A Committee has been appointed to inquire into the regimental
canteen question, with Lord Grey as chairman. The composition of the Committee seems to us a very sound one, though we notice that a correspondent of the Times objects to the members on the ground that several of them—like Lord Grey—are known to be in favour of, and have an intimate knowledge of, co-operation generally. Instead of this being an objection, it seems to us most important that the members of the Committee should know something about the principles of true co-operation. The " man in the club's " ideas of co-operation are bounded as a rule by the Army and Navy Stores. But that excellent institution is simply a company trading on a special system, and is in no real sense a co-operative body. The Committee, among other things, will have to con- sider the possibility of the application of the Rochdale co-operative system to the Army, and to do this properly it is essential that they should at any rate know what that system is. For oursel ves, we sincerely trust the Committee will be able to recommend some scheme for applying that system to the canteens.
Previous page
