﻿DETAILED ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS SCHEMES.

61

of the Company and the having held for not less than 12 months prior
to the date of election, and the continuing to hold, not less than £120
stock of the Company, accumulated under the Co-partnership Scheme.
As the aggregate holding of stock increases, so shall the qualification
. of employee-directors increase in the following proportion :

“ Aggregate	holding £200,000,	qualification	£120

„	„ £300,000,	£140

„	„	£400,000,	„	£160

„	„	£500,000,	„	£180

One-tenth of	capital or more,	,,	£200.”

Taking the whole period during which the profit-sharing
scheme	has been in force, the bonuses	paid under	the scheme have

made an	addition to	the wages and	salaries of	the participants

at the average rate of 6'9 per cent.

The number of persons employed by the company in 1911 varied
between 5,534 and 6,704, of whom, at the end of 1911, 5,800 were
entitled to share in profits.

In all, 5,656 of the company’s employees hold between them
ordinary stock of the company to the (nominal) amount of
£301,490 (of whom 4,767 hold in their own names £290,700, the
trustees holding £10,790 on behalf of 889 employees).*

In addition, the company holds on behalf of 5,534 of its
employees deposits (accumulated bonus and other savings) to the
total amount of £54,260.

With regard to the share in the control of the affairs of the
company possessed by its employees, it is estimated that out of the
total number of votes which could be given at a general meeting
of the shareholders the proportion representing the voting
strength of the employee-shareholders is about 2 per cent.; while
of the ten directors of the company three (one official and two
workmen) are representatives elected by its employees.

In reply to the questions addressed to it by the Department as to
the results of the system above described" (asking whether the
system had proved satisfactory, whether it had called forth extra
zeal, and whether it had tended to promote harmonious relations
between employers and employed and avoidance of strikes and
disputes) the company states “ To all the above questions—Yes.”

Other Gas Companies.

The example set by the South Metropolitan Gas Company in
1889 was followed in 1894 by the Crystal Palace District Gas
Company (known since 1904 as the South Suburban Gas Com-
pany), which adopted a system generally similar to that of the
pioneer Company. Seven years later, in 1901, a similar scheme
was introduced by the Chester United Gas Company and the
Commercial Gas Company. Until the year 1908 these four Gas
Companies were the only ones that had profit-sharing arrange-
ments in force; but in 1908 12 such companies, in 1909 nine
(including the Gas Light and Coke Company of London, employ-
ing 10,000 to 11,500 persons), in 1910 two, and in 1911 three Gas
Companies adopted profit-sharing schemes; and up to the end of

* It should be understood that some of the 4,767 employees holding stock in
their own names also have fractions of £10 held for them by the trustees.