Mr. Joseph Warwick, of North Shields, delivered the inaugural address
on Monday before a meeting of 1,300 delegates, representing 1,108 societies with a membership of 1,620,185. After reviewing the growth of the movement, he said that their work—that of uplifting the poor and oppressed by the automatic system of self-help--was still unfinished, and he specially commended to the con- sideration and support of the delegates such matters as the housing of the poor, land tenure, land values, leasehold enfranchisement, and national education. In conclusion, he suggested that they should hold their annual congress and exhibition in Ireland as soon as possible, believing that such a step would largely prove a means of helping Ireland to. help herself. The subsequent proceedings of the Congress exhibited the Co-operators in a less favourable light, a good deal of time being spent in a controversial discussion on the action of Messrs. G. J. Flolyoale and Greening at the Paris Con- ference last year, while the miscellaneous resolutions in regard to recent and contemplated legislation were supported by a good deal of disputable argument. Thus Mr. Maddison, in condemning the Budget, actually declared that in arranging his taxation the Chancellor of the Exchequer had "missed the millionaires, the royalty owners, the monopolist and abundant and profligate wealth, and put the burden upon the poor widow in the cottage." Similar exaggerations were noticeable in the attack on the Government's education proposals as undemocratic and retrograde.
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