142
APPENDIX L.
It is therefore in the interest of the Shareholders that gas should be
sold at the lowest practicable price; but as the Act of Parliament did not
apply the principle of the Sliding Scale to the employees of the Company,
they consequently had no direct interest in the price at which gas was sold.
In order to remedy this defect, the Directors, on October 30th, 1889,
unanimously resolved to offer to their Officers and all Workmen who were
willing to sign Agreements, a share in the profits of the Company in the
form of a percentage on their salaries and wages. The principle of the
Sliding Scale was adopted, the percentage (or Bonus) rising when the price
of gas is reduced, and falling when it is raised.
The initial price or starting point with the Sliding Scale which regulates
the dividend of the Shareholders is fixed by the Act of Parliament of 1900
at 3s. Id. per 1,000 cubic feet, and the same figure now applies to the
Co-partnership scheme. The Shareholders get 2.s. 8d. per cent, for each
penny reduction in the price of gas. The Co-partnership Bonus is at the
rate of 15s. per cent, on the annual salary of the Officers and the year’s
wages of the Workmen for each penny at which gas is sold below 3s. Id. per
1,000 cubic feet.
One-half of the Bonus is invested in the Company’s Ordinary Stock in the
names of the three Trustees until the amount credited to any Co-partner
is sufficient to give him a Stock Certificate in his own name. The remain
ing half of the Bonus is 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withdrawn under special circumstances by giving a week’s notice.
Scale of Bonus.
If the price of Gas is at or above 3s. Id. per 1,000 feet—No Bonus.
At 3s.
0 d.— |
per cent.
At 2s.
5d.—6
per cent.
„ 2s.
lid.—1J
J J
„ 2s.
id.—6f
)>
„ 2s.
10d.—2|
>>
„ 2s.
3d.—7£
J?
„ 2s.
9d.—3
J J
„ 2s.
2d.—Si
})
„ 2s.
8d.—3}
} J
t, 2s.
Id.—9
3)
„ 2s.
7d.—4-|
J }
„ 2s.
Od.—9|
3 J
„ 2s.
6d.—6{
))
And so on.
Buies.
1. Employees working under signed Agreements and Officers who fulfil
the conditions of these Rules shall be entitled to the Co-partnership Bonus.
The Directors reserve the right to refuse permission to any man to sign
an Agreement who does not take an interest in the welfare of the Com
pany and its Co-partnership, or who is wasteful of the Company’s property,
or is careless or negligent in the performance of his duty.
2. The bonus shall be calculated on the salaries of the Officers, and the
wages of the employees, no account being taken of overtime. Those
employees who may be employed on piece-work shall have their Bonus calcu
lated on the amount they would have earned at their ordinary rate of wages
in the regular working hours.
3. No deduction shall be made on account of absence caused by sickness,
unless the total amount of such absence exceeds two months (8 weeks) in
the year, and then only the excess over that period shall be deducted.
4. The Bonus year shall end on the 30th June in each year and the
Bonus shall not be declared until that date. It shall be paid in full to
employees discharged from the Company’s service on account of slackness
of work, or in the event of superannuation or death, for the period such
employees have worked under Agreement since the previous declaration of
Bonus. Men leaving the Company’s service of their own accord before the
declaration of the Bonus and with the approval of their Engineer or Super
intendent, shall, in respect of the current year’s Bonus, be paid only the
withdrawable half calculated on the time they have been under Agreement
in such year. Should a man be discharge' 1 for misconduct or breaking
the terms of his Agreement, he shall not be paid Bonus for the expired
portion of the period of the Agreement he was working under at the time.
5. On the declaration of the Bonus on the 30th of June in each year, or
in the case of a Winter man on the completion of the term specified in his
Agreement, the whole of the Bonus to which he may be entitled (see Rule 6
