THE CO-OPERATIVE WHOLEUNITED KINGDOM.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1542, 23 May 1882, Page 4

THE CO-OPERATIVE WHOLEUNITED KINGDOM.

\ *Thk Co-operative Wholesale Society is a fty^OepactiQferfchiiJ. : The' shares hold'by 4WMJh-S?br€t«ai.'ei>in proportion to tUe nunw ?h*rjo£jlfcs.members,,so that every member Iq| juifcetoilivtora ris a partner in .the great 'fljoricecrf, Vahd i*» ■ < therefore, ' personally f itvfesrefctod, in its BiiccesB., In addition to its share "capital, £143,202, itjias on hand £353,221 on loan or deposit, so tliafc its jtotal trading, capita} /is< ,about. ,£501,423. Jfcholds freehold land and building?, in I^anfchester, .London, t Newcastle, Leicest»ay;?J}ui»ham, 'and Crump&all, which, T\'itK)their fittings and fixturos have c05t£165,668. Although now worth a con-" sideifttbly .large' atnount they have been depreciated in the accounts of the society ior£w;a46/ Its rea6rve 'fund amounts to £38,646,' It' oWns the's.s'. Pioneer, T>oo tons, which carries British manufactures to Frefcrice^ and brings back French produce, via Rouen, for the consumption •^'fdfcnglisli' stores. It'has also purchasing ctep"ot3< at Hhe following places :—Cork, Limerick, Killmallock, Waterford, Tippenny, and Trallee for Irish butter, and Armagh for lump butter, potatoes, and eggs. It has a buyer for general provisions ill. New York, and one wellsyii^' gentleman in London devotes hnnself/entirely to the selection of its teas. The immediate object of the Cooperative Wholesole is to dispense with $ the se^vjees of all profit-making agents, jN&wcen consumers and producers, and Aus economise the cost of living, and at 'the same time remove all temptation to adulteration and every other form of j\cheating. It cither manufactures the I Woods it sells, or purchases them direct I From the producers or importers. Its Marge purchases and prompt payments secure for jt the very best tieatment by " producers and importers. It now supplies \ itpwards of 461,000 members of co-opera-Pftiv& stores, and the value of the sales exceed £3,000,000 per annum,, all of w^iich goods aye handed to members of retail stores, subject only to the baie working expenses. It manufactures boots and shoes at Leicester and Heckmonwike, soap at Durham, biscuits, sweets, and sqap at Grumpaall; and every member of a partnership store may, in a trade sense, call himself a manufacturer of thes>e articles. It has a bank department with a.tuniover of upwards of £12,000,000 for the year 1880, and evety member of a partnership store may also call himself, a trade sense, a banker ! simple' object of all competitive traders, manufacturers, importers, wholesale and retail dealers is to secure the largest possible amount of savings or profit to themselves, whilst the object of the Co-operative Wholesale is on the contrary, to secure the largest saving for its customers, the retail stoics, and through them for the actual consumers of produce. Tp attain this object, it only allows a uniform rate of interest on share capital of 5 per cent per annum, as its remuneration^ ,and the profit after this ha& been charged, and after deducting all woikiny expenses, making due allowance for dc - preciation, and for reserve, is divided on purchases made by each store ; only half dividend being allowed to non-incmherb. Thus; the (retail store which buys horn the private wholesale dealer, simply gnes tho profit of the ret.nl stoiekecper to its own member l; but the retail store which purchases its supplies of groceries and provisions from the Co-operative Wholesale, gives to its members the profit of the wholesale dealer also, and the ict.iil store which buys its boots and shoes, its fioap, its biscuits and sweets at the Cooperative Wholesale, gives to its members the profits of the manufacture on these articles also.

The Christian missionaries in Western India have asked that a law should be passed to abolish infant marriages. Rk,MARKAJII,E TYI'KS Ok WoMIZN. — The remarkable types of Nihilist women are well known. Vera Sassulitch, whose shot inaugurated terrorism, was the most modest of her sex. In the court-room she blushed when she perceived anyone staring at her. Lady Figner, a cliaiming lady and an accomplished singer, fot her eight years in the Siberian mines y sitting in the parlor playing the piano for weary hours, trying; to drown the noise made by the secret printing press lin the next room. Anna LcbcdcfF, a priest's daughter, in the disguise of awife of a switchman, lived in a watehhouso on the railroad and was found on a box filled with dynamite, chatting with the switchman. Sophy Perovskays, the daughtei of a General and Senator, who declined the dignity of maid of honour to the Empress and cnteicd the Nihilist fiaternity, dug the Moscow mine, and directed the late Czar's assassination. Sophy Baidin, who was welcomed as a shining star in the literary horizon, w rote a few poems which, though gems of Kussian literature, were tieasonablc, and the singing of them was a State ci ime. A Land Agknt's Story.— A pretty good story is told about Land Agent Milner of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, who one day had a party of Eastern farmers in tow, trying to sell each of them a farm in the rich Arkansas Valley. Milner had taken them into his light waggon, and behind his spanking team of bays had given them a grand ride, la&ting all day. He had done his best to make them enthusiastic by rehear&ing the stories, which he had at his tongue's end, of the marvellous crops of the valley, but to all intents it was ' Love's labour lost,' for they would not 'thuse. This annoyed Milner, but he had his revenge in his reply to one of the party, who, with a sardonic smile, asked: — 'Well, Mr Agent, is there anything that won't grow here?' 'Yes,' replied Milner, 'pumpkins wont.' 'What!' exclaimed the cynical land-buyers together, 'pumpkins won't?' l No,' said Milner ; ' there are men in this county ■who would give 250 dollais an acre for land that would mature a crop of pumpkins. They never have been ,ible to get a crop since I've been here, and that's ten years.' ' Well, how strange !' ' Why is it !' said land-buyer No. 1 . This was Milner'a chance, and, with a serious expression, he replied : ' Well, sir, the soil is so rich that the vines grow so fast they wear the pumpkins out dragging them over the ground.' — F. S. Piesberg in Kansas Sketches. Matkrnal SoLiciTUDi,. — The, Naples correspondent of the BailyNowt, writes : — ' A touching discovery was made during the excavations of Pompeii. In one of the narrow streets were found signs of human remains in the dried mud lying on the top of the strata of lapilli reaching to the second floor of the houses, and when the usual process of pouring the plaster of Paris into the hollow left by the impression of a body had been accomplished there came to light the form of a little boy. Within the house, opposite to the sodoild' floor window, of which this infant tile form lay, were found a gold bracelet and the skeleton of a woman, the arms stretched towards the child. The plaster forrri'of this woman could 1 not be ob« tamed, the impression being too much* destroyed. It is evident that the another, when the liquid mud began ix> flow, had putber little boy out of the window into, thelApiluViri the hope ofj'fc'aving him,'' and he must'no doubt ljave been overwhelmed. The- plaster figiite of the ch'il<l has not yet_ been placed 'in the ' little museum n'edfJ tfoe' entrance ' of Pompeii, but is'k&ptnva house not far from the Temple of Isis.' ' .< M f.