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CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION.—BOARDS OF CONCILIATION.

A tangled mass of diversity of opinion has sprung up around the scheme of conciliation and arbitration. It is the principal feature of the labour laws, the most important industrial experiment represented on the colony’s Statute Book, and the most advanced step the colony has taken in industrial legislation.

It is good, it is bad; it is successful, it is unsuccessful; it is effective, it is ineffective; it is beneficial, it is injurious—according to the standpoint from which it is viewed. With many men it is a cherished conception; with many others it is a derided piece of empiricism. When it first came into operation, both industrial parties expected great things from it. On the one hand it would bring in a reign of industrial peace. Conciliation would take the place of the sour-visaged strike, and disastrous disputes would be superseded by honied words and compromises. On the other hand, it would kill industries, stifle enterprise, and chase capital out of the country, and the day that it became law would be as the day that came to lay the land waste.

The Act, as passed, establishes several Boards of Conciliation for industrial districts, and one Court of Arbitration for the whole colony. These two bodies are the principal features of the scheme. The Boards, which make recommendations, represent voluntary action. The Court, which makes awards, represents the principle of compulsion, and all the plenary and punitive powers of the Supreme Court. It has been described as the most powerful Court in the British Dominions. As far as its special functions are concerned, its powers are unlimited. All the ramifications of the colony’s industrial life