TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3174, 31 August 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1881.

An interesting article on " Profit Sharing," by Mr Sedley Taylor, iB published in the May number of Nineteenth Century, showing tbe methods adopted on the Continent of giving the labourer a joint interest with the capitalist in the «ucees_ of tbe particular industrial or commercial establishments iit-.vbiah both are concerned. Th. principle appears to have been first carried out to a successful mci legitimate issue by M. Leclaire, of Paris, who grouped a series of associated ■nstitutiona arouod this central principle, that the workmen should participate in the profits of enterprise. In other parts ot the Continent the same method is being adopted in a large number of industrial and commercial establishments, and producing satisfactory results. M. Bord, of Paris, the pianoforte maker, adopted it after a strike in 1855. He receives 10 per cent, before any division takeß place, and he has paid over since that date out of surplus profits £39,300. The effects of tbe yy&tem in attaching the workmen to the house, and its influence on their relations towards their employer are excellent. The Compagnie d'Assurances Generales adopts another method : per cent, of the yearly profits is allottci to the staff, oq the ratio of pay. The amount is not paid over, but capitalised, and accumulates at 4 per cent, compound interest until tbe officer te 25 years rt work in the house, or 65 years of age. He can then sink tbe value of hi? account in tbe purchase of a life annuity in the otlke, or invest it in French Government or railway securities. A number of the participating houses distribute a part of the work-people's share of profits in cash bonuses, and invest the remainder for purposes of saving. This is done by tbe firm of Billow and Isaac, a joint stock company, manufacturing musical boxes at Geneva, and the profits thus distributed in the past t.a years range from 28£ per cent to 4 per cent, in 9 years. The establishment of M. Laoche-Joubert, at Anguleme, with 1500 workmen, and that of M. Lenoir, Paris, with 40 house-painters, are worked similarly. It is found that the workman takes a greater interest in bis work, both as to speed and excellence, while the good feeling promoted between employer and employed is invaluable. Some English firms have already adopted the principle, and a special society is now being formed in England to collate information from the best foreign sources, and other trustworthy information on participation in profits, in order to the extension of the principle in other undertakings.