THE DEPUTATION. The deputation, which consisted of three male and two female employees, the manager, the chairman, and Mr Cadiz, spent the last week of June 1913 in visiting the premises of several English firms, for the purpose of getting information on the points mentioned above, and recorded their experiences and impressions in a pamphlet which was printed and issued to employees and members of the Society. The principal points dealt with were superannuation schemes; training of youth schemes and technical classes; wages and hours of labour; discipline; piecework, etc., of female employees; conditions of workrooms, costumes, baths, dining facilities, etc., of female employees; wages, hours, and working conditions of men employees and their relation to trade unions; social activities in factories; bands, athletic clubs, holidays and holiday arrangements; and housing schemes; each member of the deputation being responsible for a paper on one of the groups of subjects. The net result of the visit of the deputation was the collection of a considerable amount of valuable information respecting betterment schemes: information which, no doubt, had an influence on the directors when the plans for the erection of the last section of the M‘Neil Street premises were being considered. It had the subsidiary result of showing also that, while so far as wages and hours of labour were concerned, the Co-operative societies were decidedly in the front, in provision of outlets for the social activities of their employees and in housing and environment schemes they were far behind the best which was being done by private firms. It is interesting to note, in view of the fact that since then both the delegates to the Scottish Wholesale Society’s meeting and to the Baking Society’s meeting have refused to adopt superannuation schemes for their employees, that in every one of the firms which were visited, including the C.W.S., a superannuation or pension scheme was in operation; in some cases non-contributory and in other cases contributory. It is noticeable also that, in two of them, housing schemes of an elaborate nature were in operation, and that, in each case, a town on the most up-to-date garden city lines had been erected. It is perhaps also worthy of note here that, as this book is being written, these firms have been placed first and second respectively in a competition as to which firms in Great Britain are the best employers, while no Co-operative society is even mentioned.