At the end of 1887 the Society was doing a trade of over 410 sacks per week, and in the first month of the new year 600 new shares were granted to societies. By the end of the 77th quarter the trade had risen to 446 sacks per week, and a dividend of 1/3 was paid. The increases which were taking place in the numbers of shares held by the societies pointed to increases in membership, and therefore to opportunities for increased trade by the Federation. The directors were fully alive to this phase of the subject, and although they were still a considerable distance from producing the full capacity of the bakery, it was becoming evident that if the present rate of increase continued that limit would soon be reached. At the same time they could be pardoned if they felt that the delegates were not as appreciative of the work which was being done as they might have been. This lack of appreciation was shown in a remarkable and unprecedented manner at the 76th quarterly meeting of the Society when, by a majority of two votes, it was decided to reduce the payments made to them for their services from 3/ to 2/ per meeting. Lack of appreciation could hardly have gone further short of asking them to resign in a body. It was a very shabby return for the years of strenuous work which had made the Baking Society that outstanding instance of Co-operative enterprise which it had become. The directors went on with their work calmly, however, content to merit, even if they did not receive, the appreciation to which their efforts for the success of the Federation entitled them.
CHAPTER IX.
M‘NEIL STREET: RAPID DEVELOPMENTS.
A BISCUIT FACTORY—FURTHER EXTENSIONS—THE U.C.B.S. AND THE S.C.W.S.—AN ACCIDENT—RESIGNATION OF FOREMAN BAKER—CO-OPERATIVE FAILURES—THE MANAGER RESIGNS—FIRST GLASGOW BOYCOTT—A NEW PRESIDENT—MAJORITY CELEBRATIONS—THE DINNER—STILL MORE EXTENSIONS—THE INFLUENCE OF CONGRESS—EXTENSIONS AGAIN—ST JAMES STREET PREMISES SOLD—NEW BUILDING COLLAPSES—MORE BUILDING—BUILDING DEPARTMENT STARTED.
The Baking Society had now entered on a period of extraordinary development. Department was added to department and extension followed extension with marvellous rapidity. It seemed, indeed, as if the spirit of Co-operation had only been waiting for a suitable habitation in order to show the great things of which it was capable. In the six years—1888–1894—the output of the Society rose from 466 sacks per week to 1,254, and the number of departments in the bakery from two to seven, while tearooms had been opened, a purveying department was being carried on, and a workshops and trades department was in operation. The sales for the 77th quarter were £12,438; by the end of the year they were £16,490, and by the 88th, which, however, was a fourteen week quarter, they were £27,210. The trade had more than doubled in three years. In the same period the membership, which had been thirty-six societies at the end of the 77th quarter, had grown to forty-six at the end of the 88th.
Before the Society had been six months installed in M‘Neil Street the committee were beginning to have visions of congestion such as they had experienced in St James Street, unless they took time by the forelock and made arrangements which would enable them to grapple with their ever-increasing trade before it again overwhelmed them. The first business they decided to tackle was that of erecting a biscuit factory, where they could produce fancy biscuits of all kinds. Hitherto they had been getting such biscuits as they were able to sell from a firm of manufacturers in the city, and were having them invoiced through the S.C.W.S. Investigation showed that this mode of procedure was one which was not profitable to the Society, but, at the time when the investigation was made, the directors were not in a position to do anything; and when they secured the ground on which to build their new factory the congestion in their bread department made instant provision for that department the premier necessity. But now that they had the bread difficulty settled for a short time they turned their attention to the question of biscuits. Provision had been made in the new building for a travelling oven, but its installation had been held over while the more important work was being carried out. Early in 1888, however, it was decided to purchase a biscuit cutting machine, and one similar to the working model which was being shown in Glasgow Exhibition was ordered, at a cost of £258. They did not act without caution, however, for before the machine was purchased they wrote to the manager of Crumpsall bakery for his opinion of the biscuit machines made by the firm from which they proposed to purchase. With the object of ensuring that everything possible would be done to promote the sale of the biscuits when they were made, the committee also approached the directors of the Wholesale Society as to the likelihood of that federation becoming agent for the U.C.B.S. in the biscuit trade. They were informed that the Wholesale Society viewed the proposal favourably, and were likely to adopt it when the occasion arose. The societies were all circularised with the view of ascertaining what was the aggregate trade in biscuits which might be expected.
FURTHER EXTENSIONS.
Hitherto the committee had only the erection of a biscuit factory in mind, and plans for that building had been prepared, and in January of 1889 were considered by them. By February, however, they came to the decision that a biscuit factory was not enough. The trade now exceeded 600 sacks per week, an increase of 200 sacks inside the year, and they were of opinion that further extensions were necessary to meet the growing demand for bread. They therefore asked the quarterly meeting for permission to spend between £3,000 and £4,000 on the erection of a new wing to the bakery. This power was granted readily.
They were now ready to proceed, but they had learned something from their experience while the first portion of M‘Neil Street premises was being erected, so they decided to consult with the architect as to whether it would be advisable to put the whole of the work in connection with the erection of the building into the hands of one contractor, so as to get a time limit inserted in the contract. The architect, however, was not in favour of placing all the work in the hands of one contractor. The firm of masons who had built the earlier section were again successful in obtaining the contract for the building work. The contracts for the whole of the building work were fixed for a total sum of £5,532. A few weeks later a contract was fixed up for the erection of a travelling biscuit oven, at a cost of £200.
The new building when completed added very considerably to the Society’s productive power. It contained on the first flat the pastry bakehouse with four ovens; on the second flat the fancy biscuit department with one travelling oven and four ordinary ovens; the third flat was devoted to the operations of the biscuit and pastry packing workers; while on the fourth flat was the new oatcake bakery. The whole of the new wing was finished and ready to start operations at the beginning of April 1890, and not before it was required, for the average output had grown by then to 715 sacks per week, fifteen sacks more than the first building in M‘Neil Street had been erected to produce.