RESIGNATION OF FOREMAN BAKER.
At the end of the 79th quarter Mr Lang, who had been foreman baker with the Society during all the time they had been in St James Street, resigned his situation, and a Mr Marshall was appointed. Mr Marshall came to the Society with excellent testimonials, but, somehow or other, after his appointment the number of complaints with regard to the quality of the bread increased steadily, and at times came in from a dozen societies at once. He was interviewed repeatedly by the committee and the necessity of maintaining a high standard in bread was impressed on him, but little improvement took place. At length it was discovered by the sub-committee that he was absent from work without leave, and he was suspended by them, and at the next meeting of the full committee was dismissed, and Mr Robert Fraser was appointed. From Mr Fraser’s appointment complaints became much less frequent.
There were districts where Co-operation was not yet firmly established, and through the policy of the directors, which made for helping societies wherever possible, small sums were still being lost occasionally. The next society to close its doors was Clippens. For some time it had been in low water, and as the Federation was finding it impossible to obtain payment the supply of bread was stopped. The committee of the Renfrewshire Co-operative Conference Association undertook, however, to try and get that association to become security for payment, and supplies were again granted, but only for a short time as, when the matter came before the Conference, the delegates refused to accept any responsibility. It was then arranged that payment should be made for the bread on delivery, and that payments should be made periodically for the purpose of reducing the debt of the society. In a very short time this arrangement also was departed from, and the society shortly afterwards collapsed, the assets only paying ½ per £ of the debts owing. There were other societies which were not paying their accounts regularly, and on several occasions these were written to and requested to make prompt payments. About this time, also, Cessnock Society went into liquidation, but were able to pay about twenty shillings in the pound.