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All controversies of a civil nature, and any question of personal injury on which a suit for damages will lie, although it may also be indictable, may be referred to arbitration; but crimes, and perhaps actions on penal statutes by common informers may not. The submission may be effected sometimes by parol, sometimes by written instrument, sometimes by deed or deed poll. Capacity to refer depends on the general law of contractual capacity. The law of England as to the capacity to act as an arbitrator and as to objections to an arbitrator on the ground of interest has been closely followed by the American courts. The same observation applies as to the requisites of an award, the mode of its enforcement and the grounds on which it will be set aside. The arbitrator has a lien on the award for his fees; and--a point of difference from the English law--he may sue for them without an express promise to pay . At common law, a submission is generally revocable at any time before award; and it is also, in the absence of stipulation to the contrary, revoked by the death of one of the parties. Provision has been made in Pennsylvania for compulsory arbitration by an act of the 16th of June 1836 .

References by rule of court.

The rules of court also of many of the states of the United States provide for reference through the intervention of the court at any stage in the progress of a litigation. Such submissions are usually declared irrevocable by the rules providing for them.

Statutory arbitrations.

Ample provision is made in America for the arbitration of labour disputes.

ARBITRATION, INTERNATIONAL. International arbitration is a proceeding in which two nations refer their differences to one or more selected persons, who, after affording to each party an opportunity of being heard, pronounce judgment on the matters at issue. It is understood, unless otherwise expressed, that the judgment shall be in accordance with the law by which civilized nations have agreed to be bound, whenever such law is applicable. Some authorities, notably the eminent Swiss jurist, J.K. Bluntschli, consider that unless this tacit condition is complied with, the award may be set aside. This would, however, be highly inconvenient since international law has never been codified. A fresh arbitration might have to be entered on to decide what the law was, whether it applied to the matter in hand. Arbitration differs from Mediation in so far as it is a judicial act, whereas Mediation involves no decision, but merely advice and suggestions to those who invoke its aid.

Arbitral tribunals may have to deal with questions either of law or fact, or of both combined. When they have to deal with law only, that is to say, to lay down a principle or decide a question of liability, their functions are judicial or quasi-judicial, and the result is arbitration proper. Where they have to deal with facts only, e.g. the evaluation of pecuniary claims, their functions are administrative rather than judicial, and the term commission is applied to them. "Mixed commissions," so called because they are composed of representatives of the parties in difference, have been frequently resorted to for delimitation of frontiers, and for settling the indemnities to be paid to the subjects of neutral powers in respect of losses sustained by non-combatants in times of war or civil insurrection. The two earliest of these were nominated in 1794 under the treaty negotiated by Lord Grenville with Mr John Jay, commonly called the "Jay Treaty," their tasks being to define the boundary between Canada and the United States which had been agreed to by the treaty signed at Paris in 1783; to estimate the amount to be paid by Great Britain and the United States to each other in respect of illegal captures or condemnation of vessels during the war of the American Revolution.

Although arbitrations proper may be thus distinguished from "mixed commissions," it must not be supposed that any hard or fast theoretical line can be drawn between them. Arbitrators strictly so called may proceed to award damages after they have decided the question of liability; whilst "mixed commissions," before awarding damages, usually have to decide whether the pecuniary claims made are or are not well founded.

Those which have arisen between state and state in their sovereign capacities;

Those in which one state has made a demand upon another state, ostensibly in its sovereign capacity, but really on behalf of some individual, or set of individuals, whose interests it was bound to protect.

To group belong territorial differences in regard to ownership of land and rights of fishing at sea; to group belong pecuniary claims in respect of acts wrongfully done to one or more subjects of one state by, or with the authority of, another state. To enumerate even a tenth part of the successful arbitrations in recent times would occupy too much space. Some prominent examples are the dispute between the United States and Great Britain respecting the "Alabama" and other vessels employed by the Confederate government during the American Civil War ; that between the same powers respecting the fur-seal fishery in Bering Sea ; that between Great Britain and Venezuela respecting the boundary of British Guiana ; that between Great Britain, the United States and Portugal respecting the Delagoa railway ; that between Great Britain and the United States respecting the boundary of Alaska . The long-standing Newfoundland fishery dispute with France is dealt with under Newfoundland. Other examples are shortly noticed in the tables on p. 329, which although by no means exhaustive, sufficiently indicate the scope and trend of arbitration during the years covered. The cases decided by the permanent tribunal at the Hague established in 1900 are not included in these tables. They are separately discussed later.

. Each of the signatory powers is to designate within three months from the ratification of the convention four persons at the most, of recognized competence in international law, enjoying the highest moral consideration, and willing to accept the duties of arbitrators. Two or more powers may agree to nominate one or more members in common, or the same person may be nominated by different powers. Members of the court are to be appointed for six years and may be re-nominated. . The signatory powers desiring to apply to the tribunal for the settlement of a difference between them are to notify the same to the arbitrators. The arbitrators who are to determine this difference are, unless otherwise specially agreed, to be chosen from the general list of members in the following manner:--each party is to name two arbitrators, and these are to choose a chief arbitrator or umpire . If the votes are equally divided the selection of the chief arbitrator is to be entrusted to a third power to be named by the parties. . The tribunal is to sit at the Hague when practicable, unless the parties otherwise agree. . "The signatory powers consider it a duty in the event of an acute conflict threatening to break out between two or more of them to remind these latter that the permanent court is open to them. This action is only to be considered as an exercise of good offices." Several of the powers nominated members of the permanent court pursuant to Art. 25, quoted above, those nominated on behalf of Great Britain being Lord Pauncefote, Sir Edward Malet, Sir Edward Fry and Professor Westlake. On the death of Lord Pauncefote, Major-General Sir John C. Ardagh was appointed in his place.

The pious fund of the Californias.

Great Britain, Germany and Italy versus Venezuela.

Great Britain, France and Germany versus Japan.

Great Britain and the French flag at Muscat.

Barely two months had elapsed since the date of the last award when the Hague court was again called into requisition. The scene of dispute this time was on the S.E. coast of Arabia. Muscat, the capital of the kingdom of Oman on that coast, is ruled by a sultan, whose independence both Great Britain and France had, in March 1862, "reciprocally engaged to respect." Notwithstanding this, the French republic had issued to certain native dhows, owned by subjects of the sultan, papers authorizing them to fly the French flag, not only on the Oman littoral but in the Red Sea. A question thereupon arose as to the manner in which the privileges thereby purported to be conferred affected the jurisdiction of the sultan over such dhows, the masters of which, as was alleged, used their immunity from search for the purpose of carrying on contraband trade in slaves, arms and ammunition. In October 1904 the two governments agreed to refer this question to the Hague court. Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, of the Supreme Court of the United States, was named as arbitrator on the part of Great Britain, M. de Savornin Lohrnan, who had acted in the case of the Californias , as arbitrator on the part of France. The choice of an umpire was entrusted to the king of Italy. He named Professor Lammasch, who, as we have seen, had acted in the arbitration with Venezuela in 1903.

A unanimous award was made in August 1905. It was held that although generally speaking every sovereign may decide to whom he will accord the right to fly his flag, yet in this case such right was limited by the general act of the Brussels conference of July 1890 relative to the African slave trade, an act which was ratified by France on the 2nd of June 1892; that accordingly the owners and master of dhows who had been authorized by France to fly the French flag before the last-named date retained this authorization so long as France chose to renew it, but that after that date such authorization was improper unless the guarantees could establish that they had been treated by France as her prot?g?s within the meaning of that term as explained in a treaty of 1863 between France and Morocco. A further point decided was that the owners or master of dhows duly authorized to fly the French flag within the ruling of the first point, did not enjoy, in consequence of that fact, any such right of extra-territoriality as would exempt them from the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the sultan. Such exemption would be contrary to the engagement to respect the independence of the sultan solemnly made in 1862.

The prospects of the expansion of international arbitration will be more clearly perceived if we classify afresh all state differences under two heads:-- those which have a legal character, those which have a political character. Under "legal differences" may be ranged such as are capable of being decided, when once the facts are ascertained, by settled, recognized rules, or by rules not settled nor recognized, but taken so to be for the purpose in hand. Boundary cases and cases of indemnity for losses sustained by non-combatants in time of war, of which several instances have already been mentioned, belong to this class. To the same class belong those cases in which the arbitrators have to adapt the provisions of an old treaty to new and altered circumstances, somewhat in the way in which English courts of justice apply the doctrine of "cy-pr?s." "Political differences" on the other hand, are such as affect states in their external relations, or in relation to their subjects or dependants who may be in revolt against them. Some of these differences may be slight, while others may be vital, or may seem to the parties to be so. All differences falling under the first of these two general heads appear to be suitable for international arbitration. Differences falling under the second general head are, for the most part, unsuitable, and may only be adjusted through the mediation of a friendly power.

The interesting problem of the future is--are we to regard this classification as fixed or as merely transitory? The answer depends on several considerations which can only be glanced at here. It may be that, just as the usages of civilized nations have slowly crystallized into international law, so there may come a time when the political principles that govern states in relation to each other will be so clearly defined and so generally accepted as to acquire something of a legal or quasi-legal character. If they do, they will pass the line which at present separates arbitrable from non-arbitrable matter. This is the juridical aspect of the problem. But there is also an economic side to it by reason of the conditions of modern warfare. Already the nations are groaning under the burdens of militarism, and are for ever diverting energies that might be employed in the furtherance of useful productive work to purposes of an opposite character. The interruption of maritime intercourse, the stagnation of industry and trade, the rise in the price of the necessaries of life, the impossibility of adequately providing for the families of those--call them reservists, "landwehr," or what you will--who are torn away from their daily toil to serve in the tented field,--these are considerations that may well make us pause before we abandon a peaceful solution and appeal to brute force. Lastly, there is the moral aspect of the problem. In order that international arbitration may do its perfect work, it is not enough to set up a standing tribunal, whether at the Hague or elsewhere, and to equip it with elaborate rules of procedure. Tribunals and rules are, after all, only machinery. If this machinery is to act smoothly we must improve our motive power, the source of which is human passion and sentiment. Although religious animosities between Christian nations have died out, although dynasties may now rise and fall without raising half Europe to arms, the springs of warlike enterprise are still to be found in commercial jealousies, in imperialistic ambitions and in the doctrine of the survival of the fittest which lends scientific support to both. These must one and all be cleared away before we can enter on that era of universal peace towards the attainment of which the tsar of Russia declared, in his famous circular of 1898, the efforts of all governments should be directed. Meanwhile it is legitimate to share the hope expressed by President Roosevelt in his message to Congress of December 1905 that some future Hague conference may succeed in making arbitration the customary method of settling international disputes in all save the few classes of cases indicated above, and that--to quote Mr Roosevelt's words--"these classes may themselves be as sharply defined and rigidly limited as the governmental and social development of the world will for the time being permit."

ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION. The terms "arbitration and conciliation" as employed in this article, are used to describe a group of methods of settling disputes between employers and work-people or among two or more sets of work-people, of which the common feature is the intervention of some outside party not directly affected by the dispute. If the parties agree beforehand to abide by the award of the third party, the mode of settlement is described as "arbitration." If there be no such agreement, but the offices of the mediator are used to promote an amicable arrangement between the parties themselves, the process is described as "conciliation." The third party may be one or more disinterested individuals, or a joint-board representative of the parties or of other bodies or persons.

The process here termed "arbitration" is rarely an arbitration in the strict legal sense of the term , because of the defective legal personality of the associations or groups of individuals who are usually parties to labour disputes, and the consequent absence in the great majority of cases of a valid legal "submission" of the difference to arbitration. Whether or not trade unions of employers or workmen in the United Kingdom are capable of entering through their agents into contracts which are legally binding on their members it is fairly certain that the great majority of the agreements actually made by the representatives of employers and workmen to submit a dispute to the decision of a third party are of no legal force except as regards the actual signatories. Broadly speaking, therefore, the provisions of the Arbitration Act 1889, which consolidated the law relating to arbitration in general, would as a rule have no application to the settlement of collective disputes between employers and workmen, even if the act had not been expressly excluded by section 3 of the Conciliation Act of 1896 in the case of disputes to which that act applies. Besides the absence of a legal "submission," labour arbitrations differ from ordinary arbitrations in the fact that the questions referred often relate to the terms on which future contracts shall be made, whereas the vast majority of ordinary arbitrations relate to questions arising out of existing contracts. The defective "personality" of the parties to labour disputes also prevents the enforcement of an award by legal penalties. Since, however, difficulties of enforcement affect not only settlements arrived at by arbitration, but all agreements between bodies of employers and work-people with regard to the terms of employment, they are most appropriately considered at a later stage of this article.

The formation on a large scale of conciliation boards in the coal trade to fix the rate of wages dates from the great miners' dispute of 1893, one of the terms of settlement agreed to at the conference held at the foreign office under Lord Rosebery being the formation of a conciliation board covering the districts affected. Northumberland followed in 1894, Durham in 1895, Scotland in 1900 and South Wales in 1903.

In 1907 an important scheme for the formation of conciliation boards for railway companies and their employees was adopted as the result of the action taken by the president of the Board of Trade to prevent a general strike of railway servants in that year. Under this scheme separate boards were to be formed for the employees of each railway company which adhered to the scheme, with provision for reference in case of a deadlock to an umpire.

The first general district board to be formed was that established in London in 1890, through the London chamber of commerce, as a sequel to the Mansion House committee which mediated in the great London dock strike of 1889. The example was followed by several large towns, but the action taken by the boards in most of these provincial districts has been very limited.

In addition there are two boards composed of representatives of co-operators and trade-unionists for the settlement of disputes arising between co-operative societies and their employees.

Constitution and functions of voluntary conciliation boards.

Conciliation boards constituted as described above usually have rules providing that there shall always be equality of voting as between employer and workmen, in spite of the casual absence of individuals on one side or the other. In order to expedite business it is sometimes provided that all questions shall be first considered by a sub-committee, with power to settle them by agreement before coming before the full board. Boards of conciliation and arbitration conforming more or less to the above type exist in the coal, iron and steel, boot and shoe and other industries in the United Kingdom. A somewhat different form of organization has prevailed in the cotton-spinning trade and in the engineering trade . In these important industries there are no permanent boards for the settlement of general questions, but elaborate agreements are in force between the employers' and workmen's organizations which among other things prescribe the mode in which questions at issue shall be dealt with and if possible settled. In the first place, if the question cannot be settled between the employer and his workmen, it is dealt with by the local associations or committees or their officials, and failing a settlement in this manner, is referred to a joint meeting of the executive committees of the two associations. In neither agreement is there any provision for the ultimate decision of unsettled questions by arbitration. The agreement in the cotton trade is known as the "Brooklands Agreement," and a large number of questions have been amicably settled under its provisions. In the building trade, it is very customary for the local "working rules," agreed to mutually by employers and employed in particular districts, to contain "conciliation rules" providing for the reference of disputed questions to a joint committee with or without an ultimate reference to arbitration. Yet another form of voluntary board is the "district board," consisting in most cases of representatives elected in equal numbers by the local chamber of commerce and trades council respectively. In the case, however, of the London Conciliation Board the workmen's representatives are elected, twelve by specially summoned meetings of trade union delegates and two by co-optation. The functions of district boards are to deal with disputes in any trade which may occur within their districts, and of course they can only take action with the consent of both parties to the dispute, in this respect differing from the majority of "trade" boards, which, as a rule, are empowered by the agreement under which they are constituted to deal with questions on the application of either party. Another interesting type of board is that representing two or more groups of workmen and sometimes their employers, with the object of settling "demarcation" disputes between the groups of workmen . Examples of such boards are those representing shipwrights and joiners on the Clyde, Tyne and elsewhere. While the arrangements for voluntary conciliation and arbitration differ in this way in various industries, there is an equally wide variation in the character and range of questions which the boards are empowered to determine. For example, some boards in the coal trade deal solely with the general rate of wages. Others, e.g. the "joint committee" in Northumberland and Durham, confine their attention solely to local questions not affecting the counties as a whole. The Durham conciliation board deals with any general or county questions. This distinction between "general" and "local" questions corresponds nearly, though not entirely, to the distinction often drawn between questions of the terms of future employment and of the interpretation of existing agreements. Some conciliation boards are unlimited as regards the scope of the questions which they may consider. This was formerly the case with the boards in the boot and shoe trade, but under the "terms of settlement" of the dispute in 1895 drawn up at the Board of Trade, certain classes of questions were wholly or partially withdrawn from their consideration, and any decision of a board contravening the "terms of settlement" is null and void. A special feature in the procedure for conciliation and arbitration in the boot and shoe trade, is the deposit by each party of ?1000 with trustees, as a financial guarantee for the performance of agreements and awards. A certain class of conciliation boards, mostly in the Midland metal trades, were attached to "alliances" of employers and employed, having for their object the regulation of production and of prices . None of these alliances, however, have survived.

Legislation in the United Kingdom.

At all events up to the year 1896, the development of arbitration and conciliation as methods of settling labour disputes in the United Kingdom was entirely independent of any legislation. Previously to the Conciliation Act of 1896 several attempts had been made by parliament to promote arbitration and conciliation, but with little or no practical result, and the act of 1896 repealed all previous legislation on the subject, at the same time excluding the operation of the Arbitration Act of 1889 from the settlement of "any difference or dispute to which this act applies." The laws repealed by the Conciliation Act need only a few words of mention. During the 18th century the fixing of wages by magistrates under the Elizabethan legislation gradually decayed, and acts of 1745 and 1757 gave summary jurisdiction to justices of the peace to determine disputes between masters and servants in certain circumstances, although no rate of wages had been fixed that year by the justices of the peace of the shire. These and other laws, relating specially to disputes in the cotton-weaving trade, were consolidated and amended by the Arbitration Act of 1824. This act seems chiefly to have been aimed at disputes relating to piece-work in the textile trades, though applicable to other disputes arising out of a wages contract. It expressly excluded, however, the fixing of a rate of wages or price of labour or workmanship at which the workmen should in future be paid unless with the mutual consent of both master and workmen. The act gave compulsory powers of settling the disputes to which it relates on application of either party to a court of arbitrators representing employers and workmen nominated by a magistrate. The award could be enforced by distress or imprisonment. The act was subsequently amended in detail, and by the "Councils of Conciliation" Act of 1867 power was given to the home secretary to license "equitable councils of conciliation and arbitration" equally representative of masters and workmen, who should thereupon have the powers conferred by the act of 1824. The act contains provisions for the appointment of conciliation committees, and other details which are of little interest seeing that the act was never put into operation. Another amendment of the act of 1824 was made by the Arbitration Act of 1872, which contemplated the conclusion of agreements between employers and employed, designating some board of arbitration by which disputes included within the scope of the former acts should be determined. A master or workman should be deemed to be bound by an agreement under the act, if he accepted a printed copy of the agreement and did not repudiate it within forty-eight hours. Like the previous legislation, however, the act of 1872 was inoperative. The evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour disclosed the existence of a considerable body of opinion in favour of some further action by the state for the prevention or settlement of labour disputes, and some impetus was given to the movement by the settlement through official mediation of several important disputes, e.g. the great coal-miners' dispute of 1893 by a conference presided over by Lord Rosebery, the cab-drivers' dispute of 1894 by the mediation of the home secretary , and the boot and shoe trade dispute of 1895 by a Board of Trade conference under the chairmanship of Sir Courtenay Boyle. In these, and a few other less important cases, the intervention of the Board of Trade or other department took place without any special statutory sanction. The Conciliation Act passed in 1896 was framed with a view to giving express authorization to such action in the future.

This act is of a purely voluntary character. Its most important provisions are those of section 2, empowering the Board of Trade in cases "where a difference exists or is apprehended between any employer, or any class of employers, and workmen, or between different classes of workmen," to take certain steps to promote a settlement of the difference. They may of their own initiative hold an inquiry or endeavour to arrange a meeting between the parties under a chairman mutually agreed on or appointed from the outside, and on the application of either party they may appoint a conciliator or a board of conciliation who shall communicate with the parties and endeavour to bring about a settlement and report their proceedings to the Board of Trade. On the application of both parties the Board of Trade may appoint an arbitrator. In all cases the Board of Trade has discretion as to the action to be taken, and there is no provision either for compelling the parties to accept their mediation or to abide by any agreement effected through their intervention. There are other provisions in the act providing for the registration of voluntary conciliation boards, and for the promotion by the Board of Trade of the formation of such boards in districts and trades in which they are deficient. During the first eleven years after the passage of the act the number of cases arising under section 2 averaged twenty-one per annum, and the number of settlements effected fifteen. In the remaining cases the Board of Trade either refused to entertain the application or failed to effect a settlement, or the disputes were settled between the parties during the negotiations. About three-quarters of the settlements were effected by arbitration and one-quarter by conciliation. A number of voluntary conciliation boards formed or reorganized since the passing of the act provide in their rules for an appeal to the Board of Trade to appoint an umpire in case of a deadlock. At least thirty-six trade boards are known to have already adopted this course. The figures given above show that the Conciliation Act of 1896 has not, like previous legislation, been a dead letter, though the number of actual disputes settled is small compared with the total number annually recorded.

Proposals for compulsion.

Arbitration and conciliation in labour disputes as practised in the United Kingdom are entirely voluntary, both as regards the initiation and conduct of the negotiations and the carrying out of the agreement resulting therefrom, In all these respects arbitration, though terminating in what is called a binding award, is on precisely the same legal footing as conciliation, which results in a mutual agreement. Various proposals have been made for introducing an element of compulsion into this class of proceeding. There are three stages at which compulsion may conceivably be introduced, The parties may be compelled by law to submit their dispute to some tribunal or board of conciliation; the board of conciliation or arbitration may have power to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents; the parties may be compelled to observe the award of the board of arbitration. The most far-reaching schemes of compulsory arbitration in force in any country are those in force in New Zealand and certain states in Australia. Bills have been introduced into the British House of Commons for clothing voluntary boards of conciliation and arbitration, under certain conditions, with powers to require attendance of witnesses and production of documents, without, however, compelling the parties to submit their disputes to these boards or to abide by their decisions. In the United Kingdom, however, more attention has recently been given to the question of strengthening the sanction for the carrying out of awards and agreements than of compelling the parties to enter into such arrangements. An interesting step towards the solution of the difficulty of enforcement in certain cases is perhaps afforded by the provisions of the terms of settlement of the dispute in the boot and shoe trade drawn up at the Board of Trade in 1895. Under this agreement ?1000 was deposited by each party with trustees, who were directed by the trust-deed to pay over to either party, out of the money deposited by the other, any sum which might be awarded as damages by the umpire named in the deed, for the breach of the agreement or of any award made by an arbitration board in consonance with it. Very few claims for damages have been sustained under this agreement. Nevertheless it cannot be doubted that the pecuniary liability of the parties has given stability to the work of the local arbitration boards, and the satisfaction of both sides with the arrangement is shown by the fact that the trust-deed which lapsed in 1900 has been several times renewed by common agreement for successive periods of two years, and is now in force for an indefinite period subject to six months' notice from either side. Theoretically a trust-deed of this kind can only offer a guarantee up to the point at which the original deposit on one side or the other is exhausted, as it is impossible to compel either party to renew the deposit. A proposal was made by the duke of Devonshire and certain of his colleagues on the Royal Commission on Labour for empowering associations of employers and employed to acquire, if they desired it, sufficient legal personality and corporate character to enable them to sue each other or their own members for breach of agreement. This would give the association aggrieved by a breach of award the power of suing the defaulting organization to recover damages out of their corporate funds, while each association could exact penalties from its members for such a breach. For this reason the suggestion has met with a good deal of support by many interested in arbitration and conciliation, but has been steadily opposed by representatives of the trade unions.

The question is not free from difficulties. The object of the change would be to convert what are at present only morally binding understandings into legally enforceable contracts. But apart from the possibility that some of such contracts would be held by the courts to be void as being "in restraint of trade," the tendency might be to give a strict legal interpretation to working agreements which might deprive them of some of their effectiveness for the settlement of the conditions of future contracts between employers and workmen, while possibly deterring associations from entering into such agreements for fear of litigation. Individuals, moreover, could avoid liability by leaving their associations. In practice the cases of repudiation or breach of an award or agreement are not common. In countries like New Zealand, where the parties are compelled to submit their differences to arbitration, some of the above objections do not apply.

Statistics of existing agencies.

The following statistics are based on the reports of the Labour department of the Board of Trade. The number of boards of conciliation and arbitration known to be in existence in the United Kingdom is nearly 200, but a good many of these do little or no active work. Only about one-third of these boards deal with actual cases in any one year, the active boards being mainly connected with mining, iron and steel, engineering and shipbuilding, boot and shoe and building trades. During the ten years 1897-1906 the total number of cases considered by these boards averaged about 1500 annually, of which they have settled about half, the remainder having been withdrawn, referred back or otherwise settled. About three-quarters of the cases settled were determined by the boards themselves and only one-quarter by umpires. The great majority of the cases settled were purely local questions. Thus more than half the total were dealt with by the "joint committees" in the Northumberland and Durham coal trades, which confine their action to local questions, such as fixing the "hewing prices" for new seams. The great majority of the cases settled did not actually involve stoppage of work, the most useful work of these permanent boards being the prevention rather than the settlement of strikes and lockouts. A certain number of disputes are settled every year by the mediation or arbitration of disinterested individuals, e.g. the local mayor or county court judge.

Future scope and limits.

The extent to which the methods of arbitration and conciliation can be expected to afford a substitute for strikes and lockouts is one on which opinions differ very widely. The difficulties arising from the impossibility of enforcing agreements or awards by legal process have already been discussed. Apart from these, however, it is evident that both methods imply that the parties, especially the work-people, are organized at least to the extent of being capable of negotiating through agents. In some industries this preliminary condition is not satisfied; in others the men's leaders possess little more than consultative powers, and employers may hesitate to deal either directly or through a third party with individuals or committees who have so little authority over those whom they claim to represent. And even where the trade organizations are strong, some employers refuse in any way to recognize the representative character of the men's officials. The question of the "recognition" of trade unions by employers is a frequent cause of disputes It may be observed, however, that it often occurs that in cases in which both employers and employed are organized into associations which are accustomed to deal with each other, one or both parties entertain a strong objection to the intervention of any outside mediator, or to the submission of differences to an arbitrator. Thus the engineering employers in 1897 were opposed to any outside intervention, though ready to negotiate with the delegates chosen by the men. On the other hand, the cotton operatives have more than once opposed the proposal of the employers to refer the rate of wages to arbitration, and throughout the great miners' dispute of 1893 the opposition to arbitration came from the men. Naturally, the party whose organization is the stronger is usually the less inclined to admit outside intervention. But there have also been cases in which employers, who refused to deal directly with trade union officials, have been willing to negotiate with a mediator who was well known to be in communication with these officials, e.g. in the case of the Railway Settlement of 1907.

Apart, however, from the disinclination of one or both parties to allow of any outside intervention, we have to consider how far the nature of the questions in dispute may in any particular case put limits to the applicability of conciliation or arbitration as a method of settlement. Since conciliation is only a general term for the action of a third party in overcoming the obstacles to the conclusion of an agreement by the parties themselves, there is no class of questions which admit of settlement by direct negotiation which may not equally be settled by this method, provided of course that there is an adequate supply of sufficiently skilful mediators. As regards arbitration the case is somewhat different, seeing that in this case the parties agree to be bound by the award of a third party. For the success of arbitration, therefore, it is important that the general principles which should govern the settlement of the particular question at issue should be admitted by both sides. Thus in the manufactured iron trade in the north of England, it has throughout been understood that wages should depend on the prices realized, and the only question which an arbitrator has usually had to decide has been how far the state of prices at the time warranted a particular change of wage. On the other hand, there are many questions on which disputes arise on which there is frequently no common agreement as to principles, and an arbitrator may be at a loss to know what considerations he is to take into account in determining his award. Generally speaking, employers are averse from submitting to a third party questions involving discipline and the management of their business, while in some trades workmen have shown themselves opposed to allowing an arbitrator to reduce wages beyond a certain point which they wish to regard as a guaranteed "minimum."

Another objection on the part of some employers and workmen to unrestricted arbitration is its alleged tendency to multiply disputes by providing an easy way of solving them without recourse to strikes or lock-outs, and so diminishing the sense of responsibility in the party advancing the claims. It is also sometimes contended that arbitrators, not being governed in their decisions by a definite code of principles, may tend to "split the difference," so as to satisfy both sides even when the demands on one side or the other are wholly unwarranted. This, it is said, encourages the formulation of demands purposely put high in order to admit of being cut down by an arbitrator. One of the chief practical difficulties in the way of the successful working of permanent boards of conciliation, consisting of equal numbers of employers and employed, with an umpire in case of deadlock, is the difficulty of inducing business men whose time is fully occupied to devote the necessary time to the work of the boards, especially when either side has it in its power to compel recourse to the umpire, and so render the work of the conciliation board fruitless. In spite of all these difficulties the practice of arranging differences by conciliation and arbitration is undoubtedly spreading, and it is to be remembered that even in cases in which theoretically a basis for arbitration can scarcely be said to exist, recourse to that method may often serve a useful purpose in putting an end to a deadlock of which both parties are tired, though neither cares to own itself beaten.

The above is only an outline of the principal provisions of this law, under which questions of wages, hours and the relations of employers and workmen generally in New Zealand industries became practically the subject of state regulation. The act must more properly be judged as a measure for the state regulation of industry, but as a method of putting an end to labour disputes its success has only been partial.

In 1904 the commonwealth of Australia passed a compulsory arbitration law based mainly on those in force in New Zealand and New South Wales, and applicable to disputes affecting more than one Australian state. The arbitration court is empowered to require any dispute within its cognizance to be referred to it by the state authority proposing to deal with it. There are other Australian laws which, though unrepealed , are a dead-letter. Generally speaking, the Australasian laws on arbitration and conciliation are more stringent and far-reaching than any others in the world.

This act was consolidated with the Conciliation Act 1900 during 1906 in an act respecting conciliation and labour, and in March 1907 the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act became law by which machinery is set up for the constitution of a board, on the application of either side to a dispute in mines and industries connected with public utilities, whenever a strike involving more than ten employees is threatened. The provisions of the act may be extended to other industries and railway companies, and their employees may take action under either the Conciliation and Labour Act or the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act. Under the Investigation Act it is unlawful for any employer to cause a lock-out, or for an employee to go on strike on account of any dispute prior to or during a reference of such dispute to a board constituted under the act, or prior to or during a reference under the provisions concerning railway disputes under the Conciliation and Labour Act. There is nothing, however, in the act to prevent a strike or lock-out taking place after the dispute has been investigated.

During the ten years 1897-1906 the act was put in force in 1809 cases--viz. 916 on application of workmen; 49 of employers; 40 of both sides; and 804 without application. Altogether 616 disputes were settled--549 by conciliation and 67 by arbitration.

Eih?n tiennyt, mit? kostoa Iikka mietti, vaikka yst?v?ksi tekeysi! Iikan is?-vainajastakin kerrottiin, ett? h?n oli murhannut kuljeksivan laukkuryss?n...

Sattui hetki?, jolloin h?n piti ep?ilyksi??n joutavina ja ?rtyisest? ja v?syneest? mielest? l?htenein?. Saattoi olla, ett? oli j??nyt h?neen perinn?ksi ?itivainajasta, joka kuului ?isin pel?nneen ja itkeneen, sanomatta koskaan kenellek??n, mink? vuoksi valvoi ja itki...

Rauhallisestihan Iikka nukkui nytkin. Niin oli aina nukkunut, kun Perttu toisinaan nousi ?isin yl?s ja tulen otettuaan katseli... nukkui niinkuin nukkuvat ne, joita eiv?t huolet paina eik? omatunto mist??n soimaa...

Ei olisi muusta niink??n nyt en?? huolinut, mutta h?nest? oli painostavaa ja ik?v??, ett? Iikka kenties viel?kin rakasti Hannaa, vaikka ei puhunut siit? koskaan sanaakaan... Eik? ollut Perttukaan kertaakaan Hannasta Iikan kuullen mit??n maininnut...

Pit?isi kerran ottaa puheeksi... jonakuna aamuna mets??n menness?, kun istuivat reess? ja Iikka usein silloin lauleli... Huomenaamulla jo ottaa puheeksi... Perttu tuntui v?h?n tyyntyv?n, kun oli tehnyt mieless??n tuon p??t?ksen.

Mutta sitten johtui mieleen muita huolia ja mietteit?. Ik?v?lt? ja toivottomalta tuntui ty?nteko, vaikka ansio oli niin hyv?, ettei Perttu ollut osannut niin hyv?ksi ajatellakaan... Parhaina p?ivin? oli kahden miehen ja hevosen palkka noussut sataankin markkaan, v?list? ylikin... Muut eiv?t saaneet niin paljoa, mutta laiskemmasti tekiv?tkin ty?t? ja ylellisemmin eliv?t.

Tullessaan oli Perttu poikennut Juustovaaraan vanhan Mooseksen puheille. Itserakas, kitsas ?ij? olikin Mooses ollut, ei ensink??n ihmisyst?v?. Kun Perttu ajoi asiaansa, selitteli, kuinka paljon saapi mets?st? ja kuinka paljoon nousi Lomman velka, tekeysi ?ij? ensin k?yh?ksi, mutta vihdoin sanoi:

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