PROFIT-SHARING MINES.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 64, 31 May 1912, Page 2

PROFIT-SHARING MINES.

Th© statment. of tho great French profit-sharing mines of Moiitocan-les-Minos has just boon issued. It allocates ] ,000,(100 francs (J_6_,ooo) "tit of tho last year's profits to the miners. The Compagnie do Illanzy, which owns all the mines in the district over a radius of some 15 miles, and covering 10 parishes, got into trouble with the. miners in 1906. After stormy proceedings, the company at last settled tho disputes with the miners by promising to let them havo a share in the profits. The sharo of the minors amounted, in the first year, to 300,000 francs. Then it rose to GOO,OOO francs, and it has increased in the same progression ever since, until to-day it is 1,000,000 francs. There are now some 7900 miners entitled to share in tho profits, making about 190 francs (about £8), which each of thorn receives. So far the miners are content, but, on the other hand, they also complain that as their share is in proportion to wages they are able to earn, and these again are proportioned to their work, they are really not any hotter off than (.hoy were before. They complain, too, that they havo to work more. There arc in consequence 300 more accidents a year, and whereas, 14 years ago, (here were nearly 10,000 minors, there are to-day some 2000 fewer. Yet the mines havo to produce the same quantity, or more, to obtain the necessary profit. This also throws somo light on the wages earned by French miners. The French miners iv tho Northern Department and in tho Pas de Calais earn on an average only 5 francs 34 centimes a day, equivalent to about 4s. 3_d. This is but an averago, and is not the minimum so much spoken of latterly, which can hardly be fixed from any reliable statistics. The miners of Montcoau-les-Minos, however, counting their profit-sharing receipts into the bargain, do not earn as much as the miners in the North. Their average earnings are only 5 francs 30 centimes a day.