With the growth and prosperity which has come to Clydebank and the neighbouring portion of Greater Glasgow, and with the further growth of that prosperity which the future seems likely to bring with it, the success of the branch is assured, and the probability is that before many years have passed further extensions will have been rendered necessary by the expansion of trade. Unquestionably the erection of the branch was an experiment. It was a departure from what had been hitherto the established policy of the Federation, but it was an experiment which was justified by the circumstances of the time, and was the first step in a policy which has since brought not only the societies on Clydeside into close co-operation with the Federation, but has had the same effect in the North of Ireland, and it is a policy which is spreading in both countries to the advantage of the Co-operative movement. CHAPTER XIV. BELFAST BRANCH. CO-OPERATION IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND—EARLY BAKING PROPOSALS—DISPUTE WITH LOCAL BAKERS—SCOTLAND TO THE RESCUE—A TEMPORARY BAKERY—EXPANDING TRADE—THE BAKERY COMPLETED—THE OPENING CEREMONY—GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT—GROCERS AS AGENTS FOR BREAD—EXTENSIONS NECESSARY—THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE—CONTINUOUS PROGRESS—A SERIES OF EXTENSIONS—SOME RETAIL SOCIETY FAILURES—HELP FOR DUBLIN STRIKERS—GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS—A REGRETTABLE ACCIDENT—THE FEDERATION’S GENEROSITY—THE WAR AND ITS EFFECTS—OATCAKE BAKING STARTED—THE BELFAST STRIKE—A TRADE UNION TESTIMONIAL—THE INFLUENCE OF THE U.C.B.S. ON IRISH CO-OPERATION. The Co-operative movement in the North of Ireland is a plant of comparatively recent growth. In the early ’nineties of last century there were only some four or five retail societies in the whole North, and most of them were far from strong—so weak, indeed, that two of them afterwards went down. When they came under the control of the Co-operative Union they were placed under the wing of the Scottish Sectional Board, and that Board undertook a large amount of propaganda work which had the effect of strengthening the existing societies and of leading to the formation of new ones. Amongst those which were formed as the result of this propaganda zeal on the part of Scottish Co-operators the strongest which remain to-day are Armagh and Portadown, but the work of Co-operation in Lisburn and Belfast was strengthened materially by the propagandist efforts of the Scottish enthusiasts.