NEW ZEALAND 



hours is recognized as the standard working day, both in 

 public and private service. This is due to the combined 

 force of industrial organization, public opinion and law. 

 Legislation in almost all lines is of a very advanced char- 

 acter and it would be a genuine pleasure for me, were not 

 this paper already too long to deal with many phases .of 

 of same but I must content myself on this occasion by 

 giving you some idea of the introduction and achievements 

 of industrial arbitration. 



New Zealand is the first country to abolish strikes and 

 lockouts and establish judicial decision of labor difficulties 

 in the place of industrial war. This was accomplished in 

 1894. ^^^^ law then enacted enables either party to an in- 

 dustrial difficulty to bring the matter into court and have 

 it decided by an award with the binding force of a judg- 

 ment of the Supreme Court, a law that has put an end to 

 the battles between capital and organized labor and has 

 produced continuous industrial peace. Either party may 

 demand a settlement by arbitration in place of conflict. It 

 is mandatory arbitration, the administration of justice ex- 

 tended to labor disputes. The system rests upon two 

 broad facts, (i) That decision by reason is better than 

 decision by force and (2), that there are three parties in- 

 terested in every industrial trouble, labor, capital and the 

 public, and as the public always wants arbitration if either 

 of the other parties desires it also there is a majority of 2 

 to I in favor of peaceful settlement. 



Local Boards of Conciliation w^ere instituted with 4 to 

 6 members, half of them chosen by organized labor and 

 half by organized capital, with appeal to a central court of 

 arbitration of three members, one judge elected by the 

 labor unions, another by unions of employers and the third 

 (who is president of the court and must be a judge of the 

 Supreme Court) appointed by the Governor who also fills 

 all vacancies if workers or employers fail to elect. Where- 

 ever the workers in any trade are legally organized (any 



