Lord Cave's Committee on Trade Boards reported last week that
the Boards had put an end to sweating, but that some of them had done much to aggravate the depression of trade and to increase the number of the unemployed. While the Boards had on the whole improved the relations between employers and employed and encouraged both parties to organize them- selves, the long delays in the modification of wage-rates had been bad for all concerned. Many of the Boards fixed Minimum wages at a high rate just before trade suddenly collapsed. As the standard could not be altered for at least six months, strug- gling employers who were unable to pay War-wages in a falling market had to dismiss most of their workpeople. Had they retained their employees at lower wages, more suited to the conditions of trade, they would have been liable to prosecution. In such cases, which were numerous, the Trade Boards were the direct cause of unemployment.
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