Self Help for Farmers.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 7 February 1912, Page 4

Self Help for Farmers.

I WILL Mil RUNCIMAN ESTABJiISH CO-OPRIUTI7E COLCXNIES: , ( (< Tho Smallholder/' ii- the Expreas). Wnat is Mr Runciman going to do for agriculture generally and for smallholdings in particular? There are many people in farming circles who look upon t<arl Carrington's resignation and of the choice oi" Mr Eiinciman as hi,v successor at I the Board of Agriculture as nothing J short of a disaster to English farmj ing intfivosts, but although personi ally a consistent admirer of Lord j Carrinrrton—for Ido not take agri- { culture with" a dash of politics—l j have been unable to regard the Ichanse at Whitehall Place in any- | thing like such gloomy light. Rather did I think that Mr Runcininn, a landowner and a practical j business man, following a landowner and a practical farmer, was sent to I the Board to work out certain important questions connected with the hnsinpss side of farming, and I am now told on the very best aui thority that this view will be found j to be correct. • The first feu* weeks of a new : President are of necessity claimed for ft genera] survey of the many large and minor problems of agriculture which are awaiting solu- : tion, but after that agriculture will come in for an increasing share of ; attention in the business of the nation. Tt is probably because Mr I Runciman is .i business man and not a practical farmer that ho realises the full extent to which the whole j well-being of the nation is dependent ! upon apiculture, and he may be ; trusted to take a wide view of all i questions coming beforo him. j Tlig mo«t important question to I farmers and smallholders—though I few of thorn as yet roali.se it—is the .' question of organisation on co-opera-i tive lines. Nothing can be done i for those wlio are either unable from j want of organisation to make their j wishes heard, or seem unwilling to j help themselves though expecting I the State to help them. The need of co-operation among the many existing associations of all grades in agriculture is even moro crying than J the need of co-operation among indi- | vfdual farmers and smallholders, j ' Hence co-ordination and unfication ,of the many frequently conflicting 1 interests in farming circles presents I itself to the trained business mind as the very first sfcago in solving } the difficulties of argiculture.

That the country is ripe for such a scheme or co-ordination no one witli any knowledge of the farming world will deny, and the fact that Mr Runciman regards organisation of self-help and mutual Itelp as the sine qua uon of State aid is "bound to give a powerful impetus to the efforts made in many quarters to organise landowner, farmer, smallholder, and labourer in the protection of their common interest.

On the subject ' of finance, Mr Rnnciman haa not, I am given to understand, a cut-and-dried scheme to put before the country. As a, business man lie realises the vital importance to farming of being able to obtain prompt and cheap credit for productive purposes, and he takes the view that this problem will best be solved by co-operative banks, which will spring up everywhere as fast as the idea of coordination and combination of individual societies into county and n-a tional associations is taking practical shape. Much of the same applies to th© question of buying and selling. All men will easily perceive the advantages of co-operative buying ,buying their requirements, but it is the

question of marketing that is the great stumbling-block in the road to i success, especially among small-hold-ers. A real national organisation of agriculturists of all grades could easily overcome the difficulties of finding a paying market .for agricultural produce, and tlius answer the question which hundreds of smallholders are frequently asking themselves in vain: What to do with their produce after they have grown itP The statement that Mr Runciman, as the logical outcome of his strong views on organisation on co-operative lines, like his predecessor Earl Carrington, approves of the scheme of establishing co-operative smallholders' colonies will come as good news to all those who believe that this policy provides & platform upon which both Unionists and Liberals may stand shoulder to shoulder. After all is said and don© the question of tenure is of secondary consideration against the all-important task of settling men upon the land so protected by co-operation among themselves and by combination with hundreds of similar societies that they have all the advantages of the capitalist, the merchant, and the scientist. So far no policy has been devised to grant these advantages, except the policy of co-operativo smallholder colonies. If, then, wo must not look to Mr Runciman for inaugurating a new era in our national agriculture by bringing into it new ideals, we may ot any rate expect him to use the full weight of his great influence in the direction of helping English agriculture in every possible way to help itself.