Page 122 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

The Story of the C.W.S.
these had to be minimised hy the local governing body " meeting
as seldom as the interests of the branch will allow." A protracted
sitting upon one such occasion produced at a late hour a necessity
for refreshments. Putting their heads together, the employees
present managed to secure penny rolls, with borings from the cheese
cellar, and water to wash the meal dowTi. Fried bacon and eggs
was a real promotion. Fifteen to thirtj^ delegates attended the
Quarterly Meetings, which were held in the coffee-room of a little
hotel close by.
Certain societies were conspicuously loyal to the branch from
the start. Banbury has an indisputable first place on this roll
of honour; Gloucester and Oxford were strong supporters, and
Chipping Norton, Wisbech, and others proved substantially loyal
in proportion to membership. A second Co-operative Congress
in London and a Congress in Gloucester stimulated the Southern
"
movement. Later on—from 1878—a " Guild of Co-operators
rendered service in the London area, and the Metropolitan
Co-operator, a monthly record under the conduct of Mr. Openshaw,
which appeared from 1876 to 1897, was a useful pioneer.
Altogether by 1877 the trade of the branch had reached a total of
over £200,000 a year, and extensions were considered. In the
following year the capital drawn from the district, which was
£8.000 merely in October, 1875, amounted to £14,142. Land
was now bought to the extent of 1,900 square 3'ards of freehold
at the price, including the buildings on the ground, of £18,000.
This area forms part of the present Leman Street site, and here
fronting Hooper Square and Rupert Street was erected the first
part of the present block of warehouses. On Saturday, July 19th,
1879, attracted by streamers across the street, a typical Jewish
Whitechapel crowd walled in a body of one hundred and twenty
co-operative delegates, and waited either for the music and rites or
the preaching of this strange new sect. When J. T. W. Mitchell
took off his hat and made his sonorous voice heard they concluded
(with some regret) it would be preaching. It was, however, the
laying of the foundation-stone of the new warehouse by the author
of Tom Brovm's Schooldays under IVIr. Mitchell's chairmanship,
and with the support of Neale, Lloyd Jones, Holyoake, Hodgson
Pratt, and other London leaders. Outside the Wholesale, trade
depression had reached its lowest depth, and Hughes, also recalling
the failure of a pioneer productive effort which he had helped
to estabhsh almost on the same ground in 1852, dwelt upon the
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