15 Nov.. 1919. 1 Co-operatioii for Farmers. 697 



be the sole aim and end of most farmers' associations. Xow, these 

 societies could do a vast amount of valuable work lor their members, 

 provided that those members also do their share of the work. They 

 should act as agents for the farmers; they should have their own reliable 

 agent in every considerable town, to whom they would consign the 

 l)roduce of various kinds intrusted to their care by the farmers. They 

 could arrange sales and prices in advance, by which action farmers 

 would have no need either to hawk their produce, or, if unable to sell, to 

 leave it to rot in the barn or town store. Then, again, the society could 

 act as buyers for their district. Goods bought wholesale are always 

 (cheaper than good.s bought retail. Thus the farmers could send iiu orders 

 for 20 tons of seed potatoes instead of paying through the nose for 1 ton. 

 It would be the same with all farm necessaries,- including sacks and 

 implements of all kinds. There is no need to enumerate all the advan- 

 tages this method of supply would bring in its train; they should be 

 sufficiently obvious to all interested in buying in a cheap market and 

 selling in a dear one. 



There is, however, one thing which might be dcme by these societies, 

 which, if well thought out and well carried out, would prove a blessing 

 to many: We allude to the formation of a fund out of which -farmers 

 who require a small loan to tide them over a temporary difficulty could 

 be assisted, and that with no loss of self-respect, for they could demand 

 the loan as a right under certain conditions. There should be nothing 

 of the land bank about this scheme. A little farther back we spoke of 

 most men spending a shilling or two in town when bringing in their 

 produce. Suppose that these shillings (which most can well afford, or 

 they would not spend them) were subscribed weekly to a fund operated 

 upon by the president and committee of a farmers' association. In a 

 district where 100 farmers are resident, if each were to subscribe, say. 

 Is. or 2s. weekly (the eggs would provide so much money and a good 

 deal more, or they should do so, on a well-managed farm), these weekly 

 deposits, to use a convenient term, would, at Is. per week, produce £260, 

 and, at 2s., £520 in one year. For the first year after the formation of 

 the fund, no borrowing should take place. The money would be placed 

 out at interest for short periods, by which means the fund would be 

 considerably increased. ISTow, when a farmer wanted a small sum, 

 say from £5 to £25, he could borrow it for a short term at low interest, 

 and repay the principal and interest by easy instalments. The fund 

 would thus take the form of a savings bank, in which the farmer receives 

 interest on his money, and on which he can draw for an emergency on 

 the most favorable terms, fair security being given for the repayment. 

 Such a scheme appears to us feasible, but would naturally require care- 

 ful elaboration, and could only be successful by the hearty co-operation 

 of the farmers themselves. That the advantages of complete co-operation 

 are not seen and seized upon by all our farmers is one of those things 

 " which no feller can understand." See how easy it works out. A man 

 goes into a shop to buy a pound of tea. The price is 2s. Suppose he 

 took a chest. Then the price is Is. 8d. And so with all goods, the greater 

 the quantity purchased the less has to be paid. What more need be 

 said on this subject? 



— Queensland AgriciiUvral Journal. 



