WM.  THOMSON  &  SONS,  LTD.

89

holding  £200.  The  remaining  £5,759  was  held  by  various
individuals,  240  in  number  (workmen  and  other  persons  interested
in  the  Co-operative  movement).  Of  the  loan  capital,  £6,967
belonged  to  members  employed  by  the  Society,  and  of  this  £6,876
belonged  to  Mr.  Thomson;  £880  belonged  to  other  Societies,
almost  exclusively  retail  distributive  (Store)  Societies;  £1,930  to
Trade  Union  organisations;  and  £2,154  to  various  individuals.
For  the  first  few  years  after  the  conversion  of  this  business
into  a  Co-operative  Society  considerable  difficulties  were  met  with,
impeding  the  financial  success  of  the  undertaking,  because  some
of  the  customers,  objecting  to  the  association  of  Mr.  Thomson  with
the  co-operative  movement  and  to  the  adoption  of  co-operative
principles  in  the  concern,  withdrew  a  large  amount  of  business.
On  the  other  hand,  the  working-class  Co-operative  Societies  from
the  first  have  given  the  association  considerable  orders,  and  while
the  Society’s  sales  were  at  the  outset  about  £22,500  a  year,  they
have  now  more  than  doubled,  being  £46,932  in  19.11.
The  profits  realised  have  during  the  existence  of  the  Society
varied  greatly  in  different  years,  but  the  shareholders  have
received  their  5  per  cent,  all  through  ;*  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that
on  several  occasions,  in  years  in  which  the  profits  did  not  suffice  to
pay  this  rate  in  full,  the  employees  voluntarily  made  good  the
deficiency  out  of  their  wages,  the  sums  thus  given  up  by  the
workpeople  to  the  shareholders  amounting  in  all  to  £1,400.  After
allowing  for  this  amount,  the  average  net  addition  which  the
share  in  profits  (bonus  on  wages  plus  sums  credited  to  the  Assurance ­
  and  Pension  Fund)  allotted  to  the  employees  has  made  to
their  wages  since  the  Society  was  formed  has  been  equivalent  to
3'3  per  cent,  on  wages.  "~
With  regard  to  the  wages  paid  by  the  Society,  it  is  to  be
observed  that  in  1893  it  was  decided  at  the  suggestion  of
Mr.  Thomson  to  substitute  experimentally  for  the  system  of  payment ­
  by  piece-work,  usual  in  the  woollen  weaving  industry,  a
system  of  time-wages,  t  and  at  the  same  time  to  adopt,  instead
of  the  hours  worked  in  the  trade  (then  56|  hours  per  week)  a
48-hour  week;  time-wage  payment  with  a  48-hour  week  has
been  in  operation  in  these  mills  ever  since.  In  the  last  Report
of  the  Society  (for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1911)  it  is
stated  that,  desiring  to  commemorate  in  a  practical  manner  the
twenty-fifth  year  of  the  Society’s  existence,  it  had  increased  wages
all  round,  at  the  same  time  increasing  the  minimum  of  the
weekly  pension  allowance  to  12.s.  for  men  and  to  8s.  for  women.
It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  no  married  women  are  employed
by  the  Society;  those  women  who,  upon  their  marriage,  have
worked  not  less  than  five  years  with  the  Society  being  granted,
*  On  one  occasion  4  per  cent,  only  was  paid,  but  the  deficiency  of  1  per  cent,
was  made  up  to  the  shareholders  out  of  profits  soon  afterwards.
f  The  main  objection  entertained  by  the  weavers  to  being  paid  piece-wages
was  that  they  received  no  remuneration  in  respect  of  periods  between  finishing
one  job  and  starting  on  another,  this  “  waiting  for  warps  ”  causing  them
considerable  disadvantage.  The  time-wage  rates  introduced  when  piece-work
was  abolished  were  based  upon  average  earnings  in  each  department  during  a
fairly  good  year.