THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1912. PROFIT-SHARING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10666, 22 June 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1912. PROFIT-SHARING.

*Mir T. M. Wilford has returned to New Zealand with maniy new and up-to-date ideas for the solution of social and political problems. At a public, fuuctibn at Petone the other evening, •he stated that he had come to the conclusion, after discussing the industrial problerii with ,tihe great men \of E'ngHaind, that t'lie only- practical •method, of settlinfg labour disputes wa:s to introduce' the 'system of profitsharing. He mentioned the fact that ■no less a personage than Eari Grey had expressed himself favourable to this system. The idea of profit-shar-ing ie, as Mr Wi'iford must know, a very old ic'ne. It has been tried in various parts of She world, inicludmg Great Britain, with varied degrees of success. In theory, the proposal is excellent. The man who, by the sweat oif his brow, or the use cf his brain, develops any form of industry, should-be entitled to a fair share of the profits accruing from that industry. There is not a man engaged , in> business to-day who would not ac- |

cepit tliaifc as a reasonable proposition, all tilings .being equal. But h,ow ape the profits ito :be determined ? In the first ,plaoe a fair rate of interest must foe allowed on the capital- invested, iand an. allowance .must be .made for depreciation.;'..-The labourer himself will admit lie justice of this. But | •how is it poslsiible to arrive at an approximaite idea of .the .profitsfrom wec-ik to, week or rear to year ? Supposing • that a imniiimum wage was fixed, and- after the payment i»f this, and making the .ueuali cfliarges for interest, etc., there was a profit of 10 per cent', at 'th'e ieind of the first year. The division would, perhaps, almost double the wages of the worker. At it'll' end of .the second year, .however, a d'ecliine in trade or a fall in market prices resulted an a loss. What would then Jiaippen P WouM the worbeir be prepared to refund.come of t'Jie profits

cf till a first year? Of course hcMoukl not. The inevitable Mould bo (.'h>s cfcKn.g idcwn cif the business or fcniditist.ry, and tho throwing oat of employment of hundreds af me;i. The true spirit of co-operation imusfc -be a 'ilumng cf the leases a 6 well as the •profits, and tins impilies the provision .of a.n cqurfl fiiar,e ctf -i-ho capital r required in the business, which is impossible. . One oamvot- help thinking that some farm, of bonus to employees would be beneficial to trade, and would he an inicclLitive to exertion. But there are many avocations in which t?!K would be iiKipr-ssible. The State railway's, for Eistarcce, could hot 'be worked on either the ben-us or.pro-/iit-.'shariug principle. It would liavo be'^i l very nice - la,sfc. ye«r if the employees' of the- Bank of New Zclaland could have shared in the profits. But what would happen. if nothing wc«re ■put to the reserve, and l the Bank ware to experience the crisis of a .few .yerfirs .back? How' many ibulsinesses tare there i.n tlhfcl country which can. [be sure of a' profit over a given, period f -of years ? Aire there any ?■ . Would (Mr WiOford, or Earl,(Grey, or any otfefr profit-sharing advocate embark •upon a ■ business which permitted of ! 'fto pirovis'ioni Cie.inig made for a ' rainy 5 Jd-ary P .The labour conditions are-had [enough under existing oircumistalacefi. IMawy an employer ais working ifor the (benefit cf his employees, taking all the i'ils'k, all 'tlhe worry, and 'drawing 'lesa at the end of tJie week j t'hr.:n. tJie State-protected wages man. "Under tho profit-sharing system, how'ever., tilings would 'be infinitely worse, for the worker would eilia.re the spoil this year, and next year, when thcr-? was a IoE'S, ho would he missing, and [ the .unihappy employer would he compelled t(o '"carry the baby." As we said a(t the outset, -Mr Wfllford's idea ■is nice in .feiry,-kit 'how lie would put ,it in'to practice with a hope of success is impossible to say. We should like to have lw© views on the subject elaborated a little.