Page 124 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

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CHAPTER XII.

Which Returns to General Affairs.
A Study of Rules—A Change in the Chairmanship— -Irish Butter—Cork,
Liverpool, New York—The Origin of C.W.S. Insurance—Struggles of the
Drapery Department—Furniture and Boots and Shoos—Years 1870—6.
SUBSTANTIAL chapter could be written upon the evolution
A of the C.W.S. rules. Since the original adoption in 1863
eighteen different revisions and separate alterations have been
registered. The first rules are to the last as the eohippus to the
horse. Naturally some interesting details appear in the early laws
of the Society. At the same time these were terse and business-
like. One would look in vain for signs of the uncouth ruffian who
until quite lately was the typical working man of Punch.
Equally impossible it would be to find such curiosities as bestrew
primitive co-operative statutes, exemplified by the following from
the Ripponden rules of 1833:
Any member causing any quarrel, so as to get to blows, or otherwise lay
violent hands on the person of any member, shall forfeit five shillings, and be
further dealt with as a majority at a general meeting shall determine.
The founders of the C.W.S. were of a later and less pugihstic
generation.
In the first rules the name of the Society extended to ten words,
and the object was adequately described in fifteen. To-day, the
name consists of four words, while the objects demand two hundred
and eighty. The situation of the first registered office, the pro-
vision for investments by societies above the then legal Hmit of
£200, and the 5s. shares have aheady been indicated. It was then
necessary for societies to accept one share for each member. The
present rule is one £5 share for every five members. The mode of
dividing profits was practically as at present, except that the powers
of the Quarterly Meetings over each reaHsed surplus are now legally
more extended, while for some years separate provision has been
made for distributing the profits of the banldng department.
Originally it was provided that the three chief officers should be
elected by a general meeting held in May, and four committee-men
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