90 THE STORY OF THE U.F.O. 



Company in respect to the establishment, 

 financing and control of branch stores, the con- 

 trol of the central Company under conditions 

 then existing that is, with a multitude of 

 individual shareholders, and generally argued 

 for a return to the constitution as at first design- 

 ed. The natural evolution of the Farmers' club 

 on the commercial side was, he said, towards the 

 formation of local co-operative societies, with 

 subscribed capital, warehouse facilities, and a 

 paid staff. Such co-operative societies should, 

 therefore, he thought, form the units of the 

 United Farmers Co-operative Company, just as 

 various farmers' clubs constituted, financed, and 

 controlled the U.F.O. Such a return to the 

 original idea would, he said, solve two serious 

 problems. In the first place it would leave the 

 management of local retail activities in the hands 

 of local societies, which experience had shown to 

 be the only safe plan ; and in the second place it 

 would form a natural basis for representation by 

 delegates at shareholders' meetings. The num- 

 ber of shareholders was then over 10,000, and 

 it was manifestly impossible to hold a share- 

 holders' meeting at which a majority were pre- 

 sent. Some system of representation by dele- 

 gates had become imperative, and the adoption 

 of the policy of corporate instead of individual 

 shareholders provided the basis for such a 



