The Industrial Courts . Bill, both on the Second Reading in
the House of Commons last week and in the Committee stage this week, was opposed by the Labour Party, who were suspicious of the proposed Court of Arbitration and Court of Inquiry. Sir Robert Home reminded them that in the past eleven months the Interim Court of Arbitration had decided 853 cases, in only three of which, including the ironmoulders' dispute, had there been a strike against the award. The present Bill simply places the Court on a permanent basis. Employers and Trade Unions are free to apply to it or to ignore it, and the Court's awards will have a moral but not a legal validity. The Court of Inquiry is, as Lord Robert Cecil said, a vital matter. The success of the League of Nations will depend largely on its power of investigating international disputes so that public opinion, guided by the facts, may weigh down the balance on the right side. The Court of Inquiry by throwing lizht on the
circumstances of a trade dispute may avert many a needless strike or lock-out. The Trade Unions, so long as they are sanely directed, have nothing to fear from the publicity of such a Court, while the community stands to gain.
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