Page 278 - 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.

slightest taint of any deception. The value of the tea check is plainly marked
in cash figures, and it is knowTi to be an addition to the actual selling price
of the tea. The checks so obtained may be exchanged for goods in other
departments. Briefly explained, this is simply a system of enabling members
to make provision for future purchases. Last year goods to the value of
£1,151 were purchased bj' bonus tea checks. No better proof of its usefulness
can be urged.
Practices essentially diiTerent the C.W.S. tea department has
wholly declined to adopt. To weigh paper as tea, ^\'ith the legal
excuse of a line in small type somewhere on the packet, or to imply
that the very best tea is being sold at a price only possible for a
cheap leaf, is and always has been outside its scope, the department,
Avith the retail stores, standing in this respect upon the same ground
as the most conservative private traders.
A word may be added concerning the tea packers at Leman Street.
Chiefly girls and women, they form a fine body of workers, enjoying
wages and conditions not to be bettered in the country. Yet, on a
day in 1904, the co-operative world was astonished to find the case
apparently otherwise. A misunderstanding between the then
manager and the workers had produced a one-day strike, and
promptly a London newspaper had rushed in with charges of
sweating. The indignation even spread to Lancashire, where a
Southport minister referred to the " inhuman treatment " of these
" slaves of modern commerciahsm." But the strike was hardly
declared before it was settled ; the storm subsided, and the London
newspaper ate its words. A tea-packers' union arose from the
storm in a teacup; and in the Co-ojjerative News of March 11th, 1905,
Miss Mary Macarthur, the well known women's trade union leader,
reported that " the C.W.S. girls gave less trouble than any other
union in London; they were so well able to manage their business
and so loyal and earnest." The Union of C.W.S. Tea Packers since
then has been merged in the National Federation of ^\'omen
Workers.
As representing the Bury Society at the Quarterly Meeting of
June, 1891, Mr. T. Killon moved that the C.W.S. federation should
begin tea growing, but his motion fell to the ground. During the
nineties, however, a deputation from the C.W.S. went to India
with the idea of the Society becoming a tea grower. No positive
result followed from this visit ; but in December, 1901, the Committee
asked for " a general authority to purchase estates when a suitable
opportunity arises." This being unanimously granted, in June, 1902,
the Committee reported the buying of the adjoming Nugawella
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