Mr.J.C.Gray, who succeeded Mr.Vansittart Neale as the General Secretary of the Co-operative Union, gave us invaluable help and continues to do so to this day.

The leaders of the English movement sympathised with our efforts.

The Union paid us the compliment of constituting our first converts its Irish Section.

Liberal support was given out of the central English funds towards the cost of the missionary work which was to spread co-operative light in the sister isle.

We can never forget the generosity of the workingmen in England in giving their aid to the Irish farmers, especially when it is remembered that they had no sanguine anticipations for the success of our efforts and no prospect of advantages to themselves if we did succeed.
It must be admitted that the outlook was not altogether rosy.
Agricultural co-operation had never succeeded in England, where it seemed to be accepted as one of the disappointing limitations of the co-operative movement that it did not apply to rural communities in these islands.