The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1913. PROFIT SHARING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 18, 20 January 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1913. PROFIT SHARING.

The Labour Department of the British Board of Trade recently issued a j report dealing with the development j and present position of profit-sharing j and labour co-partnership schemes in lEngland. The last report of the kind was issued in 1894 by Mr. David Schloss. The investigation from which the results given in the present report are taken, was also entrusted to Mr. Schloss, but when the work was nearing completion lie was compelled to relinquish it owing to an illness which, unfortunately, ended in his death. The report covers every form of profit-sharing scheme now in operation, and shows that out of nearly 300 schemes started during the last fifty years 133 have survived. The general conclusion is that a large proportion failed through circumstances none ol which can well be attributed to the operation of the profit-sharing principle, while sixty-three schemes, or about two-fifths of the whole, were abandoned on the ground that the system had failed in producing the results hoped for. The schemes now in force are found in a greater variety of industries than was looked for probably, including ns they do the shipbuilding and engineering trades, the textile and clothing trades, agriculture, printing, etc. The body of evidence with regard to their character and effects now brought together for the first time is of great value, and though, as the report points out, great caution is necessary in drawing inferences of a general character from the results, the facts are believed by the investigators to show that profit sharing and copartnership schemes are capable of affording such advantages to employees as an addition to wages, the provision of special facilities for thrift, and k some cases a certain measure of control over the management of undertakings. The employers’ opinions of the schemes tend also to show that profit sharing helps to develop a higher degree of efficiency and to promote harmonious relations. Mr. G. S. Barnes, in the introduction to tho re

lort, points out, however, that the aim uis been simply to supply the facts md materials upon which a judgment nav bo formed.

THE ENGLISH MONEY MARKET.

Mr. Henry Cottcrill, of Christchurch, | a member of the well-known legal linnj of Duncan, Cottcrill and Stringer, rc-| ccntly returned from a trip to Eng-' land. In the course of a brief interview with a. representative of ‘The Press,’ Mr. Cottcrill was asked regarding the state of the English money market. ( Mr. Cottcrill said that whilst he did not go Home on business, he found it impossible to escape it, but ho did not do very much, and was not studying the conditions as closely as he would have done in other circumstances. When ho left the Dominion the money market was unsettled, but advices which subsequently reached him in England were to tho* effect that the market had resumed its normal condition. He did not then gather that there was any likelihood of any financial stress, and consequently ho was somewhat surprised to find, on arrival, that a shortage of money existed. He was brought in. contact with a good many business men in England, but ho did not gather from them that there was any particular reason for alarm in England. The war 111 tlio 13 all vans was causing political anxiety, but the effect on the English money market was not very marked, though, of course, it was affected by the war. He was sure that there was no actual condition of alarm in tho English money market, and the condition of the New Zealand money market, if it were due in any way to English conditions, was due to the fact that a tremendous amount oi English capital is being diverted tc Canada at the present time. Tinpossibilities in that great Dominion were attracting both men and money. As to the shortage of money in Australia, Mr. Cottcrill said that he discussed the matter with Sir Charles McKellar on the passage from England, and learned from him that the large public undertakings in the Commonwealth were responsible for absorbing a large amount of money, and that the embarkation by (the Federal Government upon a banking enterprise had had the effect of making the Australian banks very cautious Whilst at Home he noted that there was a distinct tendency of immigration to Australia, and he was informed that the passenger accommodation or steamers for Australia was chock ful. for six months ahead.

THE PREMIER’S JUBILATION

Touching lightly upon what it terms “the Premier’s jubilation,” Wellington ‘Evening Post’ says : —Happily the green grass did not strike last yeai in sympathy with the Red Federationists at Waihi. The sheep also put or. tissue and wool, and Queen Cow was kind to her subjects. Up and,down these islands the tireless natural agencies worked well for the people’s comfort, and the result is a jubilant Prime Minister. In his jovial blufl way Mr. Seddon was wont to credit the Government with the earth’s increase and the buoyancy of foreign markets, and he seemed to have ; knack of convincing many folk that his Government made the grass grow. Mr. Massey has not been long enough in office to attempt such arts. He is content to rejoice with others in New Zealand’s splendid recovery of prosperity, despite a period of industrial unrest. The Government cannot yet claim praise for the rise of revenue, but Mr. Massey evidently invites the public to believe that the new Administration is economical. The Decembej quarter shows a decrease of £4981 in the expenditure, but we have not the details to indicate the amount, of con gratulation to which the Government may be entitled. There is undoubted ly scope for reasonable economy, which is the test of wise, courageous government. The predecessors had a giddiness in good times. When currents of money poured into the Treasury reservoir they were quickly piped elf, and much of the precious effluent was wasted. The present Ministry will be similarly tempted towards extra vagance. Deputations in all parts of the country will have countless eloquent pleas for disbursements at rates beyond the country’s means. The pressure will be enormous, as t always has been, and “Reformers” will bo just as keen as “Anti-Reform-ers” to pile up the expenditure. The tost of the Government’s ability to stand by its professions will not be long delayed.

BREATHING SPACES. Lord Chelmsford, Governor of New South Wales, speaking at the Newtown (Sydney) jubilee celebrations, on the need for open spaces, said it had been suggested that the Newtown Church of England Cemetery should be converted into such an open space, and tbo statement was greeted with applause. “Let me give you,” Lord Chelmsford added “a practical example from the Old Country. If you went back fifty years you would find in a great many cathedral cities that the cathedral closes were covered with tombstones, and were perhaps unkempt and an eyesore to the public in general. Take, for instance, the City of Winchester, where 1 went to school. Its cathedral close was an eyesore ; grass grew high amongst the graves, and it was not a thing ot beauty. But the cathedral chapter took the matter in hand. They removed the tombstones and levelled the spaces in the close. It is now a beautiful green sward of well-kept grass, and all the stones are now ranked up round the area, so that anyone may know whose bones lies under that green sward. You can see children playing there, and no one thinks it

sacrilege.” He quoted Gordon’s linos from tho “Sick Stockrider” : Let me slumber in the hollow where the wattle blossoms wave, With never stone or rail to fence my bed, Should the sturdy station children pull tho bush flowers o’er my grave, 1 may chance to hear them romping overhead. “Well,” Lord Chelmsford went on, amidst applause, “for myself I feel that I should be quite content to bd| laid where children would be playing overhead. You might well consider whether, in tho lack of open spaces, von might not put your cemetery to such a use as they have been put to in England, where they have proved a boon and blessing to the inhabitants of crowded towns.”