The dispute in the boot trade ended on Friday week,
when a compromise was agreed upon at a conference of the masters and men, presided over by the permanent head of the Board of Trade. This compromise was, however, made subject to a poll, the result of which has not been de- clared as we write. The terms are, that " piecework-state- ments " are to be mutually agreed upon, and that Boards of Conciliation and Arbitration are to be reconstituted for the trade under improved rules, all questions in dispute being sub- mitted to them. By far the most important clause is, however, the last, for it introduces what is virtually a new principle. Financial guarantees-21,000 on each side—are to be entered into for the loyal carrying-out of the agreement. This is, in effect, doing what the Duke of Devonshire and certain of his colleagues so warmly recommended in the memorandum they attached to the Report of the Labour Commission.
Previous page
