Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1884. CO-OPERATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 128, 10 November 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1884. CO-OPERATION.

[Communicated.]' To arrive at the true principles on which a system of co-operation should be founded, we must consider the reasons first of all, for which such an establishment is felt to be wanting. These are, undoubtedly, to ensure a ready sale for farmers of all produce or stock they may have for disposal ; to procure all articles which they are likely to require of the best quality, and at the lowest possible priceg ; and to ensure that any other business of any kind may be undertaken for them m the most expedient manner possible, so that, m fact, their every want may be diligently supplied and attended; to< To accomplish this, an association would need to be formed, on partly ' joint-stock, and' partly co-operative ! principles, its capital being sufficiently large to enable its, business to be done on a v very large scale and m a very extensive manner. The concern, moreover, would require to be established m a town that was m the centre of a very large agricultural community, and to be a success, to be placed under the management of an experienced man. This, m . outline, forms the ideal Association. ' Its utility to the farming classes, which may next be considered, is obvious. The fact that the system of co-operation was thefoundationef the enterprise would be m itself enough to recommend it to the most scrupulous, and guarantee its success to the most doubtful. John Stuart Mill' upholds the system as the most pro. .fi table on which any trade can , be based. Adam Smith, not quite so warm m its favor, bases his doubts solely oh the difficulty m obtaining such efficient management m a company concern as that with which a private individual would handle; his > own business. But this, now-a-days, is an objection that is no longer a valjd one. When several persons conbine their labour, they can produce more than they could were each to set about doing his task m his own way and by hirriself. Whea several people club apbition of their several capitals together, they create, a powerful uniteq body I —powerful both m money, interest, and connection. When flour, sugar, and other necessaries are being bought, they would be imported m large quantities. When g-rain, wool, and other produce is being sold, it would be placed m foreign markets direct and m bulk, and all the little charges would be sajved, •which, together, 'make just the difference between actual profit orloßs to the farmer. .In other ways, ; too, its utility may be most effectually demonstrated. To the middlemen who have been carrying on businsss before such a cooperative concern might start m a district, a serious difficulty would have to be encountered. First, a great deal of their business would be absolutely withdrawn, m .consequence of clientfarmers being interested m the success of the Association. And it is m this way that associated bodies become so strong, since as they are brought into existence by the manifold influence and capital of a diversity of individuals, so does* their variety of interest create a mopster connection for the Association, which must be greater than that of most private businesses,' and

more lasting as well. Thus, a quantity of middlemen would be compelled to enter some •other lines of business, if an Association were set on foot m any particular district or all over the colony., Would this have the effect of compelling these men to direct their energies' m working the land, such vast areas of which are i\ow lying fallow m New Zealand for want of a sufficiency of the right class to work it ? It is more than probable that this would be the case. Then these farmers by compulsion would become members of the Association, and the colony would at once be colonized by a great preponderating class of workers of the* soil. In this way a much more extensive and advantageous, revolution might be brought about, simply by the step taken fry farmers m the direction of co-operation, than might ever occur to them whilst promoting such an Association. Nor does it seem that the middlemen themselves would be very much the worse off m their transition to producers. The , effects which • the . farmers would reap from a thorough •system of co-operation have been , enumerated- sufficiently for the purposes of an article, whilst the effect on the colony as a whole, supposing the surmises, we have made to be fairly correct, could only be beneficial. Thus, if some hundreds of middlemen, who hitherto had only been employed m collecting wealth together, instead of creating it, were to be suddenly diverted into modes of life which would create wealth instead of only gathering it together, the colony would very soon rally from the depression she so Jong suffered under, and which has been caused chiefly from there being such a preponderance of those who) follow pursuits that do not crjeate wealth, compared with the few that assist m working the land, of which so many thousands of acres I are. wasting m its primeval condition. We do not say that Co-operajjve /Associations of the kind we havej indicated are faultless, that they, are easy to set on foot, or that they would all be prosperous even when established. We do not say that middlemen are not very often indispensable elements of a community, nor do we deny that their services would be missed m many directions, were that class of business tnen demolished. We simply place 'one side o.f the question— that of : the f&m^rs— before our readers. •