the governor. No provision is made for local or inferior tribunals. but matters come directly before this court, either in the first instance or after a conference called by the president of the court has failed to secure an amicable agreement between the parties. Under an act passed in 1902 relating to the settlement of industrial disputes by conciliation and arbitration, any association or society of Government railway' workers is authorized to register under the act as an industrial union of workers. Provision is made in this act for the appointment of district and special conciliation boards, but the main tribunal is the court of arbitration. Other than the president, the members hold office for three years. The decisions liable to enforcement under the act, as it has in practice worked, are either (1) the awards of the courts or (2) industrial agreements filed and registered under the act. Awards and agreements are for the terms specified, but not exceeding three years. The act declares in substance that any person who instigates or takes part in doing any matter in the nature of a strike or lockout, or suspends or discontinues employment or work in any industry before a reasonable time has elapsed for a reference of the dispute to the board or court or during the pendency of its proceedings shall, upon conviction, be liable to a penalty not exceeding £50. VICTORIA. The laws of the State of Victoria, with one slight exception introduced in the factories and shops amending act of 1907, although comprising a long series of acts dealing, among other things, with the system of wage regulation through the "special" or wages boards. first adopted in 1896, deal only indirectly with the question of strikes and lockouts. The primary object of these acts in as far as they refer to the wages boards is not to prevent active dispute, but to insure for the various trades concerned the observance of such conditions as regards wages, hours, and other related matters as may be laid down. In the case of any organized trade for which a wages board has been established the task of the board, especially when determinations-as in some cases frequently happens-are revised, may correspond closely to that of "compulsory conciliation," but even in trades subject to this form of regulation strikes or lockouts are not illegal under the act. RAILWAY EMPLOYEES STRIKE ACT OF 1903. It This act was passed as a remedial rather than as a preventive measure. It provided no administrative machinery intended to be permanent for the regulation of specified industrial matters. was, on the other hand, a temporary measure giving power to impose certain penalties for acts already committed, and in these respects combined it probably has no counterpart in the industrial legislation of Australia. QUEENSLAND. Queensland passed a brief act in 1892 to make provision for the establishment of courts of conciliation. No restrictions on the freedom of resort to strike or lockout are imposed in this act. Like South Australia and Tasmania, Queensland has recently adopted, through the wages boards act of 1908, the Victorian system of wages boards. As in South Australia, industrial agreements may be ratified in trades or businesses where no boards exist, and when thus ratified have the same force as wages board determinations. The law of Queensland is administered by an industrial court, consisting of a judge appointed by the governor in council. Local industrial boards are created on the application of prescribed numbers of employers or employees, but only on the recommendation of the court. The court has jurisdiction over certain classes of disputes directly, and over others by way of appeal from the awards of the industrial boards. It may also take over any case where it appears that a board is causing unnecessary or willful delay. The clauses dealing with strikes and lockouts adopted in the corresponding South Australian and Tasmanian acts are omitted from the Queensland act. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Apart from the clauses prohibiting strikes or lockouts in respect to those trades for which wages boards have been formed and in connection with the determinations of such boards, or the terms of industrial agreements to which the force of determinations has been given, South Australia had until 1912 no law restrictive of the right of resort to either of these weapons of industrial conflict. True, the conciliation act of 1894 was the first act passed in Australia in which the compulsory reference of industrial disputes to a legal tribunal was recognized, but though the principles embodied in this measure have assumed considerable importance as a fresh departure in industrial legislation, the act itself proved abortive. Beginning with 1900 South Australia adopted the Victorian plan of wages boards (p. 210) in its factories acts. These contain provisions for the enforcement of the decisions of wages boards, prohibiting lockouts and strikes on account of any matter in respect of which a board has made a determination, under penalties of fine or imprisonment. The industrial arbitration act of 1912 applies to all industries except agriculture, establishing an industrial court as its chief administrative agency; the president is a judge of the supreme court, or a person eligible therefor, and is appointed by the governor. Two assessors appointed by the president on the nomination of the parties, or in the absence of nominations, by his own action, may sit with him in the adjudication of disputes. Industrial agreements voluntarily made and agreements arrived at after hearings are binding the same as awards, and like them are in effect for terms not exceeding three years. The court acts either on the application of a party or on its own motion, though awards may be varied or reopened only an application. Strikes and lockouts are prohibited under identical penalties affecting organizations and individuals alike, the penalty being £500 ($2,433.25), or imprisonment for not over three months; inducing subjects to a penalty of £20 ($97.33) or imprisonment as above. NEW SOUTH WALES. The legislation in New South Wales aiming at the regulation of industrial disputes dates from 1892, when an act was passed providing for the appointment of district and special councils of conciliation and of a single council of arbitration. Reference to the tribunals for which provision was made and the acceptance of recommendations and awards were optional. The act contained no reference to strikes and lockouts, and very few cases were decided under it. In 1899 an act "to make provision for the prevention and settlement of trade disputes" was passed, the most distinctive power conferred "failing amicable settlement" being that of "public enquiry.' Such inquiry was to be conducted by a judge of the supreme or district courts or the president of the land court. Provision was made for the compulsory attendance of witnesses and the right of entry for the purpose of investigation, but no steps that were to follow on the inquiry itself were indicated. The next legislative step was the industrial arbitration act of 1901. This act owed its inception partly to a labor demand that had made itself felt for some years and partly to what was regarded as the great success of the corresponding measure of New Zealand. The act of 1901 lapsed automatically on June 30, 1908, when its place was taken by the industrial disputes act of that year. The present law bears date of 1912, and is similar to that of the Commonwealth and of Queensland in that there are both an industrial court (which is a superior court and a court of record), and industrial boards for groups of industries or callings, awards by the latter being subject to amendment, variation, or rescission by the court. TASMANIA. In Tasmania, the last Australian State to adopt legislation regulating wages and cognate matters, the act in force is the wages boards act of 1910, and with reference to strikes, lockouts, and proceedings, provisions identical with those contained in the South Australian act have been adopted. (Secs. 54, 55, and 60.) Procedure is regulated in the following section: All informations for offenses against the provisions of this act or the regulations and all penalties or fines imposed under the provisions of this act or the regulations may be summarily heard, determined, and recovered by and before a police magistrate or any two or more justices in the mode prescribed by the "magistrates summary procedure act." (Sec. 62.) Provisions for appeal are contained in section 63. The statute of Tasmania hardly falls with strict propriety under the head of an arbitration law, its title being "An act to make provisions for wages boards." There is no central or supervisory authority, but determinations may be suspended by order of the governor, who also appoints the boards, the board then to review its action, and either amend or affirm the same. Appeals lie to the supreme court. No provision is made for conciliation, but the law is somewhat connected with the subject under consideration by reason of the fact that it forbids strikes and lockouts on account of matters passed upon by a wage board. XI. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AUSTRALASIAN TRIBUNALS FOR THE REGULATION OF WAGES. A comparative analysis of the different tribunals and the leading features of the laws which have been established to regulate wages and working conditions of wage earners in Australasia is set forth in the pages immediately following. The statement is arranged according to countries.1 1 Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia. |