Livesey's memorial - in £sd

The article below comes from South Met. Gas Co's house magazine Co-partnership Journal in 1908. Anyone who has read their way through the postings on the South Met. Co-partnership scheme (basically my M.Phil thesis) will understand what this is about. But - briefly - in 1889 South Met. under George Livesey had set up a  bonus scheme for their workforce whereby a bonus was paid relative to the then price of gas sold by South Met. This is all tied up with the 1889 gas workers strike and George Livesey's aspirations for society - but never mind that at the moment)

Livesey had died in 1908 and the following article is part of a series of memorial articles to him. 

(having said all that - this has been hellish to scan and type accurately and I hope it is ok.  It was not helped by Microscoft arrogantly crashing my machine half way through on the pretext of 'updates')

- and - note for foreigners and people under 50 - figures  s ..d.  refers to shillings and pence - thus 2s.3d. is two shillings and threepence - (or, as we would have said then 'two and three') just over 10 pence/

THE ENDURING MEMORIAL.

It has been thought good to publish in this issue of our Journal the figures showing the progress of our Co-Partnership up to June 30th last. The table .below gives at a glance some of the first-fruits of our late Chairman's labours in this direction, and we know that these evidences of success cheered him in the last years of his life. Our hope for the future of both capitalist and worker rests on our faith in the principles of which these figures show a portion of the result-the other portion (peace, harmony, and goodwill) cannot be shown in figures:-

Year	Price of gas	Bonus %	Total Bonus	£100 stock
1889		Nest egg	£6,863
1890	2s.3d.	5	6,037
189l	“	“	8,653
1892	2s 3d-2s6d.	3	7,524
1893	2s.6d – 2s 5d.	4
1894	2s 5d.  2s 2d.	6	11,276	102
1895	2s. 4d.	“	12,506	110
1896	2s. 3d.	7 1/2	16,217	125
1897	“	“	17,332	135
1898	2	2	17,612	137 1/2
1899	2s 2d	81/4	20,664	135
1900	2s. 1d	9	23.734	122
1901	2s. 8d	3 ¾	10,221
1902	2s  8d	7 1/2	25,222	123
1903	“	“	27,813	121 1/2
1904	2s.8d. -2s.1d	8 ¼	33,212	123
1905	2s.	9 3/4	42,648	131
1906	“	“	43,961	“
1907	“	“	45,591	120
1908	2s 3d.	71/2	36,426	120

Total paid in Bonuses                                                                                 £419,309.

On June 30th last 5,146 Employees held Ordinary Stock of the nominal value of £210,595, but really worth, at market price £           252,714
They had deposited in Company's hands                                          £ 95,873

A total of                                                                                            £ 348.587

By adding Building Society Investment.                                             £38,000
We get the grand total of                                                                     £ 381,587

A man earning 30s. a week (most of us earn more),  if he had been employed with us throughout the whole period of our Co-Partnership, sharing in all the bonuses and leaving his portion at interest, would now have in the Company £153 17s.10d.

We print these figures, not because we believe that Co-Partner- ship is a matter of pounds sterling, but because the figures mean to those who know our Co-Partners thrift, self-control; increased self- respect, greater interest in work; lessened dread of the future, and a better realisation of the great truth that' we are members one of another.