1 Serr., 1897.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 195 
Mutual Aid and Co-operation in Agriculture. 
Atrnovat the following paper on the above subject was read nearly a year 
ago, at the Highth Annual Congress of the Agricultural Bureau of South 
Australia, by Dr. T°. Ockley, representative of the Penola Branch, yet his 
remarks are so applicable to us in Queensland, and fit in so well with those 
made at the opening of the Queensland Agricultural College by the Hon. A. J. 
Thynne, Minister for Agriculture, that we reproduce it for the benefit of those 
of ovr readers who may not have had an opportunity of seeing the South 
Australian Journal of the Bureau of Agriculture :— 
Dr. Ocxtny said: I have endeavoured to collect for the Congress, as concisely 
as possible, what has taken place duzing the last few years in England and on the 
Continent in regard to co-operation. Co-operation in agriculture in England has so 
far not made any great strides. The agricultural community have not grasped the 
idea of the same beneficial expediency that the manufacturing community in the 
North of England has been enabled to grasp during the last forty years. But 
I believe the time is coming when the farmers of England will find it to their 
advantage to co-operate to sell their produce in the best market. Hnglishmen are con- 
servative. They have stuck to their old individualisms, and one man is continually 
competing with his neighbour, and even destroying the markets at his very door. 
(Applause.) I will just lay before you these. few notes which I have gathered 
together from time to time. ; 
When an industry is prosperous, indvidualism is natural enough to men whose 
living can be assured by their own efforts, but, when trials arise, the utility of 
association is immediately felt, for it alone can give to individuals the power which is 
indispensable for a successful struggle against financial difficulty. 
ndividuals are able to do very little to advance or improve society, but by 
combining for the purpose much can be accomplished. Mr. Mills has said that 
almost all. the advantages of man over the inferior animals arises from his power of 
acting in combination with his fellows, and of accomplishing by the united efforts of 
numbers what could not be attained by the detached efforts of individuals. 
The secret of social development is to be found in co-operation ; and the great 
question of improved economical and social life can: only receive a satisfactory 
solution through its means. ‘To effect good on a large scale, men must combine their 
efforts; this combination on the part of the consumers has been the means of provid- 
ing the great mass of the toiling population of England with cheap and wholesome 
food and clothing, making them healthy, happy, and prosperous. 
When the struggling producers of Australia combine as loyally together for the 
disposal of their produce as the pioneer co-operators of England did for the purchase 
of their necessities, it will be one great means of restoring the prosperity and happiness 
of the colonies, and on a surer, firmer basis than land or other booms. 
Co-operation may be described as a joint-stock individualism, having an undoubted 
tendency to breed self-dependence and exertion, especially in production, each vieing 
with the other in the production of the very best. ‘The importance of co-operation in 
England, Holland, and Denmark is well known, while in Germany, and especially on 
the Rhine, the co-operative societies are already an important factor of industrial life. 
Tn Germany the Raiffersen System of Co-operative Agricultural Credit Association 
has been established to prevent the small landowners from falling into the hands 
of the money-lender. ‘They grant no money to minors or spendthrifts, but only for 
_ the purposes of agricultural benefit, or by means of which the condition of its members 
is ameliorated. When the borrower receives a loan, the society sees that the proceeds 
are wholly expended for the purposes for which advances are made. A 
The rural loan banks of Northern Italy are also established on the same system 
since 1883. ‘The large amounts invested and the large annual turnover of the British 
societies has been fully entered into lately by the delegates sent out by them. As 
showing the strides co-operation is making in Europe—the productive and consumers’ 
associations on the Middle Rhine showed a few years ago a yearly expenditure of 
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