Page 157 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Mr. Woodin and the Tea Department.
a three years' notice was given by the C.W.S. to terminate the
connection. Subsequently it was arranged that Mr. Woodin's two
sons should become the chief employees in the new C.W.S. tea
department, but they insisted upon an office within the City, which
ended negotiations. Arrangements for taking over Mr. Woodin's
employees and stock also broke down. Out of over a hundred
applicants a buyer and manager was appointed (Mr. C. Fielding),
and business was begun in the C.W.S. London Branch warehouses.
Hooper Square, oS Leman Street, on November 1st, 1882.
Co-operative history gives abundant room for cynicism concerning
the motives and capacities of manufacturers and merchants who
have professed to serve it. But all scepticism depends for savour
upon the existence of a real goodness. If there weie no actual
experiences there w^ould be no illusions, and the office of the critic
would be gone. And Joseph Woodin remains typical of the many
genuinely honourable men of business who, without professing to
be entirely disinterested, have given frank, cordial, unsparing aid
to societies and their federation. Nevertheless, the collective and
the individual systems are separate, and every attempt to join them
produces hybrid schemes merely. It was Mr. Woodin's fine
personality which bridged the gulf until it became too wide. The
Wholesale Society needed a nearer approach to the producer, a
knowledge of net cost prices, and employees who would gather and
transmit for use within the organisation the information necessarily
arrested by an independent agent and his staflf. Through its own
tea department all this was gained. The progress that was
satisfactory in March, 1883, was reported in June as " exceeding
expectations." In July of that year a P. and 0. steamer arrived
with " a large direct shipment " of tea for the C.W S. from China, a
thing previously impossible. In March, 1884, the sales were " most
satisfactory," and, although on the last day but one of 1885 a serious
fire interfered with the business, the record remained one of increase.
An additional advantage that came with the new department was a
closer bond between the already co-operating Enghsh and Scottish
Wholesale Societies. The first joint committee meeting of these
national federations was held at Leicester on May 18th, 1882, and
the tea department was the occasion of it. A partnership in the
new source of supply had previously been agreed upon, and tliis
association has since continued.
By September, 1884, the time had arrived for commemorating
the " majority " of the Society. The annual trade of the Society had
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