Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, NOV. 8, 1907 CONCILIATION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11121, 8 November 1907, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, NOV. 8, 1907 CONCILIATION.

Everyone will rejoice that a great la,bor war, which would have, proved most^disastrous to British industry, and have meant a period of .fiteryation in th© win-; ter for many thousands of ifamiliesr,^ lias] be,en _ . jThi§ . ias , been ,-. brottgh^ about to some extent thfough the kindly interest and influence of His Majesty the King, but largely 'by the., tactful; media--' tipn of Mr Lloyd George, the. President of the Board of Trade^ who has thereby vastly enhanced his reputation amongs^ all classes of the community. A few' daya ago it seemed almost hopeless to a'ttemp^ to reconcile the two parties, who were adamant in their refusal to concede anything 1 - to- one another;^ -The—Unionists stood out boldly, 'for the right of collective bargaining and recognition of Unionism! which the< directorsvOf'th© railway com; panies point blank refused, and as the railway inen, by art overwhelming majority, declared their readiness, to strike fob the ' principle they were contending 'if or, a-gigantic struggle seemed ineviteble. The agreement has been brought abput without any great sacrifice of principle ; on. either side. The railway directors may claim to have scored in that no direct recognition of the Unions has been granted ; but, on the other hajid, the Unionists have got practically all they asked in tlie right of collective bargaining through conciliation boards. Hitherto the companies refused to deal with their servants; except individually, and now every dispute will be carried to a tribunal that is fairly representative of both masters arid men. It is a, practical adoption of the New "Zealand system, of arbitration and conciliation as recently amended at tlie Hon. Mr Millar's ins'tance^ and though, in the case of the railway men, it is voluntary, without the power of the State behind for the enforcement of awards/ the admission, of the principle": in Conservative Britain is a great step .gained in the cause of industrial amity, and' we have rib doubt that before long the advantages of this system of settlement .of trade disputes'will become so apparent that the British Parliament '-will follow the lead of , New Zealand and place upon the statute book a measure, in readiness for- any emergency,' which will safeguard the country against the recurrence of such disastrous labor disturbances as have imperilled trade and impoverished the workers in the past. '.■.■■'■'