History of the United Co-operative Baking Society Ltd.

by William Reid

ORDERS FROM EGYPT.

The fame of the U.C.B.S. was by this time extending, with the result that in August of 1907 an order was received from a merchant in Alexandria for 500 barrels of biscuits. This was followed in October of the same year by a similar order. In the beginning of 1908 the Falkirk depot was closed. The coming of motor transport had made it possible to supply direct from M‘Neil Street the district which had been supplied from the depot. An alteration in the rules which was made in March 1908 allowed the directors to serve, in future, for two years without coming up for re-election. This rule ensured that when a society had been appointed to send a representative to the board, that society should be represented on the board for at least two years.

ORGANISATION.

There has always been more or less controversy amongst bakers as to the respective merits of barm and yeast as an aerating agency for bread, and as the bread at Belfast was baked by the yeast process, while in M‘Neil Street barm was used, it was resolved, early in 1907, to have a test in order to find out which ingredient gave the best results. The nature of the test or how it was carried through is not given in the minutes, but it is stated that the Glasgow bread was favoured by the majority of the directors. On the other hand it was the case that such prizes as were gained at the Agricultural Hall Exhibitions were gained mostly by Belfast bakery; but this might be due to any of a variety of causes, and not affected at all by the variety of aerating agent used.

In March 1907 a resolution was approved by the quarterly meeting delegates, the purpose of which was the appointment of a sub-committee to inquire into and report regarding the duties and emoluments of the members of committee, and the advisability of adopting fixed rates of remuneration in place of payment per meeting. It was agreed that the special committee consist of seven members, two of whom should be members of the board. Sixteen delegates were nominated, and it was agreed that the names of these be printed on ballot papers, which should be sent out to the societies so that they could record their votes. At the June quarterly meeting the auditors reported on their counting of the votes on these ballot papers, when it was found that the elected nominees were Messrs Cadiz, Kinning Park; M‘Pherson, Cowlairs; Gamble, Glasgow Eastern; Smith, St George; and Pringle, St Rollox. At this meeting, also, the special committee was given additional work, for the delegates refused to adopt the report of the committee with regard to the representation of Irish societies on the directorate, and remitted the subject to the special committee for their consideration.

The special committee reported to the December quarterly meeting, the more important of the recommendations being that the board be divided into three sub-committees—two for M‘Neil Street and one for Clydebank, and that the supervision of Belfast be continued on the lines adopted by the board. They recommended, also, that the method of payment per meeting be adhered to, and that payment be continued at the rates in vogue. With respect to the representation of the Irish societies on the board, a deputation of the committee had visited Ireland and had interviewed representatives of societies and others there able to give information, and, as a result, they declared it to be impossible to give the Irish societies representation on the board because of the geographical position of the branch. They recommended, therefore, the appointment of an advisory committee, to be appointed by the Irish societies. These recommendations of the select committee were all approved and given effect to.

Meantime the Society was continuing its policy of doing as much as possible of its work by its own employees, and it now began to add to its work that of completing the building of motor vans, ordering the chassis from the manufacturers and putting on the bodies themselves. Incidentally, it was decided that from the month of July 1907 all the shops west of Govan Town Hall should be supplied in future from Clydebank factory. In September 1907 Mr Alexander Hamilton, who had been a member of the directorate for a number of years, resigned, and was awarded the thanks of the delegates for the services he had rendered to the Society. In furtherance of the methods of the directors, who believed in testing every appliance which was likely to be of use in improving the quality or cheapening the cost of the goods they manufactured, a “Cook” steam hot-plate was installed early in 1908, and was found to work very satisfactorily. At this period the minutes record that the properties and stocks of the Society were insured for £172,000, divided as follows:—M‘Neil Street, £83,500; stables and workshops, £14,350; tenements and halls, £31,400; Clydebank, £29,000; Belfast, £10,500.

In 1908 the board recommended that the Society should become a member of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, and this recommendation was unanimously agreed to by the delegates. During this year one of the most notable events was the visit of a deputation of Austrian co-operators, including Dr Karpeles, who were making a tour of British Co-operative institutions. During one of the days they were in Glasgow the foreign visitors were the guests of the U.C.B.S., and were enthusiastically welcomed. One cannot help wondering whether the welcome would be quite so enthusiastic and unstinted if they were to return to-day. In a speech which he made during his visit to the bakery, Dr Karpeles pointed out that in a Parliament of 517 representatives they in Austria had 88 Labour representatives, and contrasted this with the thirty or so in the British House of Commons. He also referred to Co-operators as all belonging to one family, and stated that the members of the deputation left Scotland, not only full of gratitude for the reception given them, but full also of new ideas for the spread of Co-operation. That was only ten years ago, but to-day Austria is a dismembered wreck, and International Co-operation has received a setback from which it may take a generation to recover.

ANOTHER UNEMPLOYMENT CRISIS.

Only three years had elapsed since the last unemployment crisis ended, but at the September 1908 quarterly meeting the chairman felt under the necessity of stating that they were in the midst of the worst unemployment crisis of the last thirty years, and voiced the sympathy of those present with the sufferers, a sympathy which he had no doubt would take practical form ere the meeting ended. Later in the meeting it was agreed that £100 be subscribed to the Lord Provost’s Fund for the unemployed, and, in the course of the discussion of this proposal, it was stated that the Baking Society had already given free bread to the value of £300. It was decided that in order to avoid overlapping the distribution of free bread in Glasgow should cease, but the directors were empowered to deal with applications received from outside Glasgow. The unemployment epidemic continued right through 1909 and well into 1910, and had not quite disappeared in 1911. It was the most serious in its results which had ever been experienced by Britain since it became an industrial nation.