delegates' fees; no extraneous aid has ever been accepted, although frequently proffered; the income of the Parliamentary Committee has been derived solely from voluntary contributions, given by the several bodies represented, all outside help having been refused. The reporting, as a rule, has been fairly good, but sometimes small disagreements and little scenes' have been unduly magnified to satisfy a craving appetite for sensationalism. Since 1872 a semi-authorised report has been published annually, the committee taking a certain number for gratuitous circulation, and the several bodies represented purchasing a supply for their own members. Each and every delegate is purely representative, they must be elected by a Trade Society, or a Trades' Council, the body which sends them paying all expenses. The towns in which these Congresses have been held have manifested great interest in them, and some have accorded to the delegates a special welcome. The sittings are always open to the press and the public, everything being done with a view to secure the greatest possible publicity. \

§ 39. The history of these Congresses comprises ten sessions of Parliament; when they commenced tradeunions were in adversity, for it was immediately after the Royal Commission of Inquiry into their organisation and rules, and the discovery of the Sheffield outrages. The earlier Congresses were meagrely attended, and the members represented were comparatively small in number. Trade-unions were at this time illegal bodies; their funds were absolutely unprotected and at the mercy of unscrupulous men, the law refusing to punish those who embezzled or misappropriated them; the members of these unions were subject to special penal laws affecting labour, a remnant of the old combination laws which were repealed in 1824, but some portions of which were

1

re-enacted in 1825 ; in effect, the law, as it stood in 1868, branded trade-unions as contrary to public policy, which amounted to a sentence of outlawry, and denied them all protection to their corporate property. These are the words of Mr. F. D. Longe, and they were endorsed by all the eminent lawyers of that time. Under the Master and Servants Act, 1867, a breach of contract by workmen was still a criminal offence, although the severity of its provisions was less stringent, and the punishment inflicted considerably modified to what it was before the passing of that Act. But even this was temporary, for it was only continued from year to year by the Expiring Laws Continuance Acts. Worse than all this, however, was the perpetual application of the conspiracy laws to labour disputes, by means of which workmen were subjected to a more lengthened term of imprisonment than the statute law permitted, thereby increasing the severity of the already unjust statutory law against combinations of workmen. The first success was achieved by the Trades-Union Act, 1871, but by the enactment of the Criminal Law Amend.. ment Act some of the previous provisions were made even more stringent than before. From that time to the present, however, the record of the labours of the Parliamentary Committee, as representing the Trades Union Congresses, is one continual advance and triumph; the whole of the criminal laws affecting labour and combination have been repealed, breaches of contract of service are no longer criminal offences, but civil as in all other cases; conspiracy is totally abolished in labour disputes; the Trade-Union Act has been amended in every particular in accordance with the most advanced proposals made by the Parliamentary Committee; by the Hosiery Manufacture (Wages) Act the unjust stoppages of wages in the hosiery trades have been abolished;

the Mines Regulation Acts have given protection to the mining population; truck has been practically abolished as the result of the Royal Commission, although not by statute; the Factories (Health of Women) Nine Hours Act has still further extended the benefits of factory legislation; the Merchant Shipping Acts, although not quite all that Mr. Plimsoll demanded, have thrown the protection of law around British seamen; the Friendly Societies Acts have been consolidated and amended, and, what is more, one of the oldest, ablest, and best friends of the workmen has been appointed the RegistrarGeneral of these societies, and has practically to administer those Acts and the Trades-Union Acts, so that the members need not fear but that they will at all times be treated justly and even generously.

§ 40. Other and very important victories are in store for the workmen if they act judiciously and prudently, and some of them are not far distant. The consolidation and amendment of the Factory and Workshop Acts may be looked upon as practically safe in the improved form introduced by the Government in the present session (1878); a great advance has also been made towards a Compensation Act notwithstanding the adverse report of the majority of the select committee; the reform of the jury laws and the summary jurisdiction of magistrates has been advanced a stage; and, perhaps the greatest of all, an immense stride has been made towards a codification of the Criminal Law by the lecture recently given by Sir James Fitz-James Stephen and the publication of his Digest of the Criminal Law, and, what is still more important, by the promised measure of the Government, which, it is hoped, will soon see the light. Labours such as these deserve the recognition of the general public and their thanks, for the benefits which will accrue to the nation from the efforts of these orga

nised bodies will be of equal advantage to every class in the community.

The table given in the Appendix will show at a glance the dates, towns, representation, income and expenditure of the several Congresses, and also the income and itemised expenditure of the Parliamentary Committee from 1868 to 1877.

CHAPTER XI.

CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION IN TRADE

DISPUTES.

I.-Courts of Conciliation.

§ 1. THE value of conciliation as applied to trade disputes is almost beyond debate except in so far as it appertains to the method, and to the constitution of the court. Under the present conditions of the labour market,' and the circumstances attending the employment of large numbers of workmen by a single employer or firm, conciliation is a duty which both parties owe to each other and to the State which accords them its protection. It is obviously to their own interest and to the advantage of the public that all differences and difficulties affecting labour should be settled in an amicable manner; instead of which the disputants are found standing arms akimbo, ready for a fight. There must always be two parties to a quarrel, and each thinks himself right. They commence by showing a bold front, defiance is the next step, then follows an open rupture. In disputes of this kind there are certain obstacles which have to be overcome; but they are often fanciful, sometimes insignificant, always exaggerated, on both sides. The chief are: (1) The refusal of the masters to recognise the officers of the union, and meet them as the agents of the men. As well may the men object to meet the foreman, over