Lord Claud Hamilton, Chairman of the Great Eastern Company, whose
evidence occupied the whole of Monday's sitting, laid stress on the excellent relations that prevailed between his company and its employees, the majority of whom were non-unionists. He believed in profit sharing, where the rates of dividends were srfficiently high and not fluctuating, and in the promotion to high posts of responsi- bility of men in the company's service, as opposed to outsiders. The average wage paid to the Great Eastern Rail- way's wages-paid staff was el 6s. 11d., and the increased annual pay in ten years from 1898 amounted to £53,953. The only serious trouble on the Great Eastern had always been due to active members of the A.S.R.S. The scheme of 1907, the general principles of which he approved, bad never bad a fair trial. The moment the unions saw it would lead to peace for seven years they were up in arms against it, and by their repudiation of the solemn agreement signed by their representatives they had forfeited all right to be trusted in the future.
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