COMPULSORY ARBITRATION IN INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES.
Compulsory Arbitration in Industrial Disputes. By W. F. Hamilton, K.C. (Butterworth and Co. 3s. 6d. net.)—This useful little book is the result of a visit paid in 1912 (the year of the great Waihi strike) to New Zealand and Australia. The theory of compulsory arbitration may be said to owe its origin to New Zealand, where the principal piece of legislation is dated 1894. The principles of this legislation have been adopted by Australia in the Commonwealth Act of 1904, where, however, the scheme is supplemented by a system of Wages Boards, set up by legislation of the different States ; while in this country we have in the provision for voluntary arbitration under the Conciliation Act, 1896, a very pale reflex of the New Zealand system, and the Australian Wage Board precedents have been followed in 1909 and 1912. Mr. Hamilton explains the success of the New Zealand scheme down to the outbreak of the Waihi strike, and the comparative failure of com- pulsory arbitration in Australia. He deprecates the establish- ment of a comprehensive system of compulsion in this country, but thinks that in what are sometimes known as the "public utility industries" (those dealing with the supply of coal, gas, electric power, food, and transport) further legisla- tion on the lines of the Queensland Industrial Peace Act, 1912, is necessary in the public interest. A Bill drafted to carry out this purpose is contained in an appendix.
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