Bulletins of indian Industries & Labour no. 23. Conciliation and Arbitration

regulation is now generally a statutory duty of the governments The principles of the fixation of the wage vary from place to place but the existence of the minimum wage is important for our present purpose inasmuch as it represents a common ground' of agreement among parties to a dispute—the employers workers and public. [...] The legal enforcement of a living wage or to put it in the opposite light the prevention of sweating has been adopted in those indutries where the likelihood of strikes is at a minimum owing to the weak bargaining power of the workers and their lack of organization. [...] The develoment of machinery for the settlement of disputes has followed the growth of large scale production and the organisation of large scale or national services. [...] operative sections of the Act are those which authorise the Minister to enquire into the causes and circumstances of a dispute and to appoint a conciliator at the request of either party or an arbitrator at the request of both. [...] The possession of such staff by the Board of Trade and later by the Ministry of Labour is largely accountable for the success of this non-compulsory English measure.