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.