FARMERS AND CO-OPERATION.

Timaru Herald, Issue 170307, 31 August 1920, Page 5

FARMERS AND CO-OPER-ATION.

THE WOOL. AND MEAT BUSINESS. ENCOTJBAGING ADVICE. 'A DDK ESS BY MR. AY. D. LYSNAB, M.P. On Saturday afternoon :iii tho As-.-■•inhly Booms, Tima.ru, Mr AV. D. Lvsuar, M.P. for G'tsbome, delivered en address to farmers, under the iiuspices or the newly-formed South Canterbury Co-operative Freezing Company. There was a hu'ge and representative attendance, and tlio speaker was frequently applauded heartily. Tbe mlvieo which lie gave to farmers was rf a. very encouraging nature, and Ins address, which extended over two hours, was listened to with keen interest. rilr T. D. Burnett, M.P. for Tcmuka, presided, and suitably introduced tho Vi.-itor. FABMEBS AS THINKFBS. Mr Lysnar said it afforded liiiu a. food deal of satisfaction to address a, )■>■• ting oT South Canterbury farmers. In lie wanted to impress upon, fanners /ji general tbsit it was more tiUsin ever Jiece-s-sary fot theui. to organise. The pastoral industry of the Dominion rejiMverited 87 percent, of tho exports of New Zealand, so fanners would see that they were responsible ior the pro(■;ies« or stagnation of the .Dominion. The trouble, with them in tho past was Hunt they had been content to let merchants and bankers do their thinking for them. They must do this for them.-K-Ives. They devoted too much of their tune to their fanns and run.", and too little to studying the mercantile side of their business. Iti would pay them handsomely to spend less time on their holdings and devote more timo to studying tho marketing of their products. All- other classes were organised, .'ty/d why. not' the fanners 1 p If they consulted their own best interests they would organise, and that quickly,' instead of grizzling and growling; when they were asked to pay a pound to "the Farmers' Union. Even tho banks, wool brokers, trusts and combines were organised against the fanners, and if the latter only recognised their strength, and used it they could soon put. an end to the injustices to which ■thry were continually subjected. Lot them study tho commercial situation for themselves. Small farmers were losing hundreds a year, and 'jig farmers thousands-a year through not looking after their own interests. It was not to be expected that merchants and bankers would look after their int'Tests for them, as they had their own i|i(crests to consider, and they would not be human if they advised a course by which they would lose themselves. Merchants and hankers had their duty to perform to their respective institutions, and farmers must not lean upon them, but take a course for themselves. Tin' only organisation they could properly lean noon was tho Farmers' TJnion, and they sho\ild support their Union' solidly.

J'iIKEZiNG ON CO-OPERATIVE LINES. Air Lysnar_wcn.fr ou to speak in advocacy of freezing on co-operative lines. He. was chairman of tho Poverty Bay Farmers' Freezing Company, and they: were in the position of owning their own boat to take away the meat from their own works. 'They should have farmers' freezing works in South Canterbury so that they could control the si nice, and in order to get full value for tfchcir by-products. At Gisborne when there was no congestion they took in anybody's stock, hut as soon ay there was a sign of congestion they allotted the space between the shareholders in proportion to the shares held, and non-shareholders were, not catered lor at all. When they decided to buy their boat they gave the shareholders fourteen days to find the money, and it was all found in that time. They undertook to run the ship on. purely co-operative lines to those shareholders who took up a certain number of shares, and it was being so run, with the result that it would pay for itself in a very short time. THE MEAT QUESTION. Referring to the meat question Mr Ly.snai: .said that if one believed all they road of the conference last Ma.v one might imagine tho 'oottom had fallen out of the meat business altogether. There was certainly a glut in the Home markets, but this cry of a slump and the gloomy outlook predicted was"simply organised to frighten farmers. In reality there was a great world shortage, and the only thing clogging the industry was the meaus of distribution. Congestion might cause fluctuations, •■ but tho market was absolutely sound. The gloomy utterances of Mr Harold Heauchamp, chairman of directors of | tho Bank of New Zealand, who talked so much of a slump, was an instance j of how mercautilo views were not to . be trusted. Then there was the cable • announcing that meat was down to 6d per lb. in Britain. The speaker had recognised this as a lie at once, and events had proved him correct. The High Commissioner's cables came in showing that lamb was selling a t Is Id, wether mutton at 9d, and ewe mutton at Sd, and these were good prices. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, Dominion High Commissioner had said that the above prices would not recede. In the speaker s opinion wethers and ewes would go even higher. Taking a wether's weight as 56!bs, a t 9d, it would return 425; allowiug Id for freezing and storage, and 2d for freight, also *d for charges at the other end, this would still leave the price in England at 2-os 3d. To this could safely bo added 7s 6d for the pelt (the present price is 8a or 9s), and say 2jlbs of wool at 2s 6d, so that the return would be 39s od per wether. Lambs might realise as a wiiole 365. There was nothing wrong with these returns, and Sir Thomas Mackenzie said they were likely to last. Personally he had turned down an offer of lOd for lambs. The glut was simply caused by mismanagement at Home, and the restriction of the meat ration to lfo pe r head per week He thought most of his hearers could eat that quantity in one sitting' Of courso no one made any complaint

against ibis in war-time, but the re- i strict-ion wer-e continued till quite, recently, thus causing quantities of meat j to jemam in store. Still New Zealand meat only represented 7.&1 pw cent | of the whole consumed in and i it, was ridiculous for commercial men to talk or thi s small amount causing a serious glut. Directly tlr-ssu restrictions were removed and free sale allowed, the stores would quickly be J cleared, and the glut disappear. Until recently the Food Controller charged''exactly the game price for this New Zealand meat (for which they paid about sd) as they did for .American meat, which, tlifiy bought at approximately Is 3d per lb, and Argentine, •which they purchased at.lOJd."" Quoting irom food control prices Mr Lysnai- pointed out that the worst outs fetched Is 2d, and the best steaks 2s 4d. Later the best cuts were reduced to 2s 2d,, but the worst was still Is 2d. T ; h<-> I'higli.sli fanner got at there » r i-"e-s £4. 10s to £6 for his sheep and £6O to £BO lor a litilloek. and lie awked it i* was a square deal that New Zealand meat should be sold at prices level with this? He understood that later prices were still further reduced, and once the restriction on meat, was removed the glut would melt away. THE TRUST. England was importing from New Zealand over 6U per cent of her supply of mutton and iamb, 'talking to one of the big combines' men in Liverpool, who controlled 12l;0 shops, the l-ittcr ! had said if he could only get 'uppiies of mutton and.lamb he could squeeze out all the smaller shops! That wan why they should never sell a s:ie.:>p to Armour or any big firm that could squeeze the small man out and do away with competition. WOOL PiiOSPECTS. fcpeaking of the proopectj. tor wool, -LtJr c>ii«j. naiv, Jiu eunsiueieunidi feooa. i L . ivtfio oniciaiiy stated umi> -i million bales or wooi were Held by u.e jjijjjlisii in uie jti.ngli.-j.i »iores>, aria ia i\ew Zealand anu tiaba,. Jbeiore mo war trie inontiiiy oonsumptio.t ju .bi.uain was i'ou.oou l«ues, uuu it ',\as suited hy tnc rfircctor ofltaw ivtuteriais ana Munitions that 22o,UiA) bales per moutn would Cover the aemauu now. Xmis the vj million bales would be all absorbed in ten Tiiontiis noin last junc, when the statement was maue. iSotcn niuiuns would, wierefor-e have elapsed ..eiore our wool reached the Englidu marl ets, leaving only three mounts' supply on hand. What was tuat, lie ;ist;ea, in view of the needs of tr.e world:-' He quoted figures to show tuat t.icre was a shortage of 0.57b,000 minion puunda in France. Belgium laid bermanv, ana against this .there would be only the b'35,01)0 bales left in stoie. Statistics s.«>wed Argentine as having 44 million sneep, ana when America and Germany had been served, how much would be left for England:- 1 Yet they were told that this 41 million was going to upset the wool market! It muse i.e remembered, toj, that the;e was a very serious suortage in Australia also (76,000.000 sheep), and any surplus from Argentine would not compensate for this shortage—and Argentine waa at her limit. All tins talk of gluts was merely propaganda work. ihcy had only to look at the price of cotton —now double that of wool, wheiva.'-.' it was usually only half the price—to realise that there was a shortage of wool. ■ UNFAIR. TREATMENT. deferring to the unfair treatment to Vi'hicu New /.salami lanuers Jiau been subjected, by tnc Imperial, government, Mr Lysnar statea i.nat i L icqiiiicu only 2J-IDS ui ran', greasy woo: to make a yard or oiotii. ,=uiow;i,g ii-!,- yarus to rue suit and Is 2-i-j. per as tuo price of the wool, tnen mere was only 16s worth of wool m a smfor wlncji lo guineas was charged. He had shown tue Government tuat the New Zealand wool ' growers had m these circumstances conceded £/",- 050,000 rier aimum to the Britisii manufacturer. Tne Government- iiad handed the wool over to tne manufacturers at the fixed price, and the manufacturers charged wnat they liked for the finished material. He had caused it to be put on record in Parliament that the New Zealand producers of wool were conceding over seven millions, and of meat over eight millions—and no one had questioned his figures, because t-iey could not be questioned. The farmers would not grumble if the consumers got the prolit, but proVteers got it. When'"a. commission was set up by the House of Commons it was found that the profits ranged from 250 to over 3000 per cent on wool! The Government was still breaking the arrangement by selling the best wool at a fixed rate, and only rag-tag at auction puces. This wool brought at auction considerably more than the Imperial price, yet it was not the best wool. The best had been, picked out by the merchants at flic controlled pi ice—a much lower figure! Again, the catalogue showed that only 4000 bales were offered at one out of several days' oales, and of these 500 were New Zealand wool. These were monthly sales, yet sh-* controller's report stated that Si'o.OOO bales were needed monthly, ;m-\ he questioned why so few were offered. Now they had stopped sliivm nts altogether on the plea that there was too much in store! It was mismanagement, and nothing else. All the name, wool prospects were g:;od. In ten months from June" last "manufacturers would be hungry for wool. A WARNING. Mv L-ysnar warned growers not to go to commercial men for .invite. j ney were often the agents for snipping firms, and were in sucu a pos-iio-jo. that they could not help. , 'l"of instance, he would guess taat tome linns were -getting nearer to ijbO.tf).} ihau £1.0,000 through commissions on shipping, and was it reasonable that they rwero going to lose this:-' Farmers must take up -the matter for xi.emselves and get .the Union to help them. - ' THE TRUSTS. This was a. dangerous "question, s:-na Mr jL.ysua.-, aua i r v: w'iu, tuao j.u< men nua been iound to t'jgii. a petition tuat a license siioida U; granted to , Armour ana Co. He asked nis hearera to look at the elicit wnere Armour s operated in otner eouijtriei. One could I ipick the time when trusts got tneir atraualeliold on farmers ana forced i them out .of business. America usea to export meat but now silo Lad to import, and records showed that stock was reduced by millions between 1906 and 1911. The actual reduction; was six million sheep and two million cattle, and it was all attributaalo to the- operations of the meat trusts. If such a falling- off took place in New Zealand or Australia, where would' they be? And yet some people were foolish enough to ask that such mea be allowed in. Mr Lysnar stated that he personally had seen cattle come from 3000 miles distant to Chicago. It was the tendency of the trusts to concentrate all the works in one or two centres, and farmers had to send stock all that way; and sup- '. posing they had to eend them up 3000 milesj then the trust said it was too far; they must squeeze thorn . out, nvhicfa. ttey did, and the land was abandoned; but when they saueezed the farmer out of the nearer land they farmed the land themselves. The only meat works in America were in Chicago, the rest were only stores. The trusts last year, made four times the

.income tlioy made before the war and \ in J.'JiS t»LC hre- b»g companies made , lid minions—moio tuaa tke wnolo 10venuc or the New Zealand Govern- 1 merit. One of thy tr.icKs of the trust-; C was that they u.-.ea commercial men j to send telegrams )or tiii.'m, throng.; i tlieir influence. They inhumed ; even newspapers;, unci seatteiw.t pio-pa-i >£anda broadcast. He qjtotcd from the : articles lately appearing by Armour j and Co. in me midy papers to siiow that even in their statement re the! price ! of hogs tue figures were, ntb-ead-ing. . iet they would have them believe t,ey weic good friends to the farmer. If so., why did the. American report stats that hundreds of thousands of farmers were driven out by them? "Wily was tins benefactor given two'years to get mil of the couiury? Referring to the way in •which the trusts influenced the Press, the speaker said the com mission's report showed; that the editor of an American, stock journal was discovered lo be receiving £IOOO a year from Armour's r.s a, bribe to. influence public opinion in their favour. Yet tne owners of the paper didn't know it! ft bad been suggested*, that a license migjit bo issuea for one year to Aimo-urs to help to remove the glut, but tno speaker point-art (Ait -that Armour's could not help to do that. If they came in at all it must- be to luiy and" export. They must, if gi-auted a. license, oe allowed full powers. He had beard of a, Christ-church man say that it was tnly due to Armour that they were getting a good price for lambs. It was nothing of the sort. No one should believe that Armour could case the glut. YE3TEY BROS. Referring to Yes Ley Bros., Mr ' Lysnar' taiu they were the sWungest eomome m. tne. uoria and i-ir -niii. Vestcy hau stated before the Bnusu Royai Commission o.i the mcomo tax: "\io ate proprietors aud maiiageis u. fieozing works, cola stoics ;uiu i utileraucnes m lireat riritain, Russia, China, Australia, xN'ew Zealand, United States, Venezuela. Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, South Africa, Madagascar, France, Spain, I'ortugai, and otner countries. .1 lie capital employed in the business, and tuat of tno ainliated concerns tinder the same management,-, is in excess of £20.000,001). The business;, therefore, ranks among the largest British industrial concerns, and is larger than that -of all other JSiiu'sJi freezing and cold storage, companies combined. It is quite as important as three out of the li\e members of the American beet' trust. . . . Yl'o should like very much to bring our organisation to this country (England,) and 'work from London, instead of Chicago or Buenos Aires.'"' It was difficult to know just who arc Ycstey Bros, 'ihey claimed tliey were out to light the American Trust, but tiicy weie just a-s d.uigeroas, and they, had bought the imoii Cold Storage Co., Messrs Eastman, and Co.. "\Y. and R.. Fletcher and the Blue Star line of shipping in Engh.nd, and were now trying to nuy the C.C. and D. Company and the Tom-iana. works in Hawke's Bay, and the. Tar libera, works iii Gisborne. They had more cold storage in England than anyone else. It was the duty of .\ew Zealand farmers to stop exports going to Ycstey Bros.,- in England or anywhere else, and instead, to support the small butcher at Homo. THE PRODUCERS ENSNARED. As an illustration of the circuitous ways by wnieh the, t.us-ts ensum-.d tut; producers, Air Lyt-nar pointed '..at that at West-held an u in \vhaiigarei, \ estoy's had freezing works, utit > ofc in their own name. They va-ie m the name of men in their employ. .Again, they had a business in tne name, ot Ziman and another, but it w ; ,s significant that tne capital owned to by these men was hue £IOOO, whereas the works were entirely free of mortgage, I and their uperat.ons ran into £4O >,OOJ. it was known, too, that in some ••companies' 7 the shareholders held but two £'l shares, all the rest of tie capital being Yesiey's! In Auckland district they" had got control of certain saleyards by outbidding all ether buyers till these were scared oil, knowing they had to compete against this powerful firm, and as a consequence iu'cos were lower in that district tlm'/i in others. The Government was ;-nxicus to do what was right for the country, but needed strong support. His hearers might think they wore wealthy, but let the trust get a bold and they would crush them aud the Government. too. He warned them to b.-. easeful to put their produce through firms not connected with the big combines. HOW THE TRUSTS WORK. As a further instance of the way the trusts wuricod, ,ur r/ysnar told oi ho.v a iiiiin liau got a s.iip-iuaa of iN'jiv Zealand muttuii scat to oau Eraiicibco, oiiiy to be toitt t-nat lie touiu not self it to any but Uie trust', ai twey controlled the whole of the retail trade there. So he had to self it to them and what tiiey gave nim. If Ariuoui'a v.ere admitted tu New Zealand ior even one year, they would get control of the retail meat trade in Eng.aud, because they would have a supply of mutton ana lamb and others would not, ana once thc-y gut t.ie control they could, do what they liked. Mr Lysnar explained that Sir T. Robinson was the wrong man to be in control, as he was connected with botiitlic shipping and the meat trades. A law was made that all big men must submit their books to Sir T. Robinson and small ones to the Beard of Trade. Sir Tnomas Robinson had been connected vith Armour's. Mr Lysnar showed a ticket bearing Armour's name, which had been taken off 'some mutton inthe front trend-es in France, thus showing that Armours nad got bold of it after it had been sold to the Imperial Government. v HOME AGENCIES. Mr Lysnar said he was shortly going to England to try to arrange agencies, or if lie couid not do this his company would be prepared to open an agency, and "he urged that farmers should hold their, meat and -wool for several mouths at least. The trouble was that mercantile firms were buying to-day who did not know who in reality they were ' buying for. Nominally it was for "John Brown," but who "John Brown" was they could not say—that was the cunning of the trusts. THE "GLOBE" ENTERPRISE. Referring to the- shipment "of meat imported to.New. York oy the "Globe" newspaper, Mr Lysnar explained that the impoiters had been at ones ap-. preached by the trusts and asked to soil to them, but the "Globe" had refused and had quickly ' disposed of it all. Then Armour's had offered to import more to satisfy the demand, but what they had actually done was to foist some disreputable stuff oh ' the market which the "Globe" declared | had never seen New Zealand. He l personally had gone to a leading butcher's shop in New York and pskedl for mutton quotations, but was told it could not be got. Armour's was I anxious to keep New Zealand mutton out of New York; They had actually sent to Argentina for mutton and then, obtained storage on our ships to transport it to England. DISCUSSION. Mr G. Steven asked if they were ! foolish to send their lamb to America ' when they could not get ships ro send i it- to England? . ./

Mr Lysuar said no; but his advice to them -was not to send it fj America on consignment. Mr Gerald Casey said that ihey wanted Competition, aud he could not understand why -ur_ Lysnar opposed Armour and Co., who were a.ueady doing business here. Mr Lysuar said that Armour and Co. had been lel used a license twelve months ago, and tney had not got one now. Mr Garrick and Mr Hart s.tid they were buying here at all events. Mr Lysnar said they migat he buying, but they were i.ot al.oivod to export. Cue of the methods of the ti lists was to give good prices for a time, in order to popularise themselves with farmers. New Zealand farmers would regret it if they allowed the big trusts to get a loafing in this country. Mr Casev said they could surely slop their license if they'found their working ha'rmful. Mr Ly-nar said the dnmage wouid be done "then. If ones they toald get control of our meat they could squeeze the small butchers out at Homo, and New Zealand farmers would then he at their mercy, as tho trusts controlled the big multiple shops. Mr Owen J. F. McKee inquired whether the Gisborne Farmers' i'mon had Eaken any steps to organise letter credit facilities. Mr Lysuar replied in the affirmatave and said they proposed to join with other 'districts in having their oven agencies at Home. Mr McKee asked: Were they prepared to utilise the English Wholesale Co-operative Society for the distribution of their meat;-'

Mr Lysnar said noj they wanted to be independent of other concerns.' In reply to a series of questions by Mr A. G. Hart, Mr Lysnar said that as far as he knew neither Vestey's nor Armour's were interested in freezing works in the Gisborne district, though ho understood that_ Ye.-tey's were trying to buy one; lie (the speaker) had £2OOO or £3OJO worth of shares in the Poverty Bay freezing works, in addition to his shares in their ship; they were only seeking t_o control one freezing works in the Gisborno district. Mr Hait said that 'the farmers of South Canterbury would have been "rooked" last season if Armour and Co. had not come to the rescue. Mr Casey endorsed-this. Mr Peter Thompson explained that the Government had taken any meat bought by Armour and Co., on behalf of the Imperial Government. Mr Casey said there should be freedom for everyone to compete for fanners' produce.. The trusts in New Zealand were the' ones they required to beware of. The Americans could I not bold .a candle to these rascajs. ] (Laughter).

Mr Casey seconded the amendment. On a vote being take.! tie amendment was lost, only tiuee voting fur it. The motion was then put and ; carried with only two dissentients. In conclusion, Mr. Lysiiar i-aid: ' "Have confidence in yours?!ves, and"; don't listen io all this loufsh lallc ' about the bottom dropping dut of the j market. Your prospects were never j brighter." (Applause"). ■ A hearty voce of t-ianks' vras passed ] to Mr Lysnar for Lis ver\- able- audi useful addrers. .- - - . ,