TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1884.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1885, 5 August 1884, Page 2

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1884.

The middleman is scotched, not killed, in Waikato. What with open foe.s outside, lukewarm supporters and injudicious friends within, co-operation is having a hard struggle for existence amongst us. We have, however, no fears whatever for the ultimata result. ' The very means which its enemies 9-re taking to strangle the infant institution carry their antidote with them. The engineer will be hoist ■with his own pc ard. From the first the promoters of the co-opera-tive association were told that they i, r \yipuld have tp, compete with vested interests, with' capital at their back, powerful enough to cut the ground •~£rdm und"*a|feitheir feet. Nor were , The" starltfuja;' 1 ofHhe ai^ociation" in H busin^ET^o(s feeen followed by " q, reduction J "iu

price on those goods which Lirtners usually buy of from from 10 to 15 per cent, and in some cases to the eo->t price itself of the article, the objeel, of course, being to cause the av->oeixuon to sell lower, or as low, or to be left outside the market altogether. But in doing this they are only proving to the public the value of co operation. Waikato settlers have the practical result before them, but they must not and will not forget that it is to the association they owe this beneficial change, and that, ihe association killed, the pi ices will again go up to their former rates. It therefore behoves every shareholder in the association to remain loyal to it, to ; keep its motto m'cr b-fore him. Me may be offered seeds, machinery and manures at as low a figure elsewhere ; perhaps even, at a lower, but it will be to his interest to deal with the association. 'Ihe watchdog that keeps the wolf from the door must not be starved to death, j And for other reasons he will find | it to hit. interest to deal with the assK-iation. The articles supplied ai'e uniformly of a reliable character ; the prices are at lowest , remuneiative values ; the knowledge that no pecuniary advantage can accrue to the salesman establishes a confidence between buyer and seller that could not exist if applied to the general trader. A shareholder sees in the association the medium through which he can be supplied with genuine articles, as well as the legitimate outlet for the best disposal of his own surplus produce. There is but one object to be served by the employes, that is, the best interests of their em ployers, the shareholders, in a word, the customer of the association s cures for himself a guarantee in the, matter of weights, measures, quality and prices which he cannot always secure elsewhere. Add to this that, if a shareholder, he still further secures a share of the profits of the association in pioportion, not to the number of his shares, but to the amount of the business he does with it, and sufficient argument has, we think, be.on shown why the farmer should not allow himself to lie led away from supporting the institution by liis custom and support, If he does so, if he suffer the association to die from inanition, so surely wi'l he find prices raised upon him again, and his last state will l)e woi'^e than his first, for co-opera-tion once blotted out in Waikato would not be resuscitated for years. But competition is not tin only weapon brought to bear against cooperation. Misrepresentation and even detraction are not spared in order to ell'ect its downfall. The question of the branch stores, and of i ho purchase of Messis Clark and (fane's business have been most unfairly made handles of with this object. To deal first with the latter, we may tako this opportunity of setting sharehold< rs and the public right as to those- purchases. They ■tic, it is true, a one-sided bargain, but the one-sidedness is wholly in favour of the association, and leads us to think most favourably of the business capacity of the directors. 11l any case Messrs Clink and Gane'.s Cambndgo business was for sale, so, too, was that of Mr Wright at To Awamutu. If the association had not bought it, othei s were pi epared — we say tins advist dly — to do so, and a large business doing some £12,000 a year would not only have been lost, but a formidable opposition left in the district. The opportunity to purchase Messrs Clark and Gane's stock came most opportunely at the moment when the association was starting into business. Had the directois not purchased it they must have done one of two things, either have stood by till stocks could have been received from Home, or purchased stock in the Auckland market \\ith Auckland profits added, and of any quality they could have not. Instead of doing this, Messrs Claik and Gane's stock was in!>pc< ted by a committee, a nong.->i whom were Mr Heather and Mr Wa\ mou tli, of Mitchelson and Co., acting as business men in conjunction with other directois of the association, and pronounced equal in quality to, and better bought than that of any merchant in Auckland could possibly be. This was because of the superior advantages enjoyed by the firm in dealing through iho friendly agency of Messib Giice and Bonn, whose former connection with tlio seed tiade at Homo guve them great facilities for forwarding 1 Messrs Clark and Gane's interest in the matter. Then as to the terms. They are all in favour of the association. Or the i4OOO wortli of stock, the association could purchase as much or as little as it pleased, and did purchase only so much as was approved of on inspection, and was considered absolutely necessary for immediate requirements. This was bought at invoice prices and will be paid for only from timo to time as it is resold, with bank interest added. The same, with invoice of goods yet to arrive, whatever stock remains unsold is the property of Messrs Clark and Gano, and standsat their risk and disposal, unless some other arrangement be entered into. With such ant? arrangement we can see, too, the advantage and fairness of appointing Mr Gane temporary manager. It is to his interest to sell all he possibly can for the association, while it is but fair that as the stock not required, falls back upon his huids lie should have the care of it in the meantime. Ihe seeds in stock, we may say, are all new, some are even now landing, and further shipments are on the way from Home. There is not a pound of old seecUin the whole, lot, so that-the report industriously"circulated by the enemies of 1 the'association, and wlriph! hayfy^fye know, been foolishly? beHeVed^bjr. some, that the ".latter had had & worthless stock imposed" iipori^theiii • is;^ rioti to pijb, tbo : fine H 'MhCviJTOf

ous misrepresentation. No hotter answer could perhaps lie made than the fact tint Mr Untie is prepared it' the association choose, to obtain a protit for them on the resale of the O.i'ii bridge and To Awamutu stocks aid business. I hose who should be the best judges in the matter, Messrs Clark and (janes old customers around Cambridge and in other parts of Waikato, who had before stood out from the association, an; now one after ai. other becoming shareholders. There is, too, another class which is doing injury to the association by injudicious fault-finding in the press — who give utterance to statements, made no doubt in all go )d faith, l)ii t which wt.l not bear the test of scrutiny. Such a one was the recent attack made upon the directors for ess-xhlidhiug branch stores in Waikato as an unjustifiable venture. We take the writer's own figures. He puts the cost of working the Hamilton depot at £150, that at Cambridge at £450, and that at Te Awamutu A'2so per annum. Now, this writer had special facilities for 1 uirning the whole eireu n. stances of the case, yet out of his own mouth does he convict himself of either misunderstanding or misrepresenting them. He states the cost of working the Cambridge business at £450 per annum as a reason why it should prove a failure, yet that business profitably carried on by Messrs ("lark and Gane cost them a £1000 a year to work. Manifestly then the position of the association at Cambridge is hotter by -£550 per annum than was that of the late proprietors. At the time that the fe Awamutu business purchased from Mr Wright was carried on by Messrs Clark and Gane their returns were equal to the Cambridge business, £1000 per month, so that the same answer to the expenditure there will doubtless apply. Whilst referring to the latter branch depot we may state that it was owing to the earnest wish of le Awamutu settlers and shaieholder-, made through Mr Westney, that Mr Wright was appointed manager to that branch. The references we have made to the terms of purchase of Messrs Clark and Gane's stock are a sufficient answer U> other utterances in the same writer's letter, which we need nob further allude to, than to deprecate the rushing into print on nutters that were muic legitimately discussed at the board of the directory. Other writers, again, taunt the association with that, after professing to sell manures, seeds, Are., cheaper than other linns could do, they are " kindly oft' ring the fortunate and happy shareholder manures, seeds, &c. at a higher price than they can be obtained from any other firm." Here we have to do with misrepresentation of another kind, equally unfair. The writer does not tell the whole truth. It is quite true other firms sell at as low a price, perhaps lower, but why 1 Because the association fir&t cut down the price and these firms do so to crush out the association in order that, this competition being blotted out, they may return without fear of further let or hindrance to their old prices. Does the writer of these letters really wish to know " where the benefits to the settlers is supposed to come in?" They have "come in" already. On every ton of manure he buys, whether fiom the association or the outside trade, the settler, thanks to the former, save*' about 30s ;he saves 4s on every sack of flour and so on with other goods. He is drawing his dividends — and pretty large ones, too, — every time that he makes a purchase, and lie is getting a guarantee of quality, &c., with his goods, when he buys from the association, that is a somewhat new thing in liis experience. We would say to the directors, let them go on as they have begun, working steadily in the interests of the association. The carpings which assail them come not from within but from without. Shareholders feel and appreciate the time, the toil, and the expense which individually, some more, some less than others, the directors cheerfully incur, to advance the prospen'ty of an institution in which they as directors can have no other personal interest than that which every shareholder has, the opportunity to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market and the resuscitation of the fanning 1 interest from a depression into which it had fallen. When shareholders feel dissatisfied they will, depend upon it, take other means of expressing themselves than in mischievously attacking a businoss in which their own capital is invested, and on the success of which the prosperity of the district so much dopends. They resort to the calling- of an extraordinary meeting to air any grievance they may have. The directors, however, may rest assured that no such feeling of discontent exists. Nay, we will go further, and say unhesitatingly that should thoir balance-sheet at the year's end show a loss, brought about by outside competition aimed at the existence of the institution, they will receive a cordial vote of thanks for their services, for shareholders' are sensible enough to balance the indirect gains the association brings them against any i*easonable loss in working it at first. A reference to their invoice bills before and after the starting of the association will enable them to see how largely they have gained, if not in direct dividends, in money saved. What they have not got in malt they have got in meal. Clearly, then, there is but one course. In spite of temptations held out to deal away from f the association; in spite of mischfevo'us .misrepresentations, .of,?speretV*injuendos and . op'en^atfaieka iUpajC^tfe ' 'management," i aiay,, ' Sbecausf' «&|of * 3nterestt;Ktjsfl'^^jM4©^S

more unitedly and determinedly stand shoulder to shoulder together, and even at some personal sacrifice, if necessary, continue to do so, till the association is placed on so firm a business footing that it need fear no attack either from without or within. The cause they are fighting is not that of a trading firm who come to their assistance, temporarily lowering prices until a trade is established, and which may leave them at any timo more securely bound than ever before in the hands of monopoly, but their own business, established, managed, and controlled by themselves and for themselves.

Studies will be resumed at the Hamilton East Schools to-morrow. The piece of domain land on the Victoria Road reserved tor the purposo of agricultural shows, and the site of » farmers' club, is spoken of as a site for the proposed Catnbiidge Cheese and Bacon Factory. Commander Edwin telegraphed at 1.48 p.m. yes.tord.iy : — E\pect bad weatbei after 16 houis from now between north and east and .south-east, with heavy rain and much wanner weather, and glass fall within six hours. An elderly lady named Mrs Edwards, of Cambridge, has laid an infoi mation against seveial boys for illuming hei pet cat by stoning it. The case comes on for bearing at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Friday ne\t. An attempt is at present being made at Cambridge to oigauise a seres of paper hunts for the season. It is proposed that these should be held once a fortnight, and that a club should be duly organised to properly conduct the same. We understand that it is intended to call a meeting next Satin day evening with this object. The lime-light entertainment to the children of S. Petei 's (Sunday-school, and then friends and the public generally, will be given in the Public Hall, Hamilton, this evening. Welmo aluady indicated the licitme of the entertainment, which promise-, to be moie than adm.uily good. The Rev. J. S. Hill, of Auckland, ha.s geneiou&ly consented to come up and deliver the desouptive lecture. The ratepayers of Cambridge would do well to beai in mind that the geneial election of town commissioners will take place on the 17th Septembei, when it will be necessary to elect five commissioners for the enduing term of office. We have been led to understand that seveial of the present meinbeis do not indeed to seek reelection. It is therefore for the ratepayers to cast around and choose gentlemen suitable to lepic^ent them m the local body. The Rev. J- G. Wilson, the pastor of the Cambiidge Baptist Tabernacle, has ai ranged to deliver a senes of .sermons at the Tabeinaole on ''Studies around the Cioss of Chiist" on successive Sunday evening*. The fhstofthe senes was deli veied on Sunday evening last, ■when the ie\eiend gentleman took for his subject, " A Sunshine Prayer and <i Simple Plea." The diseoiuse vva^ veiy mteiesting, and \\a» effectively deliveied. Theie was a good attendance. In our report of the Te Awamutu R.M. in Saturday-, l&biie two or three typoyrahicalenoia occuued which to some extent marred the sense of the report. Towaid.s the close of Mr Noithcioft's evidence the wordb " that the hoise belongs to his bi other" weie inadvei tently repeated. In the .sentence " 1 will not swear positively that Gillies did ' not ' say to the native &c." the word quoted was omitted. In the repot tof the case Uieshain v. Lewis, " Ellison's goods' should lead " Ellison's land " Mr E. Lindsay, engineer of the steamer Rangiiin, met with a painful accident on Satuulay at Ngaiuavvahia. In the afternoon he was walking along the deck when he fell down the hatchway which he, thinking it wji closed, was not looking at. The injury sustained was a dislocation of the left shoulder. There being no medical man at Ngaruauahia, Mr Lindsay was diiven up to Hamilfon and the dislocation was i educed by Mr R. I*\ Sande.s. A meeting of Cambridge district settleis held on Satuiday evening last, for the pin pose of consideiing the proposal to .stait a cheese factory was of a\ery suc-cas-ful character. Those piespnt went into the question at considei able length and all points of interest weio fully discussed. Captain Ruucnnan attended and ga\e some very valuable and encouraging inhumation. It was almost unanimously agieedth.it a factory should be started, and a committee was appointed to take the picltuunary steps towaidi the stastmg of a company. A full lepoit of the proceedings appears el&ewhere. An impudent robbery was perpetrated on the premises of the Nottingham Castle Hotel, Moirinsville, on Sunday night. Aftei the household had retired to bed the thieves made an offorl to get into the bar by cutting the lock out of the door. Apparently finding the plan too tedious they abandoned it, and going outside descended into the cellar, and thence obtained access to the bar by means of a, trap-door. The visitors appeal to ha\e confined themselves to the till or cash-bo\, from which they absti acted about £30, made up of a small cheque, about 20 £1 notes, and some gold and silvei, together with a valuable gold watch. Up to the time when our infoi m ant left no clue to the identity of the robbeis had been obtained. A meeting of the Hamilton Domain Board was held last night. Mr F. Foiiest wrote offeiing to plant Sydney Square with forest and ornamontal trees for the sum of £12. He also offeied to plant a live fence around the Square. The Mayor said the state of their finances piecluded their undertaking the woik at present, and the matter was not discussed. The Secietaiy repoited that he had leceived an offer from the Auckland Acclimatisation Society of a fuither consignment of brown trout ova, and, as the matter involved no expense, he had wiitten accepting the offer. The secretary's action was approved. An application from Mr R. Kerry for leave to transfer the lease of lots 20, 30 and 31. Hamilton East, to Hugh Kelly, was refused. The board resolved to offer for sale the lea=e of a number of allotments at Hamilton East. This was all the business. A meeting of the Hamilton Cemetery Tiust was held last night in the council chambers, the mayor presiding. The Secretary read the report stating that tenders had been let for fencing and clearing the cemetery. The Engineer repoited that he had, in conjunction with Messrs Lovett and Johnson, inspected the road from Galloway-street to the East Cemetery, and submitted a rough plan of the proposed works, which he calculated would cost £GO, including a culvert 30ft. long, and would give a good grade. The committee instructed him to prepare plans and specifications at once, and on receipt of these the fcecietary will call for tenders for the work. The bye-laws relating to the management of the cemeteries were then considered, and with a few amendments were passed. At the Police Court, Hamilton, yesterday, before Mr H. W. Northcroft, R.M., William Lawlor, convicted of drunkenness on Saturday night, was fined 5s and costs, with the usual alternative. Alexander Anderson and Frank Kerin were charged ■with being drunk and disorderly, and with refusing to leave a licensed house when requested to do so. It appears that the prisoners went into the Waikato Hotel on Saturday night and demanded liquor, which was refused. They repeated their demand on the ground that they were travellers, and when ordered to laava thg> house became noisy and abusive. The landlord sent for Constable Murray, who arrested both prisoners and locked them up for the night. The Magistrate considered the cape a very aggravated one, and fined each prisoner £3, with costs Gs, oi 1 , in default, one month's imprisonment. The money' was paid,' , The following'special messages to the Press Association, .. dated Lpndon August 2, have ' been published :--Tbe Spectator , urges that the several AgentsGeneral' «f Australasia should be formed into' a,,' Colonial' Council of Advioe.4iThe Saturday Eeyiew, in a 'strong article 'on" the > J oplonial ? ~^ep.tfesenta.ttonv urges,' that .the 'Atistvaltan ,co]ohies sbouldnbo permitted! to relec*i>i¥pr§9entao.£os- ftfr yjsh&VtJnip.e m al v 4BasliarhßM.'^FWriting;on thft's'&bjaoi' df : the s ,

the Federation Enabling Bill. The Spectator favours this course.— Several off coast cargoes of Australian wheat have been Bold at prices ranging from 39s to 3!) a 3d. Respecting the new railway timetable to he brought into force on the opening of ihe Cambridge and Morrinsville branches, the Cambridge Town Board is. t.iking action with the Piako County Council in urging upon the Minister for Public YVnrks the necessity of adhering to the old tinuvtable, so that the train may not reach the Oanibridge station later than half-past three in the afternoon. A communication on the matter has been forwaided by the board to the members for Waikato and Waipa, asking them to give the matter thoir earnest attention. For some time past the Cambridge district public have beeu looking forward to the time when their mail would be delivered about an hour earlier than at present, and are therefoie gi eatly disappointed, now that the railway is completed, to find that instead of anivmg earlier both passengers and mails will not airive for some considerable time later. We hope the table will be modified to the wish of those mainly interested, and not fixed so as merely to suit the convenience of settle's residing in the various districts between Auckland and Meicer. The usual monthly meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council was held at the chambers last night. Present : His Worship the Mayor, Crs. Davy, Gaudin, Biadley, Tippen, Lovett, Johnson and Steadtuaii.— The Town Clerk leported that, acting on< instructions fiom the Mayor, he had telegraphed to the Minister for Public Works, asking that" the Resident Engineer might be allowed to examine the land piers of the traffic bridge, portions of which were very much decayed. A reply had been received, stating that the Department wa« quite willing to allow Mr Beere to inspect thebiidge, but reminding the council that as the structure had now been vested in the boiough and the adjoining counties, tho Government would not boar any further expense in connection therewith. — On the application of Mr Bastable, it was resolved to put a few loads of gravel on the footpath in Ni\ou street. The eotmnittee appointed foi the purpose iei>oited that the work of fencing the school-house gully, Hamilton East, would involve greater expense than the council would be justified in incurring. The following account-, wore passed for payment :■— W.C. and Shipping Company, £1 Is ; ii. Wayte, €20 !)s (id ; A. Campbell, £2 4s 3d ; It. Keiry, 7s (id ; F. A. Wlutakei, £3 18s8d. An account of 4s fiom Mr C. Kodgers for lighting the Public Hall for two public meetings was struck out at the instance of the Mayor and Cr. Tippon. who considered that as the council had refunded the hall rates, £2 10s, and as these meetings were held at a tune when efforts ueie being made to secure the hall for the borough, the tiustees could not ieahonably ask for payment. An application by the Rev John Dukes to have a, culveit put in on the load leading to his residence was leferied to the works committee, with power to «ict. Some other business, chiefly of a routine nature, having been transacted, the council rose. Yesterday's Herald says :— From piiv.ifce a 1 vices we learn that Mr Samuel Grant, lately delegate, in connection vith Mi Foster, fiom Lincolnshiie, has been commissioned to proceed to thw colony to inspect and value some of the laige-t and most desiiable estates in the Noith Island, with a view of their subdivision. Mr Giant is a passenger by the steamer lonic, which is expected to come into port to-day, and will at once pi owed to the Waikato to see some of the etates in question. It is his intention toietum to England in the month of November next, and will then be piepaied to offer the properties for sale to intending puichaseis. His personal inspection will enable him to hay what he thinks of the sevei al farms submitted, and to furnish all necessary information respecting their position, state of improvement and facilities of access by tail or water to the principal towns. The pui pose is to induce practical farmeis, possessed of experience and some moans, to immigrate fiom the old country to settle in this young and piomising colony. Already notices have appealed in the piovincial papers of England di awing the attention of families engaged m pust'iial and agricultural pursuits Lo the undertaking, and tho advantageous conditions as to pi ices ond terms of payment under which the pi oper ties aie offered. A considerable number of applications, we are infoimed, had been lecened piioi to Mr Grant's departiue fiom England, and there can be little doubt that, on his return, there will be a demand on the part of many persons desirous to avail themselves of the oppoitunity of securing valuable homesteads. We look forvvaid with considerable inteiest to the liitioduction to this pait of the counti y of the superioi class of settlet s whom it is the object of this plan of immigration to introduce. A laige and impoitant inciease to the industrious population of the Waikato and adjacent districts will thus be seemed which cannot fail t > give an immense impulse to farming operations in these favoured localities.