TRANSFERABLE CAPITAL.
During the summer of 1884 the Society was experimenting with a new form of barm, produced by a patent process. The results of the experiments, however, were not satisfactory. The new barm was found to be no improvement on the old, while the recipe would cost £5, and thereafter there was to be a royalty of a halfpenny per sack of flour used, which was to continue for a year, so the committee decided that no advantage would accrue to the Society by adopting the new system. About the same time the committee were in correspondence with Mr E. V. Neale on the question of the best method to be adopted for making the loan capital of the Society secure. They considered the information they received from Mr Neale so valuable that they decided to print it and send a copy to each member society.
Notwithstanding the difficulties with which they were meeting, consequent on their shortage of oven accommodation, the committee were ever zealous in their endeavours to get new trade from societies which were not members and to increase the trade of those which were. During the summer months they caused a number of letters to be sent to societies, requesting that deputations should be received, and by this means they were able to secure increased trade from some of the societies which were not as loyal as they might have been. Arising out of the correspondence with Mr Neale, it was agreed at the September quarterly meeting in 1884 to appoint a special committee to go into the whole question of the capital of the Society, with special reference to that held on loan, and with power to consult a Scottish legal authority on the subject, the committee to report to the December quarterly meeting. The special committee consulted the Lord Advocate on the subject, with the result that, at a special meeting which was held in March of the following year, the whole share capital of the Society was made transferable, while the interest on loans was reduced from 5 per cent. to 4½ per cent.