CO-OPERATION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7264, 21 October 1910, Page 2

CO-OPERATION

IXTEIiKSTIXG SUUTHEKX IXFOKAIATiOX. hast .Saturday L spent an enjoyable (lay among sonic, of ihe leading' utility poultry men ot Cnristchuicli, uuii di&cui*wl with them certain recent happenings of interest in tni! poultry world, especially (he prospects of co-operation among po-ultryjubii—-the establishment of wnieii yreatly surprised me—quite convinced inc. til fact, that poultry-men in the Xiirtli Island would be wise to take ail the advice being given lliflu with considerable caution, and instead of rushing headlong to disaster go about combination with extreme cauLiou. Tt will be said, as it ha.-, been .said by one of the very bent men ill the business, that organisation is so necessary that the a'po.stle who will preach it should bo welcomed; but are tnere no false prophets? One thins 1 discovered in Christchurch is that .Mr J. U. Merrett—who declared in a recent letter to the editor of the "Times" that he sold qjju lor hits clientw in Christciiurch at the same rate of commission charged by the Wairarapa Egg Circle—charges Id a dozen when eggs are. realising up to ls Gd, and when selling over this his charge i« ljd. Of ixHirse. cartage from tha railway to Mr Merritt's business .place is added to Ibis, It will bo ,seen that there is some difference between this charge and that of the Wainu-apa circle, which amounts to only id a. dozen when the weekly supply totals 000 dozen or over—as it now does—and especially who'll the farthing covers cartings and storage. Another thing, Mr Morritfc lias no egg circle established in Canterbury. Hero is a story told in the, sooth in regard to co-operation. Once upon a time, a few men who lceep fowls said to themselves, "We will combine!" A meeting was called, and the subject was ably dealt with by a. gentleman of great powers of persuasiou. He painted the picture in such glowing colours that any doubts were dispelled and everyone was aroused to a pitch of enthusiasm. Arrangements were .forthwith made to secure an established business, and this was done. The history of the movement was as disastrous as it way brief. It is now only a, memory, but there are incidents in its drab history which have novev been told. The speaker referred to who was «o successful in spurring on the small band of original genuine cooper.artora was rather more fortunate in some respects than his fellows. He had a littie business of his own which he wanted to sell, and he was able to have this taken over by the new company at good valuation, accepting shares in return. Then he was interested to a small extent in a firm in another part,of the conntry which held u broker's license, and it; was an. easy matter for him to thus scoop a hundred pounds in brokerage fees. Ou top of this lie obtained the position of secretary at £2 a week. There are more interesting facts iu the sequel which need not be here told. The final scene was that when the company went into liquidation tho secretary's tender was accepted for tile business. < Under the circumstances, cooperation was bound to fail, just as surely as it will fail in this island unless it is run on clean methods by clean men.

A fowl of low vitality will be likely to stay on the roost. It will bo the la*--t one to get off in tho morning and the first one to get up there at night. Atany are blaming the brooder for loss of chickens. It will generally be found that the trouble commenced at the incubator stage.