TKANSACTION'S OF SECTION F. 963 



are then stated and answered, such as the 'pauper taint' which is said to attach 

 to the children in them, their tendency to favour outbreaks of infectious disease, 

 and the impossibiUty of individualising the children. Next, the many advantages 

 which the schools possess are enumerated, and the curious fact referred to that 

 large institutions supported by voluntary subscriptions which are open to similar 

 objections appear to have escaped criticism altogether. The impossibility is then 

 pointed out of having any one cut-and-dried system for dealing with the children, 

 and the proposals of the Bristol Board of Guardians are referred to with approval. 

 It is suggested that the idea of District Schools for country Unions is by no means 

 played out, and that a small ' Cottage Home ' community, such as is to be seen 

 in the Eltham Union, Kent, would be a possible means of removing all children of 

 school age from workhouses. The question of 'after-care' is dealt with, and the 

 importance of it pointed out. It would not be true to say that all Poor Law 

 Schools are perfect, but it would surely be better to bring all of them up to the 

 standard of the best than to abolish the whole system. The whole question is one 

 of Reform v. Revolution. 



3. Foor Law Administration. By Douglas Dent. 



FRTBAY, SEPTEMBER 9. 

 The following Papers were read :— 



1. Industrial Conciliation. By L. L. Peice. 



Referring to a Paper read on the same subject when the Association met at 

 Bath in 1888, the present Paper reviewed the progress of industrial conciliation 

 during the intervening ten years. At first sight such a retrospect might seem dis- 

 couraging, for scarcely a year had passed without some conspicuous industrial 

 quarrel ; but, on the other hand, public attention had been drawn to tha subject, 

 expert ability had been applied to the criticism and discovery of remedies, and 

 experimental knowledge had been gained. Influences prej udicial to industrial peace 

 had unquestionably been recently at work. A tendency on the part of the men to 

 deny plenipotentiary authority of negotiation to their representatives had accom- 

 panied, and partly neutralised, an increasing willingness on the part of employers 

 to receive and negotiate with such representatives. This was, perhaps, the fact 

 of most evil omen for the future, and it was connected with deeper phenomena. 

 A spirit of unrest had been abroad in the labour world, both among the new and 

 the older unions. Socialistic aspirations had encouraged large ambitions ; and the 

 advocacy, for example, of a 'living wage,' if interpreted comprehensively, was 

 opposed to some pacific modes of settling industrial quarrels. A reversion to older 

 methods of policy and a resistance to improved machinery and processes of manu- 

 facture, especially at a time when foreign competition was becoming more severe, 

 and making more dangerous that tendency to take the business of life more easily, 

 which seemed to be characteristic of the times, was a phenomenon which could 

 hardly be ignored ; and it might even be doubted whether public opinion, which 

 was becoming a more potent force in industrial disputes, did not exercise some 

 influence prejudicial to lasting peace. For this public opinion was sometimes 

 ill-informed and often impatient. It was liable to be carried away by such phrases 

 as those of ' a living wage ' and of ' collective bargaining,' which required careful 

 discrimination. Public opinion impatiently asked for State intervention, but, in 

 view of some recent circumstances, that demand required very careful considera- 

 tion ; and the experience of New Zealand was not applicable to England, except 

 with large allowances for diSerence of conditions. Mediation rather than arbitra- 

 tion seemed still the appropriate role of the State ; and the progress of voluntary 

 conciliation and arbitration, though sometimes unnoticed, was not inconsiderable. 



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