﻿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.”