Minute Book: Working Committee with African Explosives & Chemical Industries Ltd (AE&CI Ltd)

Minute book 2, described as 'Cooper & Nephews South Africa (Pty) Ltd, AE&CI Agreement: Minutes of Working Committee Meetings'. The 'I' in 'AE&CI' is mistakenly given as a figure '1' on the spine.

As well as minutes there are some presented papers in this volume.

Meetings usually took place at Coopers' offices.

There is an index at the front of this volume.

The working committee usually met monthly, with occasional breaks, particularly during wartime.

The committee comprised two representatives from AE&CI, and three from Coopers, although fewer people sometimes attended, particularly during wartime.

Secretarial support for the committee was provided by Coopers.

Most of the meetings discuss a monthly sales report, showing the state of the markets in which the two companies were involved.

On p. 17 a note is made of a Coopers breach of weights & measures laws - they had used US instead of standard measures of 'pints' and 'gallons'.

Meetings in the years immediately after 1945 often dealt with the supply problems experienced in the manufacture of Coopers products. Key chemicals such as Arsenic were often very hard to obtain.

The launch of a Cooper book on flower arranging, with sections on the control of pests, is noted on p. 127.

W E O Walker-Leigh, Managing Director, Cooper McDougall & Robertson Ltd, attended the meetings of 24 Sep 1948 (p. 163), and 22 Oct 1948 (p. 167).

On pp. 175-6 there is a note suggesting a revision of Coopers' selling organisation in South Africa.

On p. 197 a method for Coopers to have questions asked about the accounts of their competitors Klipfontein Organic Products (KOP) in the South African parliament is outlined.

A note is attached inside the front cover of this volume.

27 Jul 1944 - 2 Jun 1949

1 item

Please see main WF collection description (ref. 'WF').