime Minister's remarks on Saturday niyjit" on the condition of :i(fairs in the Civil Rervioo constitute tilt* gravc-st condemnation of Mip. present system of Ministerial patronage, and tlio stronger,!, argument in favour of Ilio tt-dorm Party's policy of :t Civil Horvico Board, that haw? yet appeared. According to Mr Mackenzie, under tho present sy.-iteni of promotion "old men aiv> replacing old men.' , and ''the brighter , ' and more active mendiors of tho Service leave it." If a Minister promoted a young niaii of outstanding ability, the cry was raised ol political patronage, and favouritism. Tho result was that most Ministers '"wont, along tho line of least resistance, and the best and most active of men did not rise to tlie top. ;r Is it not evident that as long as appointments ami promotions are in tho hands of Ministers, not only will the cry of jwlitical patronage be raised whenever a departure is made from the fixed course of seniority, but th.it political influence will actually play a considerable part in determining I promotions and appointments as thoy do :it the present time. The placing of the organisation of the Service in the hands of a non-politic:;] Board, as is done i:i England and New South \Y;ilcfi. is tlie only practical way of securing greater efficiency in the Public Service and justice to ft.s members. Mr Mackenzie, who has had "no time" to prepare a i>o!icy, can only say vaguely that the Service niiirt be "liioderni.MHl," but H<> does not say how this is to be done.

"When ivn uryed on Saturday that the useless and dangerous railway through the busiest purl of the City of 'Wellington to To Aro should bo pulled up, wo little dreamed that a number of ATelJinjiton property-owners -would havo t!>e assurance to ask tho Govern- , meat to actually extend that railway along «. still moro unprofitable length to » wind-swept and rparscly-scttled suburb known as Miraniar, v/hich is already wrvod by a tnim service more than sufficient .for its requirements. Evidently There are some people who think that if they ask tiie present Ministry for tho moon, they will got. if not the notnal luminary itself, at any rssto a promise of it at some future time. 11 you liare land to sell, even the promise of a railway lias been known to help the sale. We are sorry Mr Myers did not "?it upon" such an absurd proposal at. once, instead of promising to pot it reported mxm by j the departmental officers.

I _ S<mv interesting comments on the rapr.city of z'.rU for mathematics are t<> ho fouml in tho annual report of the English Hoard of Education in tlio chapter on tlio work of secondary schools. It nrvK'.irs th-nt there* is a c:ood deal of difference of practice in different school* in regard to this matter. Exemption to individual pupils from mathematics is much more freely allowed with girls. There are. say tlie Board, two fundamental differences of opinion on tho matter- First, tho difference between those who hold that there i> .111 actual difference of rapacity for the su'-joct between hoys and ai.d tho-<- who Isold that there is not; ar.d second, among those who liold tho former opinion, some annie. that tiirls should not he worried with a subject j that is essentially uncongenial to them, j Others, on the contrary, argue thai ] they need the sewre logical discipline I :i\\ the more, and that they slinxild not !><* nilowod to escape it. In these circumstance.-*, the Board have adopted what they term the "waiting, observant .''ttitudc." and while £tvmc; n considoraWc liberty to experiment, they have not encouraged differentiation, or allowed it to no very far. Tins does not carry us very far towards the solution of tho difficulty. It is admitted

that the cnrls Jiavo hardly had a i3ir ehr.nco. In m:r.c<l elas.-ps it would pei-m that'up to a certain the p< r ' s j hold their oun. or even more than 'i° ,fl j their own with the but there is considerable evidence thai the h vera go girl comes to the limit oi v.hat v l:e can j do in mathematics with advantage , s-oor.er than the average boy. Only * j snin!] proportion o f girls go on to tri'io- . I non'.etry cr nieclianic*. for example. j Our readers will reiuenibor thnt j ! almost drmiltrmpously vith the coal j I strike in England, there was ;; rather j i extensive strike among tho minors oi | I Saxony. There were luimcroiis <|tic>- j I lions in tho Lower lions.- , of the l'rus- j leian Diet with the view oi ascertaining ! I whether there was any connection ! ' between the English and the Ccrnian j strikes. The Minister ior Commerce, in r< , ply. referred to an lntcniational Conference of representatives oi I'nions lield in London during November last year, in which. uidt\>s he i was mistaken. Her Hue, a Sixialist I member of the Ue ; ehst:!g, ami the | editor of a German Labour paper, took i j part. Ai iiiat. Confer*'nee a decision was taken by vote, with regard to the { English coal .strike. By tho end of ' January it was known thnt the Knglish j miner* would hand in their notices at j ! the beginning of March. Ke would ' ; not. make tho as.'ertion that the German i j strike wa;; :i sympathetic strike, fur he • ■ did not believe that the Herman niiners ; ; would ;rp ,v> far as to do tho British j ■ miners such a service. There , was no ; j doubt, however, that the German! I Illinois' movement was, and would ron- i tinue to be, a link in the Hiain of ! tho International Miners' jnovement. j I Furthermore, tho English strike had ' j been prevented from bringing grist, to ! j tho mill of tho German miners by the j outbreak of a strike in Germany itself. i The '.Minieter went on to make the ' I curious assertion that one result of the j strike in Germany was that public j j opinion in England was not hostile to j tho men on strike. Otherwise it would I havo been said: "Everything that our I Engli.sh miners do will bo to the advantage of our dear rivals on the other side of the North Sea." rrr - \