Page 228 - 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
patiently defended the right of the thousand societies who akeady
constituted the federation to supply themselves with cocoa. Mr.
Hibbert, indeed, after narrating the steps taken toward a cocoa
business during months and even years previously, asked if the
progress of the Wholesale was to be stopped " because two or three
men met in London and said ' we will manufacture for all the
co-operators in England.' " The London Productive supporters were
easily defeated ; yet no advantage was taken of the victor3^ While
the C.W.S. began to make cocoa and chocolate in the premises
ah'eady leased for coffee roasting at 116, Leman Street, the Society
also consented lo act as agents for the Productive Association's
cocoa, and continued to do so during the comparatively brief and
troubled existence of the Productive at Thames Ditton.
The story of the cocoa business is mainl}' one of an uphill fight
against the combined advertising and competitive powers of the
English and Continental cocoa makers, who certainly are no mean
adversaries. The business has had to adapt itseK to the progress
of the beverage, so that the C.W.S. cocoas which now appear in the
Society's weekly price lists are very different from the " Homeo-
pathic," " Pearl," " Rock," and other old-fashioned products once
set forth upon the advertisement pages of the C.W.S. Annual.
In 1898 the question arose of moving the cocoa manu-
facture out of its circumscribed space in the heart of London.
Silvertown was talked about, and plans for a cocoa works there
were prepared, but the Committee always were dubious about the
suitability of this site. Then the idea of going north developed,
and Middleton, in 1900, seemed likely to be fixed upon. Altogether,
in London, Manchester, York, Middleton, Harrow, Dunstable, and
Luton, some twentj'-five sites were explored before the final choice
fell upon the breezy chalk hillside at the edge of Luton.
Here, under the management of Mr. Stafford, the first, bright,
brick building has gro\\Ti by enlargement until it threatens to cover
all the employees' garden allotments that still remain on the sunny
side of the works ; while the town of Luton itself has grown and
encircled a site that twelve years ago was a part of the countryside.
The opening at Luton, bj'^ Mr. Shillito, took place under the
chairmanship of Mr. Pumphrey, on September 8th, 1902, and a
series of visits and demonstrations extended over a period of no
less than five weeks. The output, which had been 33 cwts. weekly
in the first quarter of 1888, rose to 247 cwts. in the first year of
the new factory, while the average for 1912 was 560 cwts. The
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