§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ MR. SOTHERON ESTCOURTsaid, he rose to move the second reading of this Bill, the object of which was to improve and consolidate the existing Acts relating to co-operative societies. The history of these societies was somewhat curious. When they first came into existence, their capital was formed of contributions of 2d. a week. It was in 1844, when temporary distress prevailed in Rochdale, that the operatives of that town thought it was desirable that they should act together for their mutual benefit in a more decided and business-like form than they had ever done before. Their place of meeting was a small room, in a street appropriately called Toad Lane, and the weekly contribution was 2d. each. From so modest a beginning the co-operative movement, by dint of good management, frugality, and a steady adherence to the admirable system of paying ready money, had attained to a pitch of prosperity which was highly creditable to the working classes of this country. It had been productive of great moral, social, and commercial benefits, and deserved the highest praise and consideration of that House. The societies were certainly entitled to have the law relating to them made plain, intelligible, and straightforward—and it was with that object he had introduced the Bill then under consideration. He had beep furnished by those who were interested in the question with a list of the co-operative societies in whose names they had addressed him. At the present moment there were 150 co-operative societies in existence, with 48,184 members, owning a capital of £336,290, and doing a 1091 business which, in the course of last year amounted to the extraordinary and almost incredible sum of £1,512,117. Those enormous results were the best arguments that could be adduced in proof of the importance of the subject, and they had been achieved within a period of less than twenty years by the prudence and frugality of working men, who had taken their own business into their own hands, and in the management of it had exhibited the characteristic qualities of resolution, bravery under difficulties, a determination to carry a point which they knew to be a proper one, and a great power of self-control over their own wishes, fancies, and desires, so that not a single farthing should be spent except for the general good. Two-thirds of the present Bill were merely re-enactments of existing statutes, and the other third consisted of new provisions. He would briefly state the additions which he proposed to make to the law now in force. Co-operative societies found it absolutely necessary to have power to hold more than one acre of land. When they first obtained a legal existence, in 1852, the experiment was then an untried one, and Parliament was naturally cautious in the amount of power with which it chose to invest these newly-created bodies. Moreover, at that time Parliament had not yet sanctioned the principle of limited liability; but now, when limited liability had received the sanction of the Legislature, he could not but hope that any little scruple or jealousy which might have existed in 1852 had been swept away long ago, and that there would be no objection to allow cooperative societies to hold more than one acre of land. Another clause would enable them to build, to lease, to rent, and to sell house or any other kind of property. He also asked that they might be allowed to invest their surplus funds in any other societies or companies they might deem advisable. Co-operative societies were so intertwined together in their pecuniary arrangements that they might almost be said to be affiliated, and yet they were carrying on their business independent of one another. He thought they should be permitted to invest their surplus funds in the business of other societies. He likewise proposed to extend to them the principle of limited liability, and in another clause he asked the House to allow them to use a portion of their funds for purposes of education, 1092 recreation, and mutual improvement. The Bill of 1852 had reference exclusively to the provisions of the Friendly Societies Act which was then in existence. Among the purposes enumerated in the first section of that Act, passed in 1850, education had its place; but it was subsequently erased, and hence it was doubtful as a legal question whether the societies formed under the Friendly Societies Act of 1850 still retained the powers which they possessed at their formation, or whether those powers had not been limited or curtailed by the Act passed in 1855 or 1856. The result was that the Registrar in England refused to allow the purpose of education, while the Registrar in Scotland permitted it. He asked the House to give a general power to co-operative societies to apply a portion of their funds to the purposes of education and mutual improvement. He was not aware that any hon. Member intended to oppose the Bill. It had been suggested that the Bill was unnecessary, inasmuch as the Government were promoting a measure which would cover the whole of the ground, and that there was no occasion for special legislation on behalf of co-operative societies. It was not only his duty but his interest to receive respectfully any criticisms or suggestions which might come to him from the Government, but he doubted whether the Government measure really covered every part of the ground occupied by his Bill, and he knew it to be a fact that the cooperative societies themselves were anxious to have a special law of their own. Hitherto they had grown and prospered under a special law, consisting of two statutes, and all they wanted was that those statutes should be consolidated and amended. The high moral qualities which they had exhibited during the last fifteen years entitled them to the consideration of Parliament, and, even if it were necessary to copy into the Bill the clauses of the Government measure, he thought they should be gratified so far as to have an Act of their own. It would be his duty, in any case, to take care that, the provisions of the Bill should harmonize with those of the general measure proposed by the Government, and in effecting that object he had no doubt he might confidently reckon upon the valuable aid of the hon. and learned Solicitor General. The advantages derivable from co-operative societies were not to be measured by those which had already accrued. In 1093 the principle of co-operation among working men the true solution was to be found of many of those questions which at present vexed the nation and troubled Parliament. Sanitary progress was arrested because the lower classes could not be persuaded to regard as benefits the regulations devised for their health and comfort, while those interested in mechanics' institutes had arrived at something like a deadlock. Co-operation would lead the working classes to see and acknowledge the necessity of such sanitary regulations as authority might enforce upon them, and it would rectify the error from which mechanics' institutes were suffering—namely, that the work had not been begun at a sufficiently low level. They ought to go down to the very bottom of society, and then by working upwards, their success, if not rapid, would be uninterrupted, and eventually complete. Another question to be solved by the principle of cooperation was that of education. One of the most difficult problems of the day was to what extent and under what conditions Parliament should assist the efforts of individuals in carrying on the work of education. Although the Educational Code had undergone two, if not three revisions, he could regard it only as a provisional Code, and he was persuaded that the true solution of the question was to be found in enlisting the sympathies, wishes, and understanding of the working classes in the work by means of the principle of co-operation. He asked the House to strengthen that breakwater which had been a protection to co-operative societies against the storms and winds of the deep sea. They had not embarked in a pleasure-boat, but were men pulling for their lives in a more skiff, and deserved to be protected from the surging billows which surrounded them on every side, and which might engulf them at any moment. The object of the Bill was simply the consolidation of existing Acts, which worked well, with some few alterations, amendments and additions which experience had suggested to the parties most interested in working them out. As he had stated, he relied on the assistance and admirable counsel of his hon. and learned Friend the Solicitor General to make the provisions of the Bill harmonize with those of the excellent measure introduced by the Government. He moved the second reading of the Bill.
THE SOLICITOR GENERALsaid, he had no objection whatever to offer to the second reading of a Bill which had certainly been introduced for objects which in themselves were most admirable. Any encouragement that could be offered to the parties it was intended to benefit would, no doubt, be well bestowed. The only criticism to which the Bill was liable was, that it merely proposed to enable provident associations to do those very things which they would be enabled to do under the provisions of the measure already before the House, and which had been carefully framed with the view of including cases of that description. He was not prepared to say, however, that there might not be Provident Societies as to which the Bill might be said to take up different ground. Of course, he guarded himself against being supposed to admit that it would be expedient to have two Bills before the House at once, proposing to deal with the same matter; and it would be much more desirable if the Bill were limited to those objects that required to be specially dealt with in reference to associations of that particular kind; but if his right hon. Friend would give his assistance in making the provisions of the two Hills consistent, he should be quite satisfied with that assurance.
§ MR. SLANEYsaid, he wished to thank his right hon. Friend for the very able and excellent manner in which he had brought forward the Bill. After the experience they had acquired of the working of the present Acts, the large number of persons who availed themselves of them, and the great advantages which had resulted from them in stimulating industry and forethought, the House was bound by every consideration to give fair play and power of extension to these Friendly Societies. He gave every credit to the hon. and learned Solicitor General for the pains he had taken on this subject, but there might be some points still that required alteration. These societies had grown up in such numbers and with such capital that they required additional means to enable them to spread their benefits to other places and in their own districts. Why should they not be permitted to have a larger amount of land? And why not also allow them to engraft on their societies the powers given by the Act for limiting the liability of partners? The members of those societies would thus have much greater facilities than they now possessed for acquiring by 1095 their own means improved dwellings, perhaps with small gardens attached. Poor-rates would thus be lessened; the health and comfort of the people promoted, and a stimulus given to the humbler classes to elevate their own position in society.
§ Bill read 2o, and committed Wednesday.