266 - REPORT—187 4. 
proper protection seems to be a subject not at all unworthy of the considera- 
tion of Her Majesty’s Government. Your Committee, however, are of opinion 
that the subject is one lying beyond the powers entrusted to them, since the 
Seals of the North Atlantic can in no sense be termed “ Indigenous Animals,” 
and accordingly refrain from offering any other remark upon it. 
10, Your Committee respectfully request their reappointment. 
Report of the Committee, consisting of Lord Houeuton, Professor Txo- 
ROLD Rocers, W. Newmarcnu, Professor Fawcett, M.P., Jacos 
Benrens, F. P. Ferrows, R. H. Inevis Paterave, Arcurpatp 
Hamitton, and Samus. Brown, Professor Lrone Leyt (Secretary), 
appointed to inquire into the Economic Effects of Combinations of 
Labourers and Capitalists, and into the Laws of Economic Science 
bearing on the principles on which they are founded. 
Your Committee, appointed to inquire into the economic effects of combina- 
tions of labourers or capitalists, and into the laws of economic science bearing 
on the principles on which such combinations are founded, beg to report as 
follows :— 
Public attention has for a considerable time past been directed to the ex- 
tensive prevalence of combinations hoth among labourers and capitalists in nearly 
all the principal trades and industries, to the frequent conflicts which have 
occurred between employers and employed, and the strikes and lock-outs 
which have followed. And already several public inquiries have been insti- 
tuted on the subject in its general bearings. In 1854 a Conference on strikes 
and lock-outs was held at the Society of Arts, when the first point of discus- 
sion was “‘ Combinations—are they objectionable, whether set on foot by em- 
ployers or employed, as a means of influencing the Value of Labour?” In 
1859, the Council of the Social Science Association appointed a Committee 
for the purpose of reporting on the objects and constitution of trade-societies, 
with their effects upon wages and upon the industry and commerce of the 
country ; and their report is extremely valuable for the vast amount of infor- 
mation it conveys, as well as for the lessons it contains. In 1866 Her Ma- 
jesty’s Government appointed a Royal Commission to inquire into and report 
on the organization and rules of trade-unions and other associations, whether 
of workmen or employers, and to inquire into and report on the effects pro- 
duced by such trade-unions and associations on the workmen and employers 
respectively, and on the relations between workmen and employers, and on the 
trade and industry of the country. These reports, together with the extensive 
literature which has accumulated on the subject, furnish sufficient materials 
for arriving at asound judgment on the questions submitted for consideration ; 
nevertheless it is too evident that the economic bearings of the question at 
issue are as yet but insufficiently appreciated, especially by the parties most 
interested in the question. It were, indeed, much to be desired that the rela- 
tions of capital and labour were put on a more satisfactory footing than they 
now appear to be placed; and your Committee trust that they may render some 
practical service to the contending parties, if they are able to test the claims 
urged by either employers or employed by reference to the sound principles 
of political economy. Generally speaking, the objects of trade-unions are 
