Full meetings shall be held on the second and last Saturdays of each month or other convenient dates, three to form a quorum. Two representatives from the board of management shall attend one of these meetings. Cost and profit statements and statistics of trade with societies for previous month shall be submitted and considered at this meeting. Matters of general policy and questions remitted from board of management shall be discussed with visitors. Minutes of all sub-committee meetings shall be submitted for confirmation to next full meeting. Distributive and productive managers shall be in attendance at all meetings.
Appointments for stocktaking, quarterly meetings of the Federation, visits to societies, conferences, etc., shall be made and reports of same received at full meetings.
The manager shall consult the members of the advisory committee when it is possible to do so on matters requiring to be dealt with between meetings, but this general instruction shall not prevent him acting on his own initiative when circumstances demand an immediate decision.
They shall be paid at the same rate as the members of the board of management doing the same work.
In 1917 Mr R. Fleming, who had acted as convener of the advisory committee from its formation, was elected a member of the board of the C.W.S. This necessitated the resignation of his position on the advisory committee, which took effect at the annual meeting with the Irish societies in July of that year. Mr J. M‘Guffin, president of Belfast Society, was elected his successor, and the thanks of the Bakery board and of the Irish delegates were accorded to Mr Fleming for the work he had done for the branch. At the quarterly meeting of the Federation in Glasgow which was held in June Mr Fleming was present, and there also the thanks of the delegates were conveyed to him by the chairman in an appreciative speech, to which Mr Fleming made fitting response.
In 1918 there were some differences of opinion on questions of management between the advisory committee and the board of management, with the result that the advisory committee suggested resigning in a body from their offices. This course of action did not commend itself either to the board of management or to the delegates, and the cause of friction was removed by another alteration of the constitution of the advisory committee, which gave that body another member. The principal alteration, however, was contained in the following clause which was added to the paragraph in the 1912 constitution which dealt with “Duties”:—
“Should any difference arise between the committee and the board of management which cannot be adjusted by correspondence, a joint meeting of both bodies shall be convened, and the matter determined by their united vote.”
This clause has the effect of giving the Irish societies one third of the total representation on the board of management when matters affecting Ireland which are controversial in their nature are being discussed and, while maintaining that supremacy which is the right of the larger and more powerful section of the Federation, ensures that the case of Ireland shall be put and determined in an atmosphere in which the fullest consideration will be given to the arguments adduced.
CONTINUOUS PROGRESS.
Already the new bakery was becoming too small for the work, and in August 1908 it was agreed to complete the central portion of the building by the addition of other two storeys at a cost of £2,263. Just prior to this time, however, the committee felt compelled to dispense with the services of their foreman baker, and Mr W. H. Bell, who had been his assistant, was appointed in his place. For several years Belfast Society used the stable at the bakery for stabling their horses, while they were also permitted to erect a cart shed and a shoeing forge. Later this society erected stables, etc., for themselves on property adjoining the bakery, and the ground which had been occupied by them was utilised by the Federation for necessary extensions to the bakery.