Page 294 - 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.
The Dunston mill was built, from the designs of Newcastle
architects, by the C.W.S. own building department at Newcastle.
The erection of the jetty had given a maximum depth of forty feet
of water on the river frontage, and also had enabled 12,000 square
yards to be reclaimed from the tidal stream. Forty sacks per hour
was the capacity of the mill machinery. The entire cost of the
enterprise from first to last amounted to about £120,000. The
Committee did not wish to place so heavj^ a burden of capital upon
the new business; and, therefore, they wrote off part of the cost out
of general profits from time to time during the construction of the
mill as " special depreciation." In this course they were keenly
assailed, but they stood their ground.
However, Avhen on April 18th, 1891, the day came for the formal
opening, there was no discord in the chorus of jubilation. Five
hundred delegates walked in procession, led by music, and were
ferried over the river to witness the naming of the two engines.
The mill itself was opened by J. T. W. Mitchell, who, later in the
day, presided at Tynemouth over the final demonstration. Dr.
Spence Watson, Sir. T. Burt, M.P., Alderman Stephens, the Rector
of Gateshead (Rev. W. Moore Ede, the present Dean of Worcester),
with Messrs. E. V. Neale, William Maxwell, and others, were on the
platform with him. Neale recalled how a friend of his once had
pooh-poohed a suggestion of the C.W.S. trade some day reaching to
three millions ; yet now (continued the veteran co-operator) thej' had
got to eight millions, and in twenty-five years' time, "considering
what the income of the working classes is estimated to be," it might
be a hundred millions.
But the early quarters in the mill's career provided a rather
unexpected sequel to these rejoicings. Between 1890 and 1894 the
average yearly price of wheat per quarter of 280lbs., affected, as we
have seen, by exports from the Argentine, fell from 378. to about
228. 6d., which remains the lowest average figure on record.
Excellent for working-class consumers, this was rather awkward for
a new mill bound to lay in stocks. And, while the silos were filling
up at an unprofitable figure, the engines failed in their dut3^ This
caused a long stoppage, for which an arbitrator awarded damages to
the C.W.S. from the contractors. Moreover, the private millers
already supplying Northern societies contested the market inch by
inch; and later on there was a considerable over-buj'ing of wheat.
After explaining a loss of over £5,000 in June, 1892, the Committee
were called upon to account for more than £12,000 only three
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