ABSTRACT
The employers of labour, throughout the country, have found out the advantages resulting from united action, and have formed themselves into a “National Federation of Employers,” for the protection and advancement of their interests, which must be sufficiently conclusive that the position taken by the operatives has proved worthy of being copied by the employers, and that there are advantages to be obtained from combinations which isolated action fails to command. Arbitration and Conciliation are, however, very popular with the operatives, and those who have a just cause of complaint, need not fear it being thoroughly investigated before an impartial tribunal. Combinations of workmen were then little required, for the spirit of competition had not assumed its sway over the country such as is so apparent at the present day. Many failures in the Shipbuilding trade have been attributed to the influencing power of Trades Union wages.
