Page 131 - 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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Liverpool to New York.

A " Cheshire branch " that we hear of during these years repre-
sented the beginning of the present system of a buyer from Balloon
Street obtaining supphes of cheese dii-ect from the farmers of that
county and its borders.
The Liverpool branch arose from delays at
Liverpool in forwarding goods transhipped for the C.W.S. at
Manchester, as well as from general necessities.
The success of
stationing a buyer, sample clerk, and errand boy on the Mersey side
led in 1877 to the purchase of land in the port.
From Liverpool to
New York was an almost obvious journey. The Committee simply
announced that " since the return of Mr. Kay (the senior grocery
buyer) from America we have deemed it essential in the interests and
trade of this Society to establish a branch at New York." And
while this was to the Co-operative News " a great, although a pleasing
surprise," the development proved too natural to arouse the slightest
comment at the Quarterly Meetings. The American office, under
Mr. Gledhill, was estabhshed in 1876, and in December of that year
the Committee reported that
The importance of having opened the New York branch is daily experienced.
We are thus enabled to ascertain the state of the market for cheese, bacon, lard,
and grain, both there and in Liverpool, almost at the same time, and thus are
enabled to determine when we can purchase with advantage.
While the grocery trade of the Society was thus extending
its geographical reach, it was also leading up to a beginning, the
importance of which had only recently made itself felt. In thick
weather, before dawn on June 21st, 1873, the s.s. St. Columba struck
on the formidable line of rocks and islets outside Holyhead known
as the Skerries. The vessel was a cross-charmel iron paddle
steamer, crowded with passengers, chiefly Irish harvestmen. Some
of the latter, unhappily, were drowned, but the brief reports in the
press of that day left it uncertain as to whether five, fifteen, or
twenty lives were lost. Cattle and sheep were on board also, and
butter worth £2,300, consigned by the C.W.S. in Ireland to the
Rochdale, Oldham, Eccles, and other societies. Part of the vessel,
fast on the rocks, remained above water; and, in consequence, some
£900 worth of this cargo was recovered. A claim for the remaining
value hung upon another claim by the owners of the lost cattle; and
the latter issue was leisurely disputed in court, higher court, and
House of Lords until 1878, after which the societies received another
£1,270. All this simply constituted an incident; but it caused the
Committee to recommend the creation of an insurance fund for the
Society. It was proposed to debit every package of Irish butter
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