The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1882.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6697, 4 October 1882, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1882.

The principle of co-operation is both capable and deserving of much wider applications than the special one dealt, with in yesterday’s issue. And in these the people, not the Government, must be the principal actors. There ia no doubt that the co-operative system in trading, travelling, and, in short, in supplying all wants common to humanity, ia the system for the general public to promote and to patronise. Our colonial communities are, however, —especially in country parts —wofully lacking in the elements of union.- The individuals composing them come from all parts of the three kingdoms, and, indeed, from all quarters of the habitable globe. They have, therefore, few traditions in common, and unsociality is far too common amongst them. It would be well if commercial economy and the cultivation of such saving instincts as naturally lead a person “ to buy in the cheapest’ market and sell in the dearest ” received more attention, both in schools and amongst grown-up men and women. Commerce between communities will, of course, always be necessary, and will'become more so as civilisation advances! One nation is dependent on another, but the interchange of the necessary offices and commodities cannot ' be' effected without traffic. To take a cosmopolitan view of this point, let us consider how impossible it would be for English people to live' in ’ England without imports to support them in life, and without manufactured and other exports to pay for these imports ? J The! interdependence of-communities thus asserts its 1 position as a necessary law of advancement and civilisation, and the principle of mutual reciprocity will, as a just cbrollory, be recognised in all wise and beneficent legislation. In the House of Lords lately the landed-proprietor class manifested a peculiar disregard of this principle, and appeared in a light/which did not reflect credit on their character, ;on the occasion of a cargo of prime mutton arriving from New Zealand. The Dukes of Rutland and St. Albans and Lord Lxmington spoke of restrictions being put on the importation and sale of what they called “foreign” meat. Their-lordships spoke, they said, “in the interests of farmers and of agriculture,” as /if they could cloak their own selfishness by such a periphrasis! It is astonishing that men of intelligence and enlightenment—as we must believe members of that august House to be—could for .a moment imagine that ordinary, common people did not know that the former class : was intimately bound up with the proprietor class to,which dukes and lords belong, and that prosperity to farmers 'meant increased rentals. The great; battle that .was won./by ' Cobden, , Bbiqht, and others in 1845 in favor of importing wheat, duty free, shall not, however, have to be fought over again to - remove or to contend against the infliction of. an import! duty on New Zealand mutto.n shipped to London. In a short time the colonial importers will, doubtless, see the necessity, of establishing co-operative stores for the sale of their mutton ;by as nearly direct transference ■ as possible from the New Zealand producer to tho famishing,' or economising and haird-liviag British housewife, artisan, and agricultural laborer. Thus will be escaped the endless charges and profits derived,. as 7 at present, by jobbers, dealers, commission agents, carcase and retail -butchers, and meat salesmen, and the result will be that the . producer will receive a higher price, and the consumer pay a lower one, than at present.* The “ spoil V; derived from the host of ‘middlemen will / be mutually divided between the producer and the consumer, and the ranks of the middlemen will be thinned by many of them betaking themselves to fresh fields and pastures new. They might, for instance, start and stock a run on the Red River, or the .Murrumbidgee, or on the Upper Waipa or ’Wanganui, whence they could supply the London meat market on co-operative principles. The rentals of England will have then to revert to what they were a century ago —-that is about one-tenth or onetwentieth of their present figure—and the balance of the Old World will bo very soon adjusted by the products of one or other of the new worlds which have been created by the enterprise and increase of the Anglo-Saxon race. The above remarks all point to the same important object—the promotion of co-operative systems, by which our adopted country will be rendered fitter to live in, and the struggling

settler be enabled to get better prices for his produce and better value for his money. The advantages of what is called “ cheap living in the country,” as compared with the town, are very much over-estimated, and may be said to have but little existence at all; for unless ..the settler follows the example of those ancient Kings whom Thomson in his “ Seasons ” describes as living “greatly independent,” that is, producing at home all they eat and wear ; which, of course, none of our settlers attempt to do now, the expenses of country living are, as a rule, one half more, or perhaps double, what they are in town. Even things such as bread, beef, and potatoes that come from the country can, usually, be cheaper bought in town than in country places—-especially in such country places as have little or no exports of these articles. This, of course, arises chiefly from want of wholesome competition, and from produce getting into what is commercially called a “ corner,” As regards drapery and groceries and other things imported from foreign parts, the difference is very much in favor of the town, both in choice, price, and quality. The fact is that our country settlers want to be assisted and encouraged in forming economical combinations for the disposal of their surplus produce, and for the supply of their necessary wants and luxuries. The duty of a paternal and far-seeing Government is to step in and help and guide in some way such as that advocated in our previous article. Until the specified, end is attained, New Zealand colonists cannot expect to be healthy, wealthy, and wise, contented and satisfied that their own industry directly, tends to the increase chiefly of their own wealth and comfort.