[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — This subject is now
in the limelight, ripe for treat- ment, and further discussion almost superfluous. Lord Bledisloe's agenda is so obviously what is wanted to be done that the only thing to be said about it is to get on with the doing of it The moment the decision to act is taken and made known, many farmers will be saved from trooping into the bankruptcy courts, and new hope and fresh courage will be brought to the support and heartening of those who are already in the hands of money-lenders or who are being forced into bankruptcy for want of liquid working capital.
The finance of the scheme will appear to some to be an obstacle impossible to surmount without Government subsi- dies, but that is not so. Taken seriatim, the items in the programme of policy set out in his lordship's address can one and all be put to the credit of the industry collectively, each as a going concern, if handled one at a time, taking thin in the order of their expediency and urgency.
My suggestion as to finance is the following : Let every farmer wanting the scheme agree to subscribe five guineas a year for three years and On. That fund would permit of installation and equipment of the head and brain of the enterprise, and the launching of the first one or two or three items on the agenda. As success was reached the others would follow in natural sequence.
Organized credit facilities, I take it, would naturally be the first problem to be handled. It is a large subject, but also a very simple one. With every confidence I can predict that a mere fraction of the capital engaged in the industry, if pooled, could be readily assembled to produce a guarantee fund of forty or fifty millions, into which members could dip on pre-arranged terms for their seasonal requirements. With the central fund as their only creditor they would be freed from the ever-recurring calls of their suppliers to settle accounts long past due, and the suppliers in turn would be freed from the ever constant need to get in their long-overdue accounts, and thus be in a position to offer greatly improved
service. Non-members, also, would have access to the central fund, but on such enhanced terms as to make it worth their while to become subscribing members. In my estimation transport would be the next big problem to tackle so soon as some minor obstacles and hindrances common to all farmers, progressive and otherwise, were got rid of by common action, but these later questions need not be discussed now.—I am,
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