LECTURE AT WINCHESTER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2103, 25 September 1890, Page 3

LECTURE AT WINCHESTER.

On Tuesday evening a very interesting lecture was delivered by the Key. T. A. Hamilton in the "Winchester parish room, under the auspices of the "Winchester " Recreation and Amusement Society." The audience was small but appreciative. Under the headings of " Home Life," "Work," "Play," "Church-going," and " Citizenship," a variety of topics were dealt with. The lecturer was warmly applauded at the close, and on the motion of Mr H. J. Gladstone, seconded by Mr Deßenzy, a very hearty vote os thanks was accorded to Mr Hamilton for his amusing and instructive address. The room was then cleared for a dance.—ln speaking of " work " the lecturer gave an interesting account of the working of the co-operative system of sharing profits established in Prance by a man named LeClaire, a house painter by trade. He noticed that many of his men suffered from what is called painter's colic, arising from the whit© lead mixed with the paint that they used. Having mastered the chemical side of his business, he cudgelled his brains to see in what way he could substitute a harmless ingredient, and an equally efficient one, for this white lead, and so he discoyered that white \of zinc would do equally well, and accordingly the first thing in which he signalised himself was in doing something for the benefit of others. After this he began to occupy himself with [this difficulty: He noticed that the working man in Pariß and everywhere else has this one outlook before him. If, when he is past the prime of life the partnership under which he is working should change hands, it is generally made an excuse for getting rid of the hands who are rather past efficiency, and LeClaire felt deeply for men in that predicament. He tried to find out a plan by which men could be protected from this and also from the results of accidents and casualties, and found that the only solution of the problem would be to give the working man a certain share in the profit. It took him seven years to develope this idea. In 1842 he commenced to carry out this scheme, and at onee became tbe object of hostility. His men believed that he was in some mysterious way going to cheat them, and to lower their wages by the bribe of an annual bonus. The year, however, came to an end. He had then forty-four men in his employ, and he oalled them together. After making a short speech, he put down on the table a bag, and told them to divide the contents. That bag contained 11,886 francs, or £475. After this demonstration, that is to say, £lO per man in addition to the full market rate of wages, the men began to think; there was something in the system of profit sharing, and so their objection came to an end. But that bonus alone was not sufficient for him. In 1848 he established the " mutual aid " system, not only as a benefit club, but to provide pensions for all his men.

Leclaire's institution survived the shocks of the Franco-Prussian "War and the Commune, and he himself lived to see, in 1872, the sum of £2700 paid in bonuses, and £I3OO paid over to the mutual aid society, ihe present position of a man who belongs to this firm is this: In addition to having the full rate of wages he receives a yearly bonus on those wages; he is a member in a regular benefit club, and he enjoys a life pension of £4B on arriving at hisj fiftieth year of age, and twentieth year of work, of which one half, after his death, is continued to the widow, if she survives. In the case of an accident happening to him before this period is arrived at then there is ample provision made to secure him from want. The institution is now called the Maison Leclaire. The system has been adopted by the pianoforte manufacturing firm of Bord et Oie and the great firms of Boucicaut and Chair. Leclaire's formula, oft repeated, was this: "Is it not better for me to earn a hundred francs and give away fifty, than to earn twenty-five and keep them to myself?" His final credo, in nearly the hour of his death, was as follows: "I believe in the God Who has written in our hearts the law of duty, the law of progress, the law of the sacrifice of one's self for others. I submit myself to Eis will; I bow before the mysteries of His power and of our destiny. I am the humble disciple of Him Who has told us to do to others what we would have others da to us, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is in this sense that I desire to remain a Christian until my last breath."