The Progress of the World. 



341 



nised by llie Board of Trade as the joint district board for that 



district. 



The Board of Trade may recognise any body of [)crsons 



which it considers fairly and adequately to represent 



both workmen and employers^ 



the chairman of which is an independent person appointed by 



agreement lieiween the persons represmting the \votl;nien and 



employers rcspcciively on the body, or in default of ayicenicnl 



l>y the Board of Trade. 



This chairman will have a casting vote when men and 

 employers disagree. If, in a fortnight after the passing 

 of the Act. no joint district board has been formed, 

 the Board of Trade may either forthwith, or after such interval 

 as may seem to ihem necessary or expedient, appoint such per- 

 son as they think fit to act in the place of the joint district 

 lioard, and, while that appointment continues, this -Vet shall be 

 construed, so far as respects that district, as if the person so 

 aopointed were substituted for the joint district board. 



Workmen who are aged and infirm, 



Conditions and who fail to comply with the 



Limitations. conditions as to regularity and 



efficiency laid down by the rules, 



are excluded from the benefit of the Act. The Act 



remains in force for three years. Wages fixed by the 



district board shall remain for twelve months unaltered 



except by mutual agreement. At the end of twelve 



months either party can give three months' notice of 



their desire to vary the minimum. Existing special 



agreements to pav higher than the minimum shall not 



S and 2. 



H'titminilcr Ca. ::.-.] 



Mr. Bull : " Look here, my friend. Nobody wants you to be worse ofT and 

 everyone wants you to be better off than you were before. It may be difficult to 

 put it in cx.ict words and figures in an Act of Parliament, but it's what we all mean I 

 •'an't we put an end to all this distress Ihul is falllnj; on innocent people ? " 



be interfered with. On the other hand, district boards 



may exempt mines from the general minimum by 



fixing a special minimum for such mines. The clause 



governing this matter is of great importance. It runs 



as follows : — 



The joint district bfiard of any district shall, if it is shown 

 to them that any general district minimum rate or general 

 district rules are not applic.ible in the case of any coal mine 

 within the district or ol any class of coal mines within the 

 district, or in the case of any class of workmen, owing to the 

 special circumstances of the mine or class of mine or workmen, 

 settle a special minimum rate (either higher or lower than the 

 general district rate) or special district rule's (either more or less 

 stringent than the general district rules) for that mine or class of 

 nnnes or class of workmen, and any such special rate or special 

 rules shall be the rate or rules applicable to that mine, class of 

 mine, or cKiss of workmen, instead of the general district 

 minimum rate or general district rules. 



Without this provision many mines would be shut 

 down altogether. 



The only serious dispute arose 

 between the miners and the 

 Government over the demand 

 made bv the former that 

 Clause I (i), quoted above, should define the minimum 

 wage as that of five- shillings per day for adults and 

 two shillings per day for boys for those engaged at 

 fixed wages. It was because this defin'tion of the 

 minimum was not inserted in the Bill that the Labour 

 Partv voted against the third read- 

 ing. The demand was supported in 

 the Cabinet by Mr. Lloyd George 

 and \{r. Buxton, and it met with 

 much support outside. Personally I 

 thought the demand inight have 

 been conceded as a temporary pro- 

 vision, terminating with the provi- 

 sional period during which wages 

 were being fixed. The miners, how- 

 ever, would not listen to any such 

 compromise, and the Cabinet was 

 shut up to a plain yes or no to the 

 demand thai Parliament should 

 fix definitely for three years the five 

 shillings and two shillings minima. 

 .Mr. Asquith, vigorously supported 

 by Lord Loreburn, Lord Morley, 

 and, it is said, Mr. Winston 

 Churchill, resisted the demand, not 

 because they regarded five shillings 

 as excessive, but because they 

 rightly questioned the right of Par- 

 liament to lay down hard and fast 

 rules as to what should be paid in 

 anv industrv. If this were done for 



