OCR Text |
Show BRITISH CO-OPS OPERATE BUS, SELL INSURANCE 1 esseaexeaBBBaeaBaeai v Institution Which Started in Groceriet and Cloth-Ing Cloth-Ing Branches Out to - Broader Business Field - y MILTON BAONNEH LONDON", Aug. 15. Prtaap no mor tlrnlflcftnt dv1opmn( la th cooperative movtmnt Jn EnffUnd ver took plae than whan It an taratf two branch ef activity whtrh aaamad vary reinota from tha Job of aalllnjr wrooeru and floth-Inc floth-Inc tha banking- builnaa aand tho . . Innuranca buslnraa. Br tha vary.natura of thlnra tha . ratall rooparativa aoelatlaa wara , oompctlnv with privately ownH M rrocry and clothinf ahoika aAd Lha Cooperative v'holMl aoctty wn , competlna; with other bt wholeaal-l era and mtnafacturera. I The thought came to the laadera tn tha mvoemant thai If they pat thatr money In ordinary banks and j If their members Insured In ordinary ordin-ary insurance companies, they! would thereby b riving financial ' ammunition per h ape to tha very people and business concerns who , were Interested In their failure. I IN PRINCIPAL CITIES, Tha Coonaratlva "Wholesale so-rlety so-rlety therefore created a tonkins;' ' department tn Its business. Today . ft hss main banks In Manchester. Tendon. Newcastle and Cardiff and 700 ratall cooperative societies act as Its scents and depoeftarles. It does not do buslnaes with tha outside out-side world. Tha accented depositors are cooperative ratall sodetlaa and their Individual members, tradea unions and friendly societies, and workmen's elubs and similar organ Jsatoins. Today tha concern haa M7.BM.WM In current deposits, subject to checking out, and a similar amount on deposit accounts, subject to withdrawal with-drawal after fourteen days to six months' notice. It has accounts of over 1000 retail cooperative societies. socie-ties. i400 tradea unions, tradea union branches and friendly societies, 1100 with workmen's clubs and 4400 Individual' In-dividual' sccounta. Accounts subject sub-ject to checking out on demand draw tMsrest computed each half yenr aiter ascertaining tha profit a Thua, last year I per cent wss allowed al-lowed for tha first half and 1 1-1 per cent for tha last h'f- Accounts withdrawable only after fourteen dv notice draw a fixed Interest of S S-4 per cent and those withdraw able after six months darw 4 1-1 par cent Interest. . ENTERS INSURANCE FIEL0. Tn addition to eooparators It has the accounts of most of the big textile tex-tile trades unions and such powerful orasnlsatlofia ss the Ballermarefcra' union, Klectrlcal Trades anion. National Na-tional Union of General Workers. National Union of Rail way men and moat of the big miners unions. It haa aleo the accounts of some of tha hranchee of the Foresters, llacca-hea. llacca-hea. dd Fellows and similar organizations. organ-izations. wing to the laws tha Cooperative Insurance socletv wss not formed ei a hrsnch f tha business of the Cooperative Wholesale society, hut aa a seperat company. Kour-flfths of Its stock Is owned by the C. W. ft. end tha other fifth hv tha Scotch . Wholesale Cooperative society. Thee two greet organlsattona also elt all the of 'leers. Unlike the couperattva hans. tne Ineuranco eompanv does busines with all comers. It writes all kinds of life ineursnca policies, aa well as fire, accident and employers liability. lia-bility. . COLLECTIVE POLICIES, ' Last year It received over tl.KOO.-000 tl.KOO.-000 tn premium and paid out over 14 000 000 tn claims. It has out standing US.fUO ordlnarv life Insurance In-surance policies and 04S.029 Industrial Indus-trial life Insurant policies. During the past year tha company returned re-turned to coopers tve retail societies ahillinrs out of every pound sterling ster-ling received from them during tha year In psyment for fire Insurance. A- dividend of 1 shilling In every pound waa paid to concerns which were not coopers five societies. Perhsps the moet ortstnsj fealura invented hy the coopentors Is a, collective col-lective life insurance .policy for members of cooperative retail societies. socie-ties. One policy Is written which covers ths Uvea of every member of a cooperative society. In addition, It covers the Uvea of the husband or wife of the member as the caa may he. There Is no medical examination of any kind and no age limit. The premium la paid hy tha cooperative co-operative society on behalf of atf Its members. This premium Is at ths astounding rate of 1 Enailsh penny In each pound sterling of purchsses made hy ths members during the preceding year. In other words, for every $5 spent at the cooperative shop hv the members the Insurance premium would be 1 cents. WAR AND FLU RISKS, On ths death of a member or tha wife or husband of a member, the local ooopertitlvs society notifies the Insurance company. It alao ear. titles the amount of purchase ssada by the family In the preceding year. For every $& of combined purchases. th company pays the family fl of Insurance, ths maximum amount! thus allowed balng 1200.' , This insurance plan la being greatly pushed, because It holds tha members close to their own shops and gives the cooperstlvs societies a I big art vantage over privately owned grocerisa. fcvery member- knows that ths bUer his purchases at his cooperative store, ths b inner Insur- j ance his family will ret it anything haptens to him. Kight hundred n;niy-six cooperative societies hsvel takn out ths fnfmrance, covering approximately 400 000 lives. I hi r in e t-e war end during tha In-f In-f jenza epidemic ths company uft-Urrnok uft-Urrnok ait risks without extra r-m-r. A i a result It paid- out : - '! claims, amounting to over . |