§ MR. G. W. WOLFF (Belfast, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether a dispute has arisen between the Linotype Company of Manchester and their workmen, likely lo result in a strike of the latter; whether the Linotype Company has asked the Board of Trade to intervene under the Conciliation Act, and try to arrange the matter in dispute as conciliators or as arbitrators: whether the Board of Trade sent Mr. John Burnett to Manchester for this purpose; and whether the workmen have absolutely refused to leave the matter in dispute either to the conciliation or the arbitration of the Board of Trade?
§ MR. C. E. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.)asked whether it was the fact that the Board of Trade had approached the Amalgamated Society of Engineers with reference to the Linotype Company: whether the officers of the society were actually having an interview with the manager of the Linotype Company when a telegram came from the directors to refer the matter to the Board of Trade; and whether the directors and secretary of the company had since visited Manchester and an amicable and satisfactory settlement had been come to, and that it only remained to sign the agreement as soon as the document could be prepared, so that the action of the men and the directors was 270 quite unlike that of Lord Penrhyn? [Cries of "Oh."]
§ *THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. O T. RITCHIE,) CroydonI do not desire to introduce into this particular subject any other dispute—["hear, hear!"], and perhaps the hon. Member for Manchester will excuse me answering his question. No doubt the hon. Member will hear what he desires in the answer I am going to give to the question on the Paper. With regard to one point I think the hon. Member is inaccurate, viz., in saying that the men received an intimation about the reference to the Board of Trade while the meeting was taking place between the men and the manager. I should say also, that that meeting resulted in the settlement of the dispute. ["Hear, hear!"] In answer to my hon. Friend the member for Belfast I have to say that in consequence of a communication addressed by the Linotype Company to the Board of Trade, asking the Department to intervene under the Conciliation Act, Mr. John Burnett was sent down to Manchester, and commutations were held between the officers of the Board of Trade and representatives of the employers. The object of these communications was, in accordance with the policy which is invariably pursued by the Board of Trade in such circumstances, to bring about a conference between the employers and employed. In the result I am happy to state that, after a conference between the representatives of the employers and the men, an arrangement satisfactory to both parties has been arrived at without any stoppage of work, and the parties separated on the best of terms. [Cheers.]
§ MR. WOLFFasked whether the satisfactory arrangement between the employers and workmen was arrived at with or without conciliation on the part of the Board of Trade?
§ *MR. RITCHIEI do not quite know what my hon. Friend means by conciliation. Mr. John Burnett was sent down to Manchester by me upon two occasions—one I think on Friday, and the other on Tuesday. He was sent down with the view of seeing the men. He did see the men. There was no question of offering either to arbitrate or to conciliate by the Board of Trade. As I have said, the whole of Mr. Burnett's efforts were directed towards bringing about a meeting between the men and the employers. 271 The day upon which Mr. Burnett went first to Manchester, some of the directors, whom I saw myself in London, also went down to Manchester; they had an interview with the men and the settlement took place.
§ MR. JAMES LOWTHER (Kent, Isle of Thanet)asked if there was any representative of the Board of Trade present at the meeting between the directors and the men, or, if the directors asked that a representative should be present?
§ *MR. RITCHIENo representative of the Board of Trade was present, neither has it been the habit of the Board of Trade to ask that a representative should be present. As a matter of fact, in nine cases out of ten the representative of the Board of Trade is present because he is invited to be present by both parties. On this occasion there was no necessity for the intervention of the representative of the Board of Trade, because the masters and men agreed between themselves without any intervention such as that suggested by the hon. Member.
§ MR. JAMES BRYCE (Aberdeen, S.)said he should like to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it was not the case that the action taken in this instance and also Mr. Burnett's presence was fully within the scope of the Conciliation Act just as much as if he had acted as referee?
§ *MR. RITCHIEAn appeal was made to the Board of Trade by the directors of the Linotype Company. In consequence of that, we considered that we were acting within the powers given to us by the Conciliation Act in sending down Mr. Burnett to Manchester, with a view to interviewing the men.