MISCEIvIvANEOUS INFORMATION RKIyATING TO CO-OPERATION 

 AND ASSOCIATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



CO-OPERATIVE FISHING IN THE ARAN ISI^ANDS. — Better Business, Vol. Ill, No. r, 

 Dublin, November. 1917. 



A. Foundation. — The Aran Islands are situated in the centre of Gal- 

 way Bay, about thirty miles due west of the town of Galway and equidis- 

 tant from the coasts of Clare and Galway by about ten miles. In 1891 they 

 were bought from the landlords by the Congested Districts Board. In 

 September 1915 the Aran Co-operative Fishing Company was organized 

 by the Irish Agricultural Organization Society at Kilmurvey, a small vil- 

 lage in Inishmore, the northern island of the group. The ofl&ce and head- 

 quarters of the society were established in a little curing store, rented, to- 

 gether with the curing apparatus, from the Congested Districts Board, for 

 £2. IS. od. a year. The society then obtained from this board a loan of 

 £150 in cash and a loan of stock, consisting of salt and barrels, of the va- 

 lue of £150. To allow the accumulation of sufficient working capital mem- 

 bers agreed to forego all payment for their fish for about six weeks, that is 

 until the cured fish had been sold, when they would be paid in full for all 

 they had supplied. 



B. Formation of Share Capital. — Every member must on joining the 

 society pay an entrance fee of sixpence and one shilling towards the purchase 

 of one share of £1. The balance of their shares is paid for by members 

 by deductions of one shilling in the pound from all payments made to them 

 for their fish. When each of them has thus bought one share the society 

 can continue to make similar deductions until the total amount deducted 

 provides a capital equal to its needs. The deductions are credited to the 

 share account of each member as shares or in part payment of shares. The 

 committee has power to decide what number of shares shall be held by a 

 member. Thus a member's interest in the society increases automati- 

 cally in proportion to his participation in the society's trade — an ideal 

 state of affairs. 



C. The Co-operative Supply of Fish. — By the important rule known as 

 the Binding Rule the society and its individual members are mutually 

 bound, the society to buy all the fish which a member has to sell, the mem- 

 ber to sell to the society all the fish he catches. The obligation is limited 

 to the fishing season, of which the committee determines the exact dura- 

 tion. On the society's side it is further limited by the proviso that the fish 

 be delivered in good condition and at times warranted by market condi- 

 tions and rendered possible by the custom of the trade, and that such fish 



