The Problem of Dock Labour. By Arthur Shadwell (Longmans. ls.).
Dr. Shadwell's exceedingly able and judicious articles on the reoent Report of the Court of Inquiry into the dockers' claims have been reprinted from the Times and deserve attentive reading. As he says, the concession of a minimum of 16s. a day to the docker does not end the matter. Unless the dockers give a better service in return for such high wages, the community will suffer still more. Dr. Shadwell points out that, while the docks give irregular employment, very many irregular characters prefer that kind of employment. The question is whether the very high wages now sanctioned will not attract men of irregular tendencies from other occupations. Dr. Shadwell sees the only hope of improvement in a close co-operation between the employers and the union leaders, so as to strengthen the control exercised by the leaders over their very unruly followers. Mean- while the community will be paying fifteen or twenty millions a year more for everything that passes through the dockers' hands.
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