The case against the Conciliation Boards Scheme was con- tinued
on Tuesday by Mr. Fox, General Secretary of the Asso- ciated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, and by Mr. Lowth, Secretary of the General Railway Workers' Union. On Wednesday Mr. White, secretary of the men's aide of the Midland Railway Central Conciliation, was the principal witness. He complained that men who supplied information concerning matters to be submitted to the boards had been unfairly treated. Though a hostile critic of the 1907 scheme he was in favour of the principle of conciliation, and would approve of a national board for the settlement of all railway disputes. He had no objection to an independent chairman, but be would not give him a casting vote. But if no agreement could be reached by the board, he did not believe in the efficacy of arbitration. "If you go to arbitration and the arbitrator's award is not acceptable to the men, what you have had this time may occur again. The men cannot be bound even by an arbitrator's award."
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