"The Sunday Labour in Mines Prevention Act, 1897."
"The Trade Union Act, 1878," and Amendment Act, 1896.
"The Truck Act, 1891."
"The Wages Attachment Act, 1895."
"The Workmen's Wages Act, 1893."
Chief among these is the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, which provides for the settlement of all trade disputes before Boards of Conciliation in the first place, and Courts of Arbitration, whose awards can be enforced in the same manner as an award of the Supreme Court.
Societies consisting of five or more employers, or of seven or more workers, may be registered and become subject to the jurisdiction of the Board and Court appointed by the Act. Any such society may bring a disputed case before the Board of Conciliation appointed for the district, and, if the Board fails to effect a settlement, the dispute may be referred to the Court of Arbitration. The amount, however, for which such an award may be enforced against an association is limited to £500.
The manner in which the Act has operated may generally be regarded as satisfactory; and, although its existence has undoubtedly tended to bring into prominence a number of disputes about small matters which would otherwise probably never have been mentioned, on the other hand, it must be admitted that it has succeeded in finding a settlement for more than one cause of disagreement between employers and employed which, but for it, would have resulted in strikes and lock-outs. Some difficulty has lately arisen in regard to the Conciliation Board at Wellington. One of the members was away from the colony, another laid aside by illness, and yet another absent on business. The consequent difficulty
