On Priday week the Midland Railway received the award of
Lord Cromer, who arbitrated in the dispute between the com- pany and some of its servants. It is impossible to summarise the intrieacies and technicalities of the award, which deals with the work of drivers, firemen, cleaners, signalmen, and others. Mr. Bell, M.P., speaking at Derby on the same day, explained the award, and said that" important principles which had been the subject of agitation for years" had at last been settled. Thousands of employees would benefit by the award, which was the product of the machinery sot up in 1907. Lord Cromer had been "most painstaking, careful, patient, and indulgent," and the railway officials had "displayed courtesy and fair play" throughout. We understand that the award has been wonderfully well received on both sides. The settle- ment of the great railway dispute of 1907 is therefore turning out as well as we felt sure it would. But even arbitration is useless as a principle unless the nation can depend upon the services of wise and just arbitrators. In Lord Cromer we have the ideal arbitrator, and we congratulate him on his singular success in this case.
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