CO-OPERATION.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17840, 12 October 1929, Page 6

CO-OPERATION.

MR H. S. HAWKINS’ VIEWS. HANDICAPPED BY TAXATION. STRENGTH LIES IN LOYALTY. Noteworthy remarks of the powetf of co-operation and the hindrances to the movement in this country were uttered by Mr H. S. Hawkins, the retiring chairman of the Farmers’ Cooperative Auctioneering Company, in his address to the shareholders today. His words are here produced in full:— “As this will be my last opportunity of addressing you, may I say something about co-operation. The object of farmers’ co-operative companies is to stand between their members and the exploitation of proprietary interests, and in their struggle to that end they have many handicaps. The first is their want of capital as compared with that at the command of the companies working in opposition. The second is the necessity for restricted profits; otherwise the object could not be carried out. Rebates. “Thirdly, the expectation of members of rebates as -well as dividends. A very large proportion of ordinary shareholders in this company have only a few pounds each invested in share oapital. As a consequence rebates in the past have been in many cases considerably in excess of the shareholding of the recipient. This means that his contribution to the capital of the oompany is quite inadequate to finance the business he is doing and that his rebates are only possible by the employment of capital belonging to other members. The company is expected to pay, out of its restricted profits, not only interest on the capital employed in the form of dividends, but also a bonus in the form of rebates on the business done to earn those profits. 'This creates the next handicap, which is the great difficulty of putting aside reserves to enable them to carry on bad times. The Company Tax. “A further | handicap, common of course to all companies, is the enormous and unjust burden under the present incidence of taxation—by which a man with a few pounds Invested is taxed on the earning power of those few pounds on the same scale as another with an income of £IO,OOO a year. The graduated land-tax is as unjust a drain on our profits as the income-tax. “As a war measure any form of taxation may be justifiable to provide the means to save civilisation, but to perpetuate an injustice long after the necessity has disappeard, either beoause they are afraid to place the taxation justly or because they dare not ask their servants for a certain amount of extra work, is a disgrace to every Government that might have applied the remedy. “These are some of the handicaps we have to contend with and we liavo only one weapon with which to overcome them—that is unity among ourselves. A co-operative company is democratically governed, and with all the units pulling together their power might be irresistible. If they are pulling in different directions they-' can make no headway. Obligatory Support Suggested. “The conclusion I have arrived at after nearly a quarter of a century in the service of co-operation is that as long as farmers’ co-operation rests on a purely voluntary basis it cannot get very far. Combined action controlled and skilfully guided Is irresistible. Uncontrolled —i.e., left to the whim of the individual whether he support or not —all effective power is dissipated and lost. “The strength of the labour unions lies in their power of compulsion. The executive can require from every individual member a very substantial sacrifice for the good of the whole. There are few shareholders In a farmers’ co-operative company who will make any sort of sacrifice for the good of the whole. There are no members of a farmers’ co-operative federation who will do it. After many years of service the co-operative company and the co-operative federation can only ask their members to do business with them if they cannot do better elsewhere. Under such conditions you will not be much nearer the point you want to be at in 50 years' time than you are to-day. Appeal for Loyalty. “Co-operation means mutual help and entails mutual sacrifice. There need be no compulsion in the first instance on any individual to join up with co-opcration or to keep him there against his will, but while he is a member there should be sufficient compulsion to -make and keep him 100 per cent, loyal. “The prospects before the company were never brighter than they are today. We have a sounder financial posiLion and a greater capacity for service than we have had in our history. It lies with us by unity among ourselves and loyalty to (he company to make that service as effective as wo want it to be."