CO-OPERATIVE FARMING IN ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 302, 18 April 1874, Page 2

CO-OPERATIVE FARMING IN ENGLAND.

The following is an account of the management of Brampton co-operative farming, by n correspondent of the Labour Time*: — " The Brampton Co-operative Farming Society (Limited) rent* a farm of 148 acres, consisting about half of pasture and half of tillage, at a rental of £1 per a<V3, being the lame amount as that paid by the out-going tenant of the property. The capital of the company consists of shares of £5 each, of which £1 may be paid on deposit, and 2s every week until the whole £5 is paid up. The amount of capital at present subscribed is £612, of which £185 has been supplied by nine gentlemen who take an interest in the movement, and the remainder (£127) by fifteen labouring men. Mr Morrison, M.P., for Plymouth, subscribed no less a sum than £80, besides in helping in what appears to be a more important matter, viz., the drawing up of sound rules for the society's government. The largest turn lubstribed by any labourer was £50, and this man, a genuine working man, is the manager of tht form. The sum of £714 has been ■pent in stocking the farm and on labour, &o. There is a good sized farm house, in which the manager and one labourer (being all the haudi at present employed) lire. They have their rent free, and the former reoeives 18s 9d, together with an allowance for going to market, while the latter receives 16s. No one who is not a member of the •Dciety is regularly employed on the farm, though labourers who are not raeraben are occasionally employed on jobs. The application of net profits ii to be as follows : — 10 per esnt. to be devoted to a depreciation fund ; an amount not exceeding 5 per cent, to the payment of a dividend to the shareholder! ; then there is to be paid "to every person employed by the society as nn officer of, or labourer for. the isme lum of money as shall neither exceed one-tenth part of aucli net profits nor onetixth part of the salary or wa^e» earned by such officer or labourer during the twelve months. 1 Any profits re maimng after these payments are to be applied (1) " in forming a reserve fund to provide against casualties," and (2) in paying an additional dividend. Then there is a provision that " the members shall have power to appropriate a sum of not ler s than 2b per cent, of the net profits in forming a fund to promote the moral and intellectual welfare of its members, or to spread among their countrymen a knowledge of the principles of co-operation." The primary virtue of the society consists in its offering an incentive to providence, by giving agricultural labourers an investment for their savings in the land. We are all moro likely to »ive money when we see a good investment [for" it in the special business which we understand or are connected with. At Leintwardine, the agricultural labourer sees this farm before his eyes ; and then there are his fellow-agricultural labourers, not only working— some of them, on their own I property, but drawing — all of them — the profits of the concern lie himself becomes, in fact, if bo joins the society, a farmer, and takes the farmer's profits. He lees thus the reason for saving in a new light. Antagonism between labour and capital ceases when the labourer becomes a capitalist. But bow is nn agricultural labourer to save, on his wages, enough to belong to such a society ? I leave others to answer this question, and content myself ssmply by remarking that the labourers at Leintwardine have managed it. Wages there are, at the present time, 17s a week. In 1871 they were from 103 to 12s. One of the labouring shareholders of the farm, for example, has raised bis capital gradually out of wages which were, when ho commenced saving, some years azo, at 7s a week, and two years ago only, on an average, at 11s.

A curious cnse of bankruptcy came before His Honor Mr Justice Johnston a few days since, and is reported as follows by the Tribune .—ln re Edwin Hibberd. Mr Moorliouse applied for the bankrupt's discharge, which Mr Travers, acting for Messrs Brogdennnd Sons, opposed. The applicant was one of Messrs Brogden's immigrants, nnd his itatement was that he had only received 5s 4d per day for his labour from that firm, of which Is a day had been deducted for passage money, and that consequently the amount paid to him was inadequnte for the support of his family, member* of which were in bad health. His Honor, in granting the bankrupt's discharge, laid down a very distinct rule that persons coming to the colony as assisted immigrants were not to eupposo for a moment that they could come to that Court, file a petition, and at once free themselves from all liability for the promise they had givon to pay their passage money or any other debt. It wai quite otherwise. Hnd not this been a somewhat exceptional case, he certainly should have adjourned it for further enquiry, and had the bankrupt been a bachelor, or had his family been a strong and useful one to help him, he should have mode the order of discharge conditional on his paying a certain proportion of his earning towards tho satisfaction of the debts of his bankruptcy. How pleasant it is, in this wicked old world, say< the " Peoria Review," to meet a man in the busy walks of life, whose face is an open book, bearing the imprint of honesty, Avhose nobility of <oul spe.iki in his -rery glancei, whose whole demeanor inspires you with a yearning plntonic affeotion for him that only needs cultivation to inspire the possessor to know more of him md taorrow money of him, as it were. Ah, yei