CO129-603-4 Industrial relations- necessity for introducing arbitration procedures 16-10-1946 - 20-12-1946 — Page 26

CIRCULAR.

Sir,

DOWNING STREET,

20th August, 1938.

With reference to Lord Harlech's circular despatch (2) of the 24th August,

1937, on the subject of the general supervision of labour conditions in the Colonies

and certain connected questions, I have the honour to draw attention to a further

matter which is assuming increasing importance in many Colonial Dependencies,

namely, the necessity for the setting up of adequate conciliation machinery for the purpose of settling and, what is of equal or greater importance, of preventing

labour disputes.

2. A number of Colonial Governments have legislation which provides for

the establishment of arbitration boards or other machinery to deal with industrial

disputes, but in more than one instance it has come to my notice that the dispute was allowed to assume serious proportions before the machinery available for the purposes of an amicable settlement was put into operation. I therefore think that it may be of assistance to Colonial Governments to give some indication of

the procedure employed in this country.

3. The statutory powers of the Minister of Labour in this country in regard to the settlement and prevention of labour disputes are derived from the Con- ciliation Act, 1896 (59 and 60 Vict. Ch. 30) and the Industrial Courts Act, 1919 (9 and 10 Geo. 5 Ch. 69), and some time ago a special Industrial Relations Division was created in the Ministry of Labour to carry out these functions. I enclose copies of a memorandum prepared by the Ministry, which gives a general picture

of the work of the officers of this branch and describes the methods available for

assisting the settlement of disputes.

The Officer Administering

the Government of

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