INDUSTRIAL ARBITRATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2346, 12 November 1908, Page 6

INDUSTRIAL ARBITRATION.

MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL’S SCHEME.

ESTABLISHMENT OF (STANDING COURT.

Brief cablegrams from London recently conveyed tho information that Mr Winston Churchill, President of tho British -Board of Trade, had decided to set up a Court of Arbitration for the settlement of industrial dis-. putos. Newspapers by the last mail give particulars of tho scheme, which is thus described by tho Loudon “Morning Leader”: The President of the Board of Trade is about to set up a Standing Court of Arbitration to which trade disputes may bo voluntarily referred. It will be composed of representatives of employers and working xnen, with a third group of “persons of eminence and impartiality” to act as chairmen; and it will only bo called into being"when actually wanted. The creation of this important machinery is announced in a memorandum of the President of the Board of Trade to be inserted in the “Board of Trade Labor Gazette.” No fresh legislation, it is stated, is necessary, and steps will be taken at once to form the panels of which the court will bo composed. A GROWING TASK.

In his memorandum, Mr Churchill points out that hitherto the Board of Trade has acted under the powers of the Conciliation Act of 1896, which enabled them to appoint a conciliator in trade disputes and an arbitrator at the request of both parties. “These slender means of intervention have been employed in cases where opportunity lias offered, and the work of the department in this sphere has considerably increased *of recent years,” as shown by tho following figures:/ . i In 1905 the Board of Trade inter- j vened in 14 disputes and settled , them all. j In 1906 they intervened in 20 cases ! and settled 10. j In 1907 they intervened in 39 cases j and settled 32. > During tho first eight months of 1908 no fewer than 47 cases of intervention have occurred, of which 35 have been already settled, while some of the remainder i are still being dealt with. ; It is .not proposed to curtail the functions of the Board of Trade under the Conciliation Act. The good offices of the -department will still be available for voluntary intervention. “But the time has now arrived when the scale of these operations deserves, and indeed requires, the creation of some more formal! and permanent majohinery; and, with a view of console | dating, expanding, and popularising i the working of the Conciliation Act | I propose to set up a Standing Court ! of Arbitration. :

“The Court, which will sit wherever required, will bo composed of three (or five) members, according to the wishes of tho parties, with fees and expenses to members of the Court, and to the chairmen during sittings. The Court will be nominated by the Board of Trade from these panels.”

The first, as already mentioned, will consist of the chairmen. The second will be formed of “persons who, while preserving an impartial mind in regard to the particular dispute, are, nevertheless, drawn from the ‘employer class.’ ” Tile third will consist of “persons similarly drawn, from the class of workmen and trade unionists.” THE WORKMAN’S STANDPOINT.

Mr Church-ill explains Qiis hopes for the smooth working of this machinery as follows:

“It is Loped that this composition will -remove from the Court the reproach which workmen have sometimes brought- against individual conciliators and arbitrators, that, how-, ever fair thej' moan to be, they do not intimately understand the position of the manual laborer. It is believed that by the appointment of two arbitrators selected from the employers’ panel in difficult cases,_ thus constituting a Court of fivo instead of three persons, the decisions of the Court would he rendered more authoritative, especially to the workmen, who, according to the information of the Board of Trade, are more ready to submit to the judgment of two of their representatives than of one.

"As the personnel of the Court would he constantly varied, there would be -no danger of the Court itself becoming unpopular with either class in consequence of any particular decision; there would be no difficulty in choosing members quite unconnected with the case in dispute, and no inconvenient labor would be imposed upon anyone who consented to serve on the panels. "Lastly, in,■•order that the peculiar conditions of any trade may bo fully explained to the Court, technical assessors may he appointed by the Board of Trade at the request of the Court or of the parties to assist in the deliberations, hut without any light to vote.” Mr Churchill believes that the voluntary machinery he proposes will enable the state of public opinion on the general question of arbitration to be convenient?y tested.