DETAILED ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS SCHEMES. 
59 
notice. Now it was laid down that this second half of the bonus 
is to he “ left in the company’s hands to accumulate at interest, 
“ or it may be invested in stock with the trustees, or it may be 
“ withdrawn under special circumstances by giving a week’s 
“ notice.” 
Another change made by the 1910 revision was the increase in 
the number of members of the Co-partnership Committee from 
36 to 54; and it is provided that “ candidates must hold and con- 
“ tinue to hold while in office on the Committee not less than 
“ £25 of stock, and they must have been not less than five years 
“ in the company’s service.” 
The Co-partnership Rules of the South Metropolitan Gas Com 
pany are printed in full in Appendix L, pp. 141-144. 
Speaking generally, a large part of the functions of the Co 
partnership Committee* consists in smoothing away friction 
which may arise between individual workmen and their 
employers, and in removing suspicions entertained by a 
workman that he is not being treated fairly. For this 
purpose a very important part is played by the workmen’s 
representatives on this Committee to whom the workman 
who thinks himself hai'dly dealt with applies in the first 
instance. In very many cases a talk between the workman and 
the representative on the Co-partnership Committee of the class 
of employees to which he belongs suffices to allay the man’s 
discontent. Should this not be the case, the next step is for the 
representative before whom he has laid his case to put the matter 
before the superintendent or other official in charge of the depart 
ment of the works in which the workman is employed. If the 
interview between the official and the representative should fail to 
produce results satisfactory to the complainant, then the case is 
brought before the Co-partnership Committee. But the necessity 
for this step occurs but seldom, most cases being settled in the 
manner above mentioned. When complaints come before the 
Committee its decision is always accepted without demur. 
In a certain number of cases, however, the matters which have 
come before the Co-partnership Committee have concerned, not 
individual workmen, but the employees of the Company as a 
whole. In this manner the rules of the Superannuation Fund of 
the Company have from time to time received necessary revisions. 
Perhaps the most important of the many useful tasks that have 
been performed by the Co-partnership Committee has been the 
settlement of the rules of the Company’s Accident Fund, and the 
subsequent revisions of these rules necessary to adapt them to be 
certified (as they have been) as a Contracting-out-Scheme under 
the Workmen’s Compensation Acts. In relation to this Scheme 
the Co-partnership Committee acts as referee in cases of disputed 
The account given in the text is based upon information supplied by the 
secretary of the Co-partnership Committee and by certain of the workmen’s 
representatives on the Committee.