494 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION GI. 



3.— THE COMPULSORY PRINCIPLE IN THE SETTLEMENT OF 

 INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES. 



By H. Y. BRADDON. 



After experiences of the compulsory principle extending over 

 about 16 years in New Zealand, 14 in Victoria, and 9 in New South 

 Wales, it should now be possible to make some definite statement 

 as to its utility as a solvent of industrial strife. 



Human nature does not change rapidl}^ In point of fact 

 there are many who would contend that, essentially, it does not 

 change at all within so brief a span as, say, a hundred years. 

 Manners change, but these are the veneer ; the substance below 

 retains its characteristics. Whether this be absolutely so need not 

 here be discussed, for it will be generally admitted that human 

 nature does not change sufficiently in, say, twenty years to count 

 as a determining factor in altered industrial conditions. 



If, then, the relations between employers and employed are 

 distinctly less happy than they were twenty years ago, we must 

 search for the reasons in directions other than a change of the human 

 nature on either side. Neither employers nor employed enjoy a 

 monopoly of virtue or sweet reasonableness, and neither side can 

 accuse the other of being distinctly less moral than they were 

 twenty years ago. Something artificial has intervened, and the 

 point is to define that " something." 



The compulsory arbitration Acts have been passed, and, as we 

 will see presently, have had a material effect in altering industrial 

 relations for the worse. The transition from freetrade New South 

 Wales to the Federal Customs duties in 1901 has added very greatly 

 in this State to the cost of living ; and this, in turn, has, naturally 

 enough, led to repeated demands for increased wages. Higher 

 prices for many commodities are no doubt world-wide ; but for 

 this State the change has been sharper than for instance in Victoria,, 

 where heavy duties prevailed prior to Federation. Under the 

 spread of education, mostly compulsory and free, many of the 

 children of the manual worker are acquiring ideas wliich render 

 them uneasy in the humbler roles of life, and the spread of socialistic 

 doctrine is adding to the general feeling of discontent. The idea 

 grows among the employees that their share of wealth produced in 

 the industries is disproportionately small. The political successes 

 of the Labour Party have encouraged more insistent demands from 

 employees, and if these demands have been sometimes overdone, it 

 is only because, as von Bunsen put it, " there is an inherent ten- 

 dency in man to drive his pretensions to inordinate lengths." 



On the other side stands the employer, aghast at the increasing 

 momentum of the workers' claims. Frightened to make any con- 

 cession, because experience shows that such will be construed as 

 weakness, leading to still further demands, he resents the one-sided 

 action of the statutes — in that he must obey, while the men, if their 

 numbers are considerable, frequently decline to accept an award 

 which they deem insufficiently advantageous. To the argument 



