30

result of much experience on the part of those familiar with
the Edison system, may develop so that it may be adopted by
this Company.

While the chemical meter as a scientific instrument is of ex¬
traordinary accuracy, it is nevertheless true that, as in the case
of all human records, there may be errors in the reckonings con¬
nected with the record of the meter and the entry of the bill.
The small number of errors of this kind discovered during the
year, part by the Company itself after the bill had gone out, and
part by the consumer, is at once evidence of the general accu¬
racy of the system and of the freedom of the Company from
belief in the infallibility of any part of its system. The
number of bills presented during the year has exceeded 80,000.
Complaint has been made in 1,085 cases, of which 1,052 were
that bills were excessive, 8 that bills were below the consump¬
tion, and 25 against the minimum charge provided for in our
contracts where current is not consumed. The number of er¬
rors discovered after careful investigations was in all 33, or
one error to s^ complaints, or to 2,450 bills.

Relations with Emploves.

The Company has continued to enjoy the same satisfactory
relations with its employes as hitherto; a benefit dividend has
been paid, as in recent years, in the week preceding Christmas,
to all employes in continuous good standing in the service of
the Company, at the rate of 3^ on the annual salary or wages
to those in the employ of the Company for five years contin¬
uously, 2^ to those of three years' service and r^ to those of one
year's service. It is believed that this expenditure is fully justi¬
fied by the evidence which it affords to the men of the interest
of the Company in them and by their careful economy in recog¬
nition of this interest. As this amount is an addition to wages,
it is proposed, with the approval of the Directors, to constitute
this a charge upon the profits rather than as hitherto a wages
charge.

High-tension Companies.
During  1895, the Manhattan  and Harlem Companies, which
are   operated   under   the   supervision   of   this   Company,   have
shown increasingly satisfactory returns, although rather through