Ashburton Guardian Megna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1911. LABOUR PROBLEMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXII, Issue 8246, 11 December 1911, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Megna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1911. LABOUR PROBLEMS.

At a time like the present, when labour unrest is.pronounced in every part of the -world, men's minds naturally seek to find the key to the problems that'give rise to industrial agitations, strikes and other disturbing phenomena. No doubt much of the unrest of the" present, day is due to the natural desire of the many to secure a greater share of' the wealth now enjoyed by the comparatively few. It is contended by some thinkers that statesmanship, as well as «a sense'of justice, should dispose employers •generally to recognise this-by" some form of profit-sharing, ' which, under fair, conditions, has been uniformly successful. The principle has been practised in France' for two generations, and has been firmly and permanently established in the gas-producing industry in Great Britain, where, the example of the South Metropolitan Company has been followed by twenty or thirty other companies. In these companies the number of men employed is 20,000, and the amount of profit divided among them during the year ended December,- 1909, was £93,722. It is estimated that the total profit to the employed since the schemes were adopted in these companies is £528,843. In one company there are three employee directors, and in another two. Two firms in Australia are practising the profitsharing system successfully. There is in Great Britain a Labour Co-partnership Association, with influential men at its ■head, and this organisation some two months ago .^issued a manifesto urging the idea of profitsharing upon the attention of Labour bodies and large eiu--plovers. H will be a hard task to secure general acceptance of 'the system. There must be a 'great growth of goodwill on the part of employers and of intelligence on .the part of the workers before the profit-sharing, method is adopted. The results of one notable experiment are not at all encouraging. Sir Christopher Fnrness's proposals in regard to a co-partner-ship in. his shipbuilding business were accepted in 1908 by the trade union delegates. The men agreed to take up ten £1 shares in the company, paying for them if they so desired by a deduction of 5. per i cent, .from their weekly earnings.. On those shares 4 per cent. | interest was guaranteed. The co-

partners decided in April, 1910, to discontinue the scheme, although they had received 9 per cent, interest on their money in addition to their wages. Some of the Labour leaders welcomed the failure, on the ground that copartnership made the workmen independent of the trade unions. ■ Mr Theodore C. Taylor, M.P., head of the firm of J. T. and J. Taylor, of Batley, Yorkshire, has been a tour of Australia and New Zealand, and his statements regarding the working of the profit-sharing system in his business are hopeful for the success of the scheme. The firm adopted the Godin method that has been in operation for some years in France. Under this system, the balance of the net profits remaining after the deduction of interest on capital at 5 per cent, is apportioned to the total capital and the total amount paid for labour during the year on an equal footing, this method of allo-. cation being' based on the idea that, as the first charge upon the business is for labour, paid periodically during the year, so. the ; next charge is simple interest on the wages of capital, and that, therefore, labour and capital should be regarded as having a common claim upon the profits. Mr Taylor states that of his firm's 1400 workpeople, 1100 have been shareholders for years past, and during the last three years the firm has paid a double bonus to all those who had been five years in the employ of the company, ww'c 21 years of age, and had retained shares to the extent of half a year's wages. " The scheme has been a-thorough success," added Mr Taylor, •" and though I may or may not be so rich as I should otherwise have been, I feel tliat, in .respect of those things that are worth ihGre than money, I have been a great gainer/ That is the spirit in which employers should approach the matter; and if the workers . were assurer! oi; the sincerity of the captains' 0 1 md ustry, they. would soon Veuognise that in some such arrangement lies the true solution of labour troubles. If men knew they were getting their full share of,the wealth produced by, their labours, they would cease to cherish a grudge against the! capitalistic employer. . It is a! sense of injustice that" causes most Labour troubles; the remedy 1 is to apply the principles of common honesty to the relations between employers and employed. It' that were done, there would be! no need for Wages Boards, Con- 1 ciliation Boards, or Courts of-! Industrial Arbitration. I