At the 85th quarterly meeting, held just at the close of Congress, the chairman made the new biscuit factory the text of his opening remarks to the delegates, pointing out the facilities which the Society now enjoyed for carrying on this trade, and impressing on them the desirability of fostering it in the societies by every means in their power. The result was that the trade developed at a rapid rate. At first the committee had been in doubt as to whether sufficient trade could be secured to keep the one travelling oven which they had erected fully employed, but almost from the start these doubts were resolved. Another source of gratification was to be found in the fact that the societies were well pleased with the quality of the biscuits which were being made, and that a fair return was being secured on the trade done. Arrangements had been made with the Wholesale Society at the beginning of the new department, whereby that society became agents for biscuits, but some misunderstanding seems to have arisen, for towards the end of the year the society wrote to the Baking Society’s committee, complaining that the terms of the agreement between the two societies with regard to the biscuit agency were not being adhered to. This led to meetings between the two boards, as a result of which all the difficulties were removed, and an immediate increase in the trade in biscuits amongst the societies in Scotland followed. STILL FURTHER EXTENSIONS. The bread trade of the Society also continued to increase at an extraordinary rate. So much so that, by the beginning of 1891, nine months after the opening of the last addition to the bakery, the trade was within fourteen sacks of the full output capacity of 1,000 sacks per week. The directors saw that some steps must be taken at once to increase baking capacity, and applied to the quarterly meeting for power to take over or to sell St James Street property, and at the same time for power to acquire land for the purpose of extending the bakery. Power in both directions was granted, although a director of the Wholesale Society, acting, he stated, on the authority of his board, moved that power be not granted. Evidently, however, this gentleman had misunderstood the attitude of the Wholesale Society’s directors, for subsequently a letter was received from the secretary of that federation, in which it was stated that they had given no instructions to oppose the extension of the Baking Society’s premises, and that, in fact, they were in favour of this course being taken. St James Street premises were offered for sale at £3,960, and again at £3,600, but there were no offerers. Ultimately, however, they were disposed of for £3,100.