48 REPORT OP THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



I.A.O.S. that its subscriptions are henceforth to bear some relation 

 to other subscriptions, that the amount it subscribes is to depend 

 upon the amount otherwise subscribed. The I.A.O.S. approves of 

 the action of the Department. It goes even farther. It contends, 

 and quite rightly, that the Societies themselves should see that the 

 parent Society which brought them into existence is provided with 

 funds to do its work, thus carrying out the principles of self-help 

 which have been so well inscribed on the banners of the new 

 movement. 



Facts and Figures 



We can only give in roughest outline the story of the Society's 

 work. We give first of all the number, membership, and trade of 

 the different Societies for the year ending December 1905 : — 



It is not necessary that we should deal in detail with every Society 

 and Federation. We single out a few — the Dairy, Agricultural, 

 and Poultry Societies as examples of the Societies generally, and 

 shall deal with them in detail. We shall then deal with two of 

 the four Federations — the Irish Co-operative Agency Society, and 

 the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society. 



I. Creameries 



Sir Horace and his associates decided to introduce the co- 

 operative movement first of all into the dairy trade, and that for 

 two reasons. In the first place, the dairy industry was carried 

 on for the most part in the province of Mimster, and Munster was 

 fairly representative of Ireland. If Sir Horace had gone to the 

 north of Ireland and had met with success it would have been 

 said that this was due to the shrewdness and skill of the Ulster 

 farmers. If he had met with failure in the most prosperous 

 district of Ireland that would have been the most insuperable 

 barrier to progress anywhere else. In the second place, dairying 

 was undergoing at this particular time a change which lent itself 

 to the co-operative movement. The factory system had been 

 introduced into Continental countries, and the factories to a great 

 extent were in the hands of the farmers. Private companies had 

 introduced the factory system into Ireland, and butter-making 



1 The above statistics do not include the statistics applicable to the Irish Co-operative 

 Agency Society. The statistics of this Society are not available. 



