SEEKING TRADE IN ENGLAND.
The work in England proceeded on somewhat different lines. There the Society worked on the plan of appointing travellers on commission. These activities of the Society, however, were not viewed with favour by the C.W.S. directors, and in May 1899 a meeting of representatives of the two boards took place, at which the situation was discussed. The English Society complained of the action of the Baking Society in putting travellers on the road, and stated that from the report of the quarterly meeting which had appeared in the Co-operative News they had learned that it was the intention of the Baking Society to alter their rules so as to permit of the admission of English societies to the Federation. They contended that hitherto there had been a clear line of demarcation, and they regretted that the Baking Federation now saw fit to overstep this. In reply the representatives of the U.C.B.S. stated that they were not going into England for the purpose of competing with the C.W.S., but with the object of getting the Scottish trade there which was going past the movement at present, and they stated that if the C.W.S. had consented to become agents for the Baking Society when the last interview took place the present difficulty would not have arisen. The Baking Society representatives were pressed to withdraw their traveller, and, although they would not consent to do this, they promised that before any English society was admitted a member of the Baking Federation, the Wholesale Society would be acquainted with the fact.
Again in September of the same year a request that the Baking Society’s travellers should be withdrawn from England was received from the Wholesale Society, but this the directors refused to do. Instead of withdrawing, two additional representatives were appointed in the following year, and, some time later, Mr Forshaw, the Society’s traveller in the East of Scotland, was sent on a visit to Newcastle-on-Tyne and Gateshead, which resulted in good orders being received and shortly afterwards in Newcastle-on-Tyne Society joining the Federation. At the quarterly meeting, which was held on 2nd September 1899, the rules of the Federation were altered to permit societies which were not customers for loaf bread to become members on taking out not less than fifty shares in the Federation, and at the same meeting it was agreed to raise the value of the shares from 15/ to 20/ each. The date of the quarterly meetings was altered from the first Saturday to the third Saturday of the month, and the basis of membership was altered so that, instead of a second delegate being allotted for £160 of purchases, the purchases of the largest society, divided by fifty, formed the basis of representation. It was also agreed that in future the balance-sheet be issued half-yearly instead of quarterly.