History of the United Co-operative Baking Society Ltd.

by William Reid

GLASGOW EXHIBITION.

The Society had guaranteed £500 towards the expenses of the Glasgow Industrial Exhibition, and the directors were desirous of taking every advantage of the Exhibition as an advertising medium. At first it was proposed that there should be a joint Co-operative stall, in which the two Wholesale societies, the Paisley Manufacturing Society, and the Baking Society should take part. The S.C.W.S. had been trying to obtain a plot of ground, and had succeeded, on the understanding that they should pay £2,000 of the cost, and the U.C.B.S. £1,300, but this arrangement was departed from, on the ground, as stated in the Baking Society’s minutes, that neither the English Wholesale Society nor the Paisley Manufacturing Society were taking part. The Baking Society then decided to proceed themselves and, after having made arrangements with two bakery machinery manufacturing firms, they made an offer for the right to erect a model bakery in the Exhibition. This offer was not accepted, however, although it was considerably higher than the offer which was finally accepted, the reason given being that the exhibit offered by the Baking Society was not likely to be so interesting as that of either of the two other firms which offered. The affair caused a considerable amount of discussion at the time, and the opinion was freely expressed that, while no doubt could be cast on the good faith of the Exhibition committee themselves, they had been misled by the experts whom they had consulted, and that the most interesting of the proposed exhibits, as well as the one which would have paid the Exhibition committee best to accept, was that of the Baking Society. However, if they were unable to exhibit a model bakery in full working order, and including a biscuit oven as well as bread making, they were able to secure a stance where they were able to make a display of goods which attracted much attention.

Among other methods which they adopted to advertise their goods and to keep the salesmen of the societies in touch with new departments and new goods, was a monthly letter, which they issued to salesmen, in which attention was called to anything which was new. During this period, also, they began to pack their biscuits in fancy, enamelled tins, and these had a great sale. The cake shows also were proving of great value in increasing the trade in this Christmas luxury; each year’s show meaning a big increase in sales; that for 1901 showing an increase of 6,255 large cakes and of 629 dozens of small cakes over the sales of the preceding season.

In the autumn of 1901 the delegates to the Irish Conference Association were the guests of the Federation in Glasgow, which provided them with lodgings and took them for visits to Shieldhall, the Bakery, and the Municipal Buildings, as well as for a drive round the principal places of interest in the city. In 1901 the Society won first prize for oatcakes at the Bakers’ Exhibition held in the Agricultural Hall, London. Earlier, too, as a result of a discussion which had taken place at a meeting of Glasgow Town Council, the committee sent one of their loaves to the City Analyst to be analysed. The analyst’s report was to the effect that the loaf had been weighed before being analysed; and he stated:—“We are of opinion that this is a loaf of the best quality. It contains an extra large proportion of albuminous compound and the minimum of water.”

At the beginning of 1902 the directors agreed to furnish one of the bedrooms at Seamill Home, while another was furnished by the heads of departments, and, at the quarterly meeting immediately following, the delegates voted £500 as a donation towards the building fund for the Inland Home at Galashiels. Other donations were:—£20 to the Gladstone Memorial, £50 to the Festival Fund, £40 to the Indian Famine Fund, £50 to the Lord Provost of Glasgow’s Special War Relief Fund, £25 to the Owen Memorial Fund, £500 to the Glasgow Technical College Fund, and £20 to the Thomas Slater Testimonial, as well as smaller sums to many other deserving objects.

EXTENSIONS.

During this period the extensions were neither so numerous nor so extensive as in that which immediately preceded it, for the increase in trade did not continue at a rate quite so rapid, but, nevertheless, several rather important extensions were made. Entry into the workshops, which were in course of completion in the summer of 1898, was secured in the autumn of that year, and to the new stables shortly afterwards, and about that time it was agreed to extend the biscuit factory and to utilise the old stable building, after reconstruction, as a biscuit warehouse and packing department. A considerable number of new machines were also purchased, these including fourteen or fifteen “dough-dividers” of a new pattern, manufactured by Werner, Pfleiderer & Perkins Ltd., at a cost of over £200 each, and a machine for the manufacture of sugar wafers. Three new travelling ovens were also procured for the biscuit factory. At the June 1899 quarterly meeting power was given to complete the South York Street building, operations on which had been suspended for nearly two years. At a later period it was agreed to roof in the north end of the courtyard and build a new reel oven there. It was also decided to increase the accommodation for the oatcake factory, so that the number of hot-plates might be increased from 80 to 140.

A proposal which occasioned some discussion at one or two of the general meetings of the Society was that of the directors to begin a provident fund for the employees. A number of employees had a sick benefit fund of their own, but it was proving inadequate to meet the demands on it, and those in charge approached the directors for assistance. This was granted, but, as the directors recognised that unless it was placed on a more or less compulsory basis it was not likely to secure the necessary stability, they had several consultations with representatives of the employees, and then took a ballot vote of the whole of the employees on the proposals which were submitted to them. This vote showed a majority of three to one of the employees in favour of the scheme, which was then brought before the delegates for their consideration and approval. Permission to hold a special meeting of the Society for the purpose of altering the rules to permit of a provident fund for the employees being established was granted, but at the special meeting the vote for the alteration of the rules was one less than the number necessary to give the requisite two-thirds majority, and so the proposal was defeated for the time being.

In the autumn of 1898 Mr Ballantyne resigned from his position of stable inspector, after having acted in that capacity for the long period of 28 years. At the quarterly meeting he was thanked for the long service he had given to the Society. The committee decided that the office should be abolished. Just at the end of this period it was decided to open a distributive depot in Falkirk, for the purpose of supplying the societies in that district. It was reported to the committee that there were altogether nineteen societies within a radius of twelve miles having 38 shops, which were purchasing over 500 tins of biscuits and 5,000 lbs. of oatcakes weekly. The new system was going to be more costly at the beginning, but the committee were under the impression that the trade would so increase under the new system that it would more than compensate for the additional cost.

At the end of 1901 the value of the Society’s property, including land, buildings, and fixtures, was £145,450, while the share capital, reserve, and insurance funds amounted to £102,441. Thus 70·5 per cent. of the total value of the buildings was covered. At the end of 1889, only 23 per cent. of the value had been so covered, and, notwithstanding the great increase in the value of the properties which had taken place since that time, the capital, reserve, and insurance funds had increased so much more rapidly that this very desirable result had been achieved in twelve years. The trade had grown very rapidly also in the same period, and, just at the close of the period, permission was granted to the directors to hold a demonstration for the purpose of celebrating a turnover of 3,000 sacks per week.