robably a necessity
under commercial competition, it is no wonder that some of the
representatives of the unions have claimed that annual real wages have
actually fallen. "It is not easy," say our authors, "to show that
compulsory arbitration has greatly benefited the workers of the Colony.
Sweating has been abolished, but it is a question whether it would not
have disappeared in the years of prosperity without the help of the
Arbitration Court. Strikes have been largely prevented, but it is
possible that the workers might have gained as much or more by dealing
directly with their employers than by the mediation of the court. As to
wages, it is generally admitted that they have not increased more than
the cost of living. A careful investigation by Mr. von Dalezman, the
Registrar-General, shows that, while the average wages increased from
1895 to 1907 in the ratio of 84.8 to 104.9, the cost of food increased
in the ratio of 84.3 to 103.3. No calculation was attempted for clothing
or rent." If we take it into account that rents have risen very rapidly
and are especially complained of by the working people, we can see that
real wages, measured by their purchasing power, probably fell in the
first twelve years of compulsory arbitration, notwithstanding that it
was on the whole a period of prosperity in the Colony. For ten years, as
a consequence, the complaints of the workers against the decisions have
been growing, "not because the wages were reduced, but because they
were not increased and because other demands were not granted."

When the unions perceived that the principles for which they have been
contending were not granted, and that their material conditions were not
being improved, it was suggested that the judge of the Arbitration Court
should be elected by the people, in the hope that the unions might
control the election, "but this would be at variance with all British
traditions and could not be brought about," say our authors. No doubt
British tradition has had something to do with the matter, but the
impracticability of this remedy is much more due to the fact that the
employees confront an agricultural and middle class majority.

At first it was the employers who were displeased, but now they are
becoming converted. The employers, say Le Rossignol and Stewart, "have
come to realize that they might have lost more by strikes than they have
ever lost by arbitration; and, since the workers have been dissatisfied,