2o6 HARVARD LAW REVIEW been no strike extending beyond the limits of any one state. That cannot be said now; but the exceptions are worthy of study. The first was that of the coal miners at the end of October, 1916. About 80 per cent or 90 per cent of the coal miners are in New South Wales, but the miners of Victoria and of Queensland had joined those of New South Wales in a federation. At the request of the federation the President held a conference in June, 1916. The principal subject of dispute was a claim for eight hours bank to bank, and no agreement was reached; but certain concessions were accepted to tide over the time till arbitration, and the Presi- dent promised to give the case, for certain reasons, precedence; but when the case came on it appeared that in several of the mines the men were taking the hours which they sought. The union officials were not obeyed. The Court refused to proceed with the arbitration until the men resumed the former hours: — "I shall certainly not go on with arbitration with my hands tied, and my hands would be tied if the men were getting by direct action . . . that which they are asking me for." ^^ There followed several adjournments with the view of allowing the officials of the federa- tion to use persuasion, but the matter was compUcated by the bitter opposition of the imions to a proposal for conscription, and by an extraordinary antipathy to the Prime Minister, Mr. Hughes. They passed resolutions not to work except on the conditions named, and the work was stopped on or about the day of the refer- endum. The position was very serious. The stocks of coal avail- able for the gas companies were running very low, especially in Sydney. The Prime Minister held a series of conferences in which he found that the miners were firm in their refusal to work unless they got the eight hours bank to bank, and the employers insisted ' that if this concession were granted they would have to raise the price of coal. The Prime Minister asked the President to deal with the case as under a recent War Precautions Regulation (of doubtful validity), and, as incidental to the concession as to hours, to find what additional price the mine-owners might charge for coal. All such proceedings were outside my proper functions, but, as the Prime Minister was in great difficulty, I was willing to enter upon the enquiry as to the claim for the eight hours under our own " Coal and shale employees, 10 Com. Arb. 246 (1916).
