NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15649, 22 July 1916, Page 7

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

I V ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION.. Miss Mary Theresa Rankin, M.A., Edin., Carnegie Research Schoiar 191112 1912-13,- devoted herself to the ! study of the development of "the principles of Conciliation and Arbitration in Australasia, paying jpecial attention to Victoria and New Zealand, these States having taken the lead and showing a continuous series of experimental changes over a period of more than 20 years. The result or her enquiry &** * ow been o jnbodied m

a volume, entitled "Arbitration and Conciliation in Australasia," which is published at th« expense of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities. Miss Rankin has not had the advantage of making a personal investigation into the conditions of labour in Australasia, and the effect of the legislation referred to, but she has examined jn a very painstaking and judicial fashion the official reports and publications dealing with the matter under consideration. Professor J. Shield Nicholson, Sc.D., LL.D.. Professor of Political Economy in the University of Edinburgh, at whose suggestion the work was undertaken, and who gave it his supervision from time to time, has written a very interesting introduction to the work. Referring to the difficulty of taking the results of experiments and using them as a guide for actioii in other countries, Professor Nicholson points out that the economic conditions in New Zealand and Australia favoured a rise in wages. The supply of labour was naturallv scarce, and was rendered more scarce bv restrictions on emigration. The demand was strong, and the prices of the products of labour were kept up by protection. The stardard of comfort was high, and short hours and moderate strain were part, so to speak, of the custom of thb country. "But already some of the natural reactions of protection and State regulation have_ been felt. What was meant to be a minimum wage has become the standard, w'th the resistance to piece-work the efficiency of labour seems to have fallen. The rise #1 prices due to high nominal wages has reacted on real wages The restrictions on the number of apprentices itself has been too -lax." He concludes that the Australasian experiments r>o do-In >>avc their lessons for the United Kingdom,, but they do not all of them point to the extension of regulation any more than the present abounding prosperity of Great Britain in war times shows that for the working classes a state of war is preferable to a state of. peace. The conclusion that Miss Rankin comes to is that while there is a necessity for State intervention in "sweated" industries, owing to wages and conditions therein being a danger to the moral and physical well-being of the workers, and hence also of the State itself, the function of the State in relation to organised and non-sweated trades must be obviously of an entirely difFerent and less protective character. "When," she says, "a trades union in Australasia says that 50s or 60s per week is not a living wage, and demands 65s or 70s, the State or anyone may sympathise with the desire of the workers to better their position, and may even hope that they, may bo successful in doing so, but they cannot really regard their case as one for legislative action." She shows that our own Arbitration Act has entirely failed to carry out the main object with which it was introduced, namely, the prevention of strikes. She points out that the settlement of strikes in New Zealand has, without exception, been arrived at by ignoring the Arbitration Court and its awards, and by mutual agreement' between the parties concerned. In the case of the Waterside Workers' strike, and of the attempt at a general strike, Miss Rankin savs that the ultimate end of the Federation of Labour, with which the waterside workerb were allied, was dealing a crushing blow at the Arbitration Act. This they were prevented from doing by the combined action of the employers. Instead of the State acting as arbiter between employer and worker, the employer acted as arbiter between labour and the State. She concludes:, "It is perfectly clear that the real and ultimate issue is between the relative strength of the organisa- > tions of employers and employed, compared with which the Arbitration. Court is a negligible quantity. It is further evident that employers have nothing to gain from such an Act apart from their own strength: they themselves must not only obey its conditions, but see to it that they force Labour to do so also. In conclusion, it is sufficient to point out that the action of Labour itself, both in Victoria and New Zealand, has clearly marked the province of compulsory arbitration and State regulation of wages. Labour will _ only accept such aid if it feels .itself strengthened thereby, the province of such legislation is therefore in sweated and unorganised trades. The Wages Board system of Victoria tacitly acknowledges this. It affords the protection of a Board to Labour, but if Labour wishes to stand alone, the provisions of the Board automatically collapse. Tile working of the Arbitration Act under Mr Seddon, and then later, that when the State allies itself with strongly organised Labour for the purpose of regulating industry, there is peace while Labour is dictating to the State, dis-peace when the State dictates to Labour." (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. 5s net.)

NELSON'S HISTORY OF THE WAR.

For a clear consecutive narrative of the varying phases of the great war in all its chief theatres, the neat little volumes of "Nelson's History of the War," written by Mr John -Buchan, are still the best value for the general reader that we know of. Mr Buchan has a wonderful grasp of what is going on, and the gift of making his story alike clear and interesting. The supplies of Vol. X have unfortunately been delayed in arrival, but Vol. XI. has been forwarded to us by Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, and Vol. XII. has reached us direct from the publishers. Vol. XI. deals mainly with the struggle for the Dvina and the great invasion of Serbia. The story of the retreat through the mountain passes of the heroic Serbians is poignantly sketched in this and the succeeding volume, and we get a pathetic yet dignified picture of .the King:—"ln a rude Macedonian cart the King journeyed, old. crippled with rheumatism, but as undaunted as on that day ten months before when he had given thanks for victory in the Cathedral of his capital, while the Austrians were still fighting in the streets. In his Army Older "of October 2nd he had lamented that his age prevented him fighting in the ranks with his people, but if he couid not share his soldiers' tasks he could share their sufferings. That lonely old figure resting on the roadside snow wag a proof that true Kingship had not yet vanished from the world."

Vol. XII. is an especially interesting volume, inasmuch as it deals with the Retreat from Bagdad, the Evacuation of Gallipoli, and the Derbv Report. Not the least interesting chapters are j the semi-philosophical disquisitions on I "The Breaking Point .in War" in Vol. ; XI and "Some Sidolishts on the German Temper," in Vol. XII. The value of the "History" as a book of reference is very much enhanced by the texts of various important official documents being given in the appendix, and a chronological table of the most important events on tho different fronts. RECENT FICTION. In the "I)Team Doctor" Mr Arthur B. Reeve gives us some more detective adventures of the super-scientific Sherlock Holmes, Professor Craig Kennedy. In a very clever way, the author uses some of the latest discoveries in medicine, bacteriology, and electricity, and when he goes over the line between that which has already been accomplished into the possibilities of the future he does it in just as neat and convincing a way that the reader who thinks he" knows something of science is never quite sure whether the author is romancing, or his own knowledge is not quite up to date. These resources are | used for the purpose of unravelling a number of mysterious" crimes, and the reader is kept on the tenterhooks of expectation and bewilderment from start to finish. (London: Hodder and Stonghton. Christchurch: Simpson and j Williams Ltd. Is 4d.) "An Outraged Society," by A. Brown-

low Ffordc, is, a httle too sciously, a novel of humour \J e are made aware of this from the first, in snch sentences as, ''Behold, then the hero emerging from his keep, h? rough, serge cloth a bowler helmet on his head, and his trusty umbrella m his strong right hand.". The J»° » an Australian millionaire, who nas gained his riches exclusively m P' a< *f vaguelv described a s "the scrub or "the bush." Therefore, when he arrived in England, to revisit his native town of Spindlesea, ho had never been to church in his life, knew only of an occasional service in a, woolshed, naa seMom spoken to a lady, and had never worn an evening coat. So he naturnlly thinks that the vicar, asking Him for a subscription towards a new reredos is referrin 3 to a "new reared ass." When the rich man is myited to an evenino party, he wears a frock coat of reallv good cloth and trousers to mat?h, with a scarlet knitted waistcoat, warm and corrfortable. and a onrcadinrr cravat of shinv bin© satin. And when ho fnTls in love, as a pood man should, be believes with the onginnlitv a"'l frankness of pursuit which form* all RHndles?a m+o '.'An Outraged Tt is not extraordinarily good fun. but "o tho more tolerant n/vi-ol ,-o.o'ler will ro-Joioe in the impossible mil i; "noiro. (Xondon: George Allen and Umrin. 65.)