How it is Managed and Succeeds.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2038, 30 July 1885, Page 3

How it is Managed and Succeeds.

Thk following ailiolo on co-oi)t i iatnm is taken fn>m "The Equitable Co-opeiatoi," published in Melbourne foi tin- month of J une, 188") :— '* We never write of home societies without feeling some misgivings as to whethei mil leadeis welcome so imch of home e\penenco, and vvu should, on nuny grounds lie much better pleased wuld we lccoia equally instinctive colonial expenences; but it is not likely we shall be able to do this for some ye.irs hence. The 1(100 coopeiative societies .tt home, with their thousands of branches, h.we -.tiuck out into so many ditfeient trades, and modes of conducting them, that there in no end to the useful examples which might be given, and many of w hich might be closely studied by our own member*. We do not mean by this that a blind following of home practice ii at all wise ; on the contrary, we often think it very unw ise to adopt sinnlai •methods of doing business here as those, which succeed at home ; still, whilst saying this, wo can Hafely add that there is as great, if not even greater, difference in the conditions necessary to the successful woikmg of a co-operative society in one part of the United Kingdom comp.ucd to other paits as there is between any pait of the kingdom and this colony, and foi th.it leanon home experience is often valuable here. The pooiest farm labourcis and the lichest anstociacy in the world have each thensuccessful stores. Seapoits with the most unsettled populations, and inland towns with their highly-paid and settled civil servants, all .succeed. Both old and young societies allow credit, and equally aged ones lefuso it, and yet all these thuve and pay. But theie is one featuio common to all of them, and that is skilled and honest buyeis •md managers in each deputment of their business, all of whom aie alone responsible foi the efficient management of their department to their respective committees, or sub committees, by whom they are engaged, controlled, and discharged. The ■uib division of labour and direct responsibility to their employers brings out all the best qualities of theii staff, educitcs the committees, and imparts a candid, outspoken, and healthy tone to the whole establishments, and it gradually prepares the sub - managers and sub - buyers of eacli department for the position of buyor or manager of it whenover n vac.incy occuii. 13y this ine.ms tin* Kociety is always independent of any of its departmental heads, and cvoiy employe" has something to look foiwaid to if ho does his duty. No better lllusti.ition could be given showing the immense sue cess which attends this kind of management than tho following details of the great Co-operative Wholesale Society of England and Wales :— ln 18IJ4 fifty ietf.il co-operative societies formed themselves into a federation for the purpose of buying in wholesale quantities what they each sold in retail. They had 18,000 individual memhers, and subscribed £2500 of capital. The first year's purchases, or, say, sales, to the retail stores, was £120,000, the expenses under 2 per cent on the bales, and the nett profit, £1858. On the attainment of its majority, in Match last, this fedeiation comprised 005 retail stores as shaieholdoi.s, whose individual members numboied 45,000, and 000 retail stoics were supplied by it. Tt had a capital of £700,000, did a business during last year of five million pounds sterling, had n banking business of hfteon millions, and roalised for its shareholders over £1700 per week of nett profit,

whilst its homo, foreign, shipping and mannfartming business was conducted at an expense foi distribution of only three-pence-halfpenny on each £1 of sales. It employs 000 bootmakeis, ~>l bibcuit makers, •>2 seamen, 43 m lieland, 97 m London (.jO of winch are employed m tho tea department alone), whilst it h.ii 99 in Newcastle, and 2<>4 in Manchester. It has 41 buyers and salesmen, besides one buyer in New York, Franco, Copenhagen and Hamburg. Its managing body consists of a general committee, two branch committees and seveial auh-coinnnttccs, who, by meeting twite a week, leceive repoits direct from each dop.utmcnt.il head, authorise important conti acts, engage or discharge important employes, and hold in then hands the leins of the entne business. Not one of those employes or duvctois holds a single sh.up in the federation. The directors are met ely representative of ictail stores, and are appointed by other repie-cntativei, to whom tliey lender quartet ly balancesheets and l ep'orts. Those who urge that faithful and able management of public business will ne\er be attained except where peisonal interest is the tilling motive should commit to memoiy the main facts of this co-operative federation. It lias not only been ably and honestly conducted, but it has enabled hundreds of small and large struggling societies to succeed. It supplies the smallest stoic in the country with one bag of sugar, one bo\ of soap, or one caddy of tea, at the same pi ice per pound as it supplies the laigost society in the kingdom, w Inch takes hundreds of each kind, and with its immense purchasing power it can always buy from producers and growers at home or abroad ; hence it buys for the largest retail societies at cheaper prices, and, after paying its own small expenses, distributes to these societies below what any other wholesale honnc can. This is why co-operation glows so fast at home.