1: May, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 335 
Co-operation Again. 
WE have frequently drawn attention to the advantages farmers would derive 
from co-operating to obtain their implements, machinery, and general supplies. 
Every agricultural paper all over the colonies advises the same thing, and yet 
farmers seem to be a long way from grasping the idea. Even in the land of 
co-operation—the United States and Canada—the rural journals are still 
hammering away at the same subject. This is what the Winnipeg Weekly 
Tribune says about it :— 
“ During the past summer we printed in these columns a series of articles 
on the subject of co-operation, in which we showed how much the people of 
this province needed to bind themselves together to resist the extortionate 
terms which are charged them for the most of what they buy. We believe that if 
there was co-operative buying of farm machinery, for instance, there would be 
saved to the farmer 33 per cent., and that 75 dollars would go as far as 
100 dojlars do now, and we have the evidence to show this is so. ‘The same 
is true inlumber, and a great many other things that the farmers buy in large 
quantities. 
‘Co-operation. The most of the capital of the country is inherent in the 
farmers, and if they were united they would have unlimited credit. 
“The grain crop of ’98 should be handled entirely by co-operation amongst 
the farmers. 
“Let this be the subject of deliberation at the farmers’ gatherings this. 
month. Surely, there is business acumen enough amongst the farmers to keep 
themselves from being so unmercifully fleeced.”’ 
Take the case of American ploughs as an example. They can be purchased 
in Brisbane for 80s.; but, if half-a-dozen are ordered, the price immediately 
falls to 25s., and even to £1. ‘Thus the farmers become dealers, and get the 
dealers’ profits. Surely any man can see his way to saving 10s., or even 5s., 
on a single implement; and in a large community of farmers it should not be 
difficult to find six men who want a plough. It is the same with flour, tea, 
sugar, sacks, seed, &c. A hundredweight, pound, or dozen are more expensive 
than a ton or a gross. Whatis wanted is organisation; and good organisation 
means a good organiser, There are plenty of such men in our agricultural 
districts. In days gone by, when seed potatoes arrived in Brisbane in shiploads 
from New Zealand and Tasmania, a ton was soldat from £10 to £15. A number 
of farmers combined to take some thirty tons. Their boats lay alongside the 
ship, and the potatoes were loaded into the farmers’ bags at from £6 to £8 per 
ton—a saving of over £120, divided amongst ten men. What has been done 
can be done again. Why should every man lose perhaps a day’s work for 
himself, horse, and dray, and travel ten or fifteen miles to bring home a bag of 
flour and another of sugar? The same labour, with an extra horse, would carry 
ten bags of flour, and there would be a saving on taking 2,000 Ib. of flour 
instead of 200 Ib. The advantages of combination are so palpable that it'seems 
almost unnecessary to point them out. There are just as smart business men 
amongst the farmers of Queensland as there are in the merchants’ houses of 
the cities. Jf these men would take the lead, others would soon be brought to 
see what large profits can be made by mere saving in cost of supplies. In the 
“General Notes” in this number of the Journal will be found a notice of the 
successful Co-operative Society of Aspatria (England). We recommend farmers 
to read it—mark and learn. 
