ANALYSIS OP SCHEMES NOW IN PORCE. 25 management. In a few instances certain classes of employees, such as persons receiving commission,( a ) persons earning more or less than fixed amounts,( b ) pieceworkers,! 0 ) or casual labourers!' 1 ) are excluded from participation; other special cases are noted under ( e ). In certain instances conditions are attached to participation, by far the most frequent of which is the signing of a contract of service for a stated period, generally twelve months, as is the case with nearly all profit-sharing gas companies,( f ) this con tract providing that wages shall not be reduced during the term specified. In a few cases(^) profit-sharing employees are required to be members of a fund for provident purposes. A provision is made in the rules of No. 29 that employees under 21 must have been total abstainers and non-smokers for the whole of the pre ceding year. Taking together the total number of profit-sharing schemes now in operation (but excluding three cases for which the particulars cannot be given) the figures given in the Table in Appendix A show that the following were the percentages which the number of employees in each case who were entitled to share in profits at the end of 1911 (or in 1912, in the case of schemes started since 1911) formed of the total number of employees in 1911: less than 20 per cent, in 16 cases, with an aggregate of 35,809 employees; in 3 cases, with 2,353 employees, 20 but under 30 per cent.; in 7 cases, with 892 employees, 30 but less than 40 per cent.; in 5 cases, with 1,117 employees, 40 but under 50 per cent.; in 8 cases, with 2,369 employees, 50 but less than 60 per cent.; in 4 cases, with 714 employees, 60 but less than 70 per cent.; in 23 cases, with 22,866 employees, 70 but under 80 per cent.; in 19 cases, with 26,017 employees, 80 but less than 90 per cent.; in 19 cases, with 10,822 employees, 90 but less than 100 per cent.; while in 26 cases, with 3,082 employees, (“) Nos. 25, 35, 124 ; No. 18 gives less to employees on commission than to others. ( b ) Only employees with an income of less than £250 aro allowed to participate by No. 106, while No. 93 admits no employees to participation whose salaries exceed £200 ; participants must be earning at least 30s. a week, if men, and 14s. a week, if women, in the case of No. 124. (°) Nos 16, 35, 40. ( d ) No. 5 (in this case the bonus accruing to casual hands is credited to a general provident fund), 50, 54, 64, 84, 123, 128, 129. ( e ) Only warehouse stalls and cutters participate in the case of No. 66, factory workers and porters being excluded, but allowed a week’s holiday ; under scheme No. 71, only males and foremen participate, while scheme No. 60 only provides for leading hands ; travellers are excluded in scheme No. 116, and in the case of No. 81 the scheme is confined to agents and superintendents. ( f ) With all, except Nos. 84, 109, 123, 132 ; in the case of No. 86 such an agreement is provided for in the rules of the profit-sharing scheme but is not enforced in practice ; the schemes of Nos. 84 and 109 are based upon con tributions. The maximum period named in agreement is only 4 months in the case of No. 127 and 6 mouths in the case of No. 107. In one case (in which the period is 12 months) it is stated by the company that there are “ various dates of commencing, viz., 1st January, 1st April, 1st July, 1st October, the object being not to have the whole determining at the same time.” An agreement is required to be signed under scheme No. 51 providing for 28 days’ notice to be given before the termination of the service of the employee; scheme No. 29 has a similar agreement for an unspecified period, which in practice is usually one week. (") Nos. 23, 53, 83, 110.