276 



* KNOV^LEDGE ♦ 



[Nov. 2, 1883. 



The real state of things is represented, only the earth's 

 curvature is necessarily monstrously exaggerated, in 

 Fig. 19, where h is the position of the balloon, a c a! the 

 earth's surface, c immediately belo-w the balloon, q d q z, 

 layer of clouds parallel to the earth's surface. The lines 

 q p b and b p' q' are tangent lines to the earth's surface, 

 which they meet in the points p and ;/, while they meet 

 the layer of clouds in q and </. 



(To he continued.) 



MUNIFICENT EMPLOYERS. 



EIGHTEEiSr months have now passed since the great 

 firm of Tangye Brothers was converted into Tangyes 

 (Limited). The brothers Tangye still hold nine-tenths of 

 the business, and the other gentlemen who had joined the 

 firm had, with a single exception, been associated with 

 Messrs. Tangye in the management of the business for 

 many years before they became partners. The first annual 

 meeting of the company was held at the Cornwall Works 

 on Tuesday, and was constituted the occasion for the making 

 of two important arrangements affecting the relations of 

 the firms with their employes. It is well known that the 

 firm have long desired to give some of the oldest foremen 

 and workmen some slight interest in the bvisiness, but 

 how this was to be done without conceding them all the 

 rights and privileges of a large shareholder — a course 

 which might be attended with serious inconveniences 

 — was a diflicult problem to solve. Messrs. Tangye 

 have, however, at length initiated and adopted a scheme 

 which is likely to work. It is this : — A certificate of in- 

 debtedness or bond of £.")0 is issued, setting forth that the 

 holder is entitled to interest upon it at the same rate as 

 the ordinary dividend declared by the company. The 

 bonds have to be renewed at the end of each year, and in 

 case the holder dies before the end of the year for which 

 it is good his family is entitled to the value of the l.iond. 

 Thus the bondholders enjoy all the pecuniary advantages 

 of shareholders except that they cannot sell their shares ; 

 and they will be free from liability in event of bad times 

 overtaking the concern. The families of bondholders coming 

 under the formen's trust fund will receive £1-30 at the 

 death of the holder, without having to contribute one penny 

 towards it. An excellent provident scheme has also been 

 formed for the benefit of all the workpeople. At the con- 

 clusion of the meeting of the company on Tuesday, Mr. R. 

 Tangye delivered an address to about 1,300 of the opera- 

 tives in explanation of the scheme. He remarked upon 

 the amicable relations which existed between the company 

 and their hands, and pointed out tliat for the past twenty- 

 five years constantly increasing numbers of men, now 

 aggregating thousands, had found regular and profitable 

 employment at Cornwall Works. Rarely, indeed, had any 

 workman been able to say that he left the works through 

 slackness of trade. He hoped that at no distant date they 

 would be able to extend their pi'oposals for the workmen's 

 benefit. If every man and boy would look at the property 

 lying about the works as though it were his own, and 

 resolutely set his face against its waste, the saving would 

 enable the firm to gi\*e .£-50 to the family of every man 

 dying in their employment from natural or any other cause. 

 We do not often meet with a firm taking more care of 

 their operatives. Mr. Tangye, in his address, stated that 

 special precautions have been taken for dealing with 

 accidents. " After this date the family or friends of any 

 one who may unfortunately meet with a fatal accident 

 whilst working for us, or, who from injuries received while 

 working for us shall be unable to work, will, in the former 1 



case, receive a sum of money, and, in the latter case, a 

 weekly sum, upon the following scale, without contributing 

 a penny towards it : — In case of death, the friends of 

 youths receiving weekly wages of 1 7s. or under will receive 

 £25. Men with weekly wages between 17s. and 24s., £.50 ; 

 between 24s. and 30s., £75 ; and above 30s. per week, 

 £100. In case of disablement, youths with weekly 

 wages of 17s. a week or under, .5s. per week; men with 

 weekly wages between 17s. and 30.«., 10s. per week; and 

 those above 30s., 15s. per week. I need hardly remind 

 you that under the Employers' Liability Act, in case of an 

 accident, a workman has no claim for compensation when 

 it can be shown that he has contributed to the accident by 

 his own fault ; but we shall make no dift'erence in that re- 

 spect. The money will be paid in any case, but if you accept 

 our proposal it will be only reasonable that we shall be 

 exempted from any further liability. I want to explain to 

 you that in the course of a few days every person on the 

 ground will be asked whether he agrees to these proposals. 

 He will have to sign in the same way as you sign now for 

 permitting the office to deduct the dispensary money from 

 your wages. If he accepts them, we shall be exempted 

 from any further demand, because, obviously, it will not 

 be fair for the same person to pay twice for the same thing. 

 It will be in no degree obligatory on any one to sign his 

 acceptance of those proposals. I hope the first result of 

 these proposals will be to cause every man who is not in a 

 club to at once join one." Finally, Mr. Tangye announced 

 that the firm were going to give £1,000 to buy a piece of 

 land on which to build baths and washhouses, and a similar 

 donation to Mr. JalTrey's hospital. — Ent/ineer. 



Mr. Darwin on Theism and Evolution. — This week 

 the Pall Mall quotes the following letter from Charles 

 Darwin, which appears in a work just issued : — "Dear Sir, 

 — It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man be an ardent 

 Theist and an Evolutionist. You are right about Kingsley. 

 Asa Gray, the eminent botanist, is another case in point. 

 What my own views may be is a question of no conse- 

 quence to any one but myself. But, as you ask, I may 

 state that my judgment often fluctuates. ^Moreover, whether 

 a man deserves to be called a Theist depends on the defi- 

 nition of the term, which is much too large a subject for a 

 note. In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been 

 an Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. 

 I think that generally (and more and more as I grow older), 

 but not always, that an Agnostic would be the more correct 

 description of my state of mind. — Yours faithfully, Ch. 

 Darwin." 



Startling Scientific Statement. — In Tit-Bits the 

 following instructive reply appears : — " A. L. D. We 

 have tried the experiment of dropping a stone from the 

 carriage-window whilst the train is in motion. We find 

 that directly the stone has left our hand it loses the 

 forward motion which it had whilst carried by the train, 

 and being acted on only liy gravity, it falls in a direct 

 perpendicular line to the ground, and, consequently, when 

 it touches the ground our hand is not directly over it, but 

 is some little distance in front, varying with the speed at 

 which the train is travelling. Perhaps, in performing your 

 experiment, you have considered the words ■ loft behind ' 

 to mean that the whole body of the train has passed the 

 stone before it touches the ground. The words were not 

 intended to convey that impression. The stone is left 

 behind the spot or part of the train from which it was 

 dropped. We trust this explanation will make the matter 

 clear to you." Galileo, Xe-\vton, and observed facts wrong 

 after all ! 



