38 II.—-PRIVATE FIRMS AND COMPANIES. 
business—nevertheless it has undoubtedly called forth extra 
zeal, specially among the higher-grade employees, and has 
tended to greater stability of employment. But the happiest 
results of the scheme have been the harmonious relations sub 
sisting between the management and employees, and any 
thing in the nature of a strike has been unheard of during the 
company’s experience of Profit-sharing.” 
In the scheme last described, the part of the share in profits 
allotted to the employees, which is not paid out at once in cash, 
but is reserved to be used for their benefit later on, forms a Pro 
vident Fund, the benefits provided by which accrue to the partici 
pants collectively. In other cases the reserved bonus is credited 
to the account of each participant individually. As an example 
may be cited the scheme which has been in force since July, 1889, 
at the Hele Paper Works, Cullompton, where 223 persons are 
employed, of whom, on December 31, 1911, 157 were entitled to 
share in the profits of their employers (the Hele Paper Company, 
Limited). The rules of this scheme provide for the payment to 
the employees of a bonus dependent on the profits of the business, 
this arrangement conferring no legal claim, but the amount to be 
certified by an accountant. Tbe bonus is paid half-yearly, all the 
men and boys and some of the women in the employment of the 
firm during the half-year being allowed to participate; the total 
bonus is “ distributed among participants in the proportion of 
each worker’s wages to the whole wages of the mill.” One-half 
of a participant’s bonus is paid in cash, the other half being 
credited to him as a Provident Fund, on which interest at 5 per 
cent, per annum is allowed half-yearly; the part payable in cash 
may, at the option of the participant, be left with the firm on 
deposit at similar interest. The Provident Fund of an employee 
may be drawn out when he attains the age of 70, or completes 
25 years’ continuous service; if he dies, his representatives get the 
amount at once. If he quits the service of the firm, provision is 
made for his getting his Provident Fund promptly. The rules of 
the scheme provide that the sums credited to the Provident Fund 
may either be left on deposit with the firm or may be placed in a 
savings bank; as a matter of fact the former course has been 
adopted in all cases. The permission given to the employees'to 
deposit their cash bonus has been taken advantage of to a con 
siderable extent. There is at present on deposit with the com 
pany a sum of £2,244, belonging to 158 of their employees, and 
representing partly Provident Fund, partly cash left on deposit. 
In addition, two of their employees own preference shares of the 
company to the (nominal) amount of £170: these shares are 
5 per cent, cumulative, issued at par, not conferring the right to 
attend meetings of shareholders. 
As to the results obtained by Profit-sharing in this case, the 
company writes:— 1 ' We have no wish to discontinue our Profit- 
sharing scheme, as there are advantages attached to it'; but we 
cannot say that it has had any great effect on the zeal of the 
employees. The relations between ourselves and our employees 
always have been and continue to be harmonious.”