It was only after repeated representations had been made to the Government and the Wheat Commission that, ultimately, the proportion of imported flour which Co-operative bakers generally were allowed to use was raised considerably. From this cause the Baking Society was as great a sufferer as were the others. The bread became more and more unpalatable as the admixture of foreign cereals in the flour used increased, and complaints about the quality of the bread began to come in with irritating frequency. The receipt of these complaints, justifiable as they were, must have been all the more irritating to the committee from the fact that they found themselves the victims of circumstances over which they had not the slightest control. They knew that the bread which they were producing was unpalatable, and the fact that the Germans had to eat bread which was very much inferior was but poor consolation in view of the fact that many of their trade rivals were able to produce better bread because of the larger proportion of white flour which they were allowed to use. There ensued, as a consequence, a very considerable decline in the bread sales of the Society. The customer societies would have taken the bread, but their members could not and would not eat it. From much the same causes the trade in biscuits and in teabread declined also. The use of sugar in biscuits or in teabread was prohibited, as was the manufacture of pastries. The result was that while the output for the quarter which ended in October 1916 was 68,533 sacks, that for the quarter which ended in October 1917 was 67,132 sacks, and that for the corresponding quarter of 1918 was 62,867. And if the details for loaf bread in M‘Neil Street alone are taken, the contrast is still more striking. The output for 1918 had fallen below that of 1915 by over 400 sacks, and below that of the quarter which ended in April 1917 by over 12,000 sacks. A BIG LAND PURCHASE. By the end of 1916 M‘Neil Street bakery, and particularly the biscuit factory, was again becoming congested, and power was obtained from the quarterly meeting to spend up to £9,750 on the purchase of more ground. At the time this power was obtained, the committee had under consideration the fact that the ground on the east side of M‘Neil Street, extending from the Clydeside to Govan Street, was in the market, and ultimately the purchase of this ground was completed at a cost of £9,750. The ground contained an area of 6,590 yards. Much of it was occupied by buildings of a temporary character; the only buildings of a permanent nature on the site being two tenements at the southern end. This site has not yet been utilised by the Society, but it forms an admirable property which is available for any extensions which may require to be undertaken in the future. Meantime it is let at a rental which gives a net return of 3⅓ per cent. on the capital cost of the site. ILLNESS OF PRESIDENT.