Page 286 - 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, —
That is to say, there was a procession, a band of music, and " an
elegant dinner;" and we need not quarrel with an earlier generation
because " two crown bowls of punch were also drunk." The mill
cost " upwards of £2,200," and the number of original members was
1,435. In 1811 the private millers of Hull are said to have mdicted
the society as a nuisance, but the latter triumphantly withstood an
action at the York assizes. It succeeded, also, in meeting much
more severe trials. Enlarged and remodelled from time to time, it
outlasted all the radical changes in milling which took place up to
1895. Then, almost in the hour of centennial glory, it succumbed.
" The dissolution," Avrites ]VIi\ W. Lilchfiekl, of Hull, " was chiefly
due to the improvement and advance in milling, which they, with
their limited capital, were not able to keep pace with, and so were
beaten in competition. The share capital was not repaid in full.
There was a distribution on the realisation of the assets, but many
members had long before that given it up as a bad job, and burned
or destroyed their cards."
A second mill was started upon the same lines in Hull in 1801,
and one also at Whitby, after which date (excluding the small mill
started by the Baking Society at Sheerness in 1846) there is a gap of
more than forty years, until the opening of the existing Leeds Corn
Mill in 1847. The Hahfax Flour Society also dates from the latter
year. High prices and adulteration impelled separate action in
both towns. Success at Leeds influenced the beginning of a number
of miUs in Yorkshire and elsewhere. Amongst them was the
Rochdale District Co-operative Corn Mill Society, founded m 1850.
This society links the flour milling with the Rochdale Pioneers in its
begmning, and with the C.W.S., the eventual purchasers of its mill.
The Rochdale Society is the one from whose early History, by
Wilham Cooper, we have already quoted. Charles Howarth, "the
constitution maker " of the Pioneers, was chiefly concerned in the
drawing up of its rules. Cooper narrates that primarily the society
was a protest against adulteration. The founders " beheved that a
great amount of matter injiu-ious to health was intermixed with
flour in its manufacture, in order to give the bread a whiter appear-
ance, or to make more profits by selhng an adulterated article."
Other passages from the same booklet vividly illustrate the trials
and temper of the time. Some supporters were loyal
The Brickfield Store bought all its flour from the mill, and, whether it was
good or bad, none else would they sell. The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers'
Society did the same.
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