With respect to the proposal to establish a branch at Enniskillen, the members who had visited the district were in agreement. There was in the district a nucleus sufficient to warrant placing a branch there, but no bakery was available, although a building capable of being made into a bakery could be purchased. The restrictions placed on the use of building material and on the supplying of machinery placed an embargo on going ahead at the moment, however, and they must wait until the war was over.
Mr Young, the manager, spoke strongly in favour of rendering help to Dublin Society; but he pointed out that for some time, at least, there would be little surplus if any, although when the district was penetrated thoroughly with Co-operative principles there would come ample compensation for the initial sacrifices. He thought, therefore, that it was the clear duty of the Baking Society to take it in hand. The board, however, was very evenly divided on the question, five voting for making no recommendation to take over the Dublin bakery meantime, while six voted in favour of making such a recommendation. With respect to Enniskillen, however, the board were unanimous that a branch should be established there as soon as possible, and agreed to recommend that this be proceeded with at the end of the war. At the quarterly meeting held in December, however, the proposal to take over Dublin Society’s bakery and establish a branch there was defeated, although that to establish a branch at Enniskillen was approved. How much the situation which had developed in Dublin and neighbourhood in the spring of 1916 had to do with the decision of the delegates it is impossible to say, but undoubtedly the political situation when combined with the influence of the known apathy towards Co-operation of the people of Dublin and the financial risk with no sure prospects of recovery weighed with the delegates when coming to the decision they did.
Since then premises have been acquired at Enniskillen, on a site quite near to the premises of the S.C.W.S., and the whole position has been surveyed thoroughly, but no definite steps to erect a bakery there have yet been taken as the cost of building materials has been found prohibitive.
Shortly after the outbreak of war the U.C.B.S. became shareholders to the extent of £1,000 in the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society, and at the quarterly meeting of members, which was held in December 1918, they took up 100 one pound shares in the Enniskillen Co-operative Milling Association, a Co-operative association which has been formed to establish a meal mill at Enniskillen.
So far we have been considering only the establishing of branches of the Baking Society in Ireland, but requests for branches were received at various times from widely distant parts of Scotland as well. In particular, just at the time when a final decision was arrived at on the question of taking over Dublin Society’s bakery, a request was received from the neighbouring societies of Leadhills and Wanlockhead that the Baking Society should take over and work a bakery in Leadhills for the purpose of supplying these two societies with bread. The master of works was sent to inspect, with the result that, later, the board were empowered to open a bakery at the place they deemed most suitable for supplying the trade of the district. Like every other building scheme, this of theirs was hung up during the war; but after careful consideration it was decided that a bakery should be established in Leadhills, and this has now been done. An application was received from Kirkconnel Society about the same time as that from the Leadhills district, and it was thought at first that one bakery might be erected which would suffice to serve both districts, but an inspection of the road connecting the two places showed that if this was not impracticable it would be at least dangerous, and the idea was abandoned. Nothing further has been done yet with respect to a branch at Kirkconnel.
ROTHESAY BRANCH.
For years attempts have been made to establish a branch of the Co-operative movement in Rothesay, but this was found to be impossible until the Baking Society took the job in hand. Their possession of Roseland Camp on Canada Hill had given them a footing in the town, and in some measure this was of assistance to them. Early in 1917 the board received information that a bakery situated on the water front was to let, and they made arrangements to secure it with such celerity that by the 24th of March in that year it came into their possession on a three years’ lease. They were not long in possession, however, before they were informed that the lease would not be renewed when it expired. It seems that the private traders of the town had made representations to the owner of the property, and this was the result. For years the traders had proved uniformly successful in preventing Co-operation from getting a foothold in the town, and they were not going to be baulked without an effort to prevent it. But the directors of the Baking Society were just as determined as were the traders of Rothesay, and after lengthy and long-continued negotiations with the directors of the Wholesale Society, who had been on the lookout for premises in Rothesay for many years but had been uniformly unsuccessful in securing them, the Baking Society became, early in 1918, proprietors of the property in which their bakery was situated.
The property which had been purchased included a shop which could be used as a grocery department, and for some time efforts were made to get one or other of the Glasgow societies to open a branch there, but unsuccessfully. The committee of Clydebank Society were inclined to view the matter favourably, but when the question was brought before a general meeting of the members of the society for their approval, they refused to consent. Greenock Central Society were also given the opportunity of opening a branch, but they also were afraid to venture in face of the prevailing restrictions on supplies. The result was that those who had been customers of the Baking Society in Rothesay were invited to form a society of their own, the Wholesale Society and the Baking Society subscribing a large part of the capital between them. The society was formed with Mr William Maxwell, J.P., president of the International Co-operative Alliance, as president. Co-operation had been established in Rothesay.
The traders of the town had not yet shot their bolt, however. The Co-operative bakery was doing well, and it was possible that a Co-operative grocery and provision business would do equally well; but, fortunately for the traders, the local Food Control Committee refused permission to the new society to open their grocery branch, on the plea that the shops already open in the town were sufficient in number to do the trade, and in this attitude they were backed up by the Edinburgh Court. At the beginning of 1919, however, the embargo was removed, and the new society has proved very successful.