CHAP. 3.—REGULATION IN AUSTRALIA

21

sume work on the conditions of the employers. In the third case the
anion was induced to change its by-laws in such a wav as to prevent
strikes without permission of executives.
7 The extent of industrial disputes in the various States is given in
able 4-42

LABLE 4.—Number of working-days lost through industrial disputes in Australia,
19822 to 1926. by Ntates

par

esc oma
a a ws
a
925... FO
026

New
South
Wales

188, 520
302, 306
U8, 796
149, 840
11. 230

Victoria

34, 701
98; 830
66, 567
131, 737
100. 735

Queensland


0, AU
35,10"
47,2
219 82¢
30. 118

South
A ustralia


14, 334
75, 971
10’ 45¢
19 143
99’ 236

Western
io] Commons
Austra | rasmants)
Tia wealth

13,472
72,274
46, 734
98, 911
9 O81

4,284
1,093
11, 606
2, 989
Bb. 080

858, 685
., 145, 977
918, 646
1, 128, 570
1310. 261

There is one striking fact reflected in this table. The method of
Victoria in fixing wages prior to disputes has maintained the number
of strike days at a small fraction of the number in the neighboring
State of New South Wales, where legislation has laid the main
emphasis on the settlement of disputes.®® The particular conditions
in the mining industry of New South Wales can scarcely be accepted
as the sole cause of the enormous difference.
In Victoria, with approximately 200,000 workers under the boards
and 156,000 employed by manufacturing industries,** there has been
an average of only about 100,000 strike days per year, or, allowing
for seasonal fluctuations, 1 day per 2 workers per year, although the
legislation of this State does not prohibit strikes. This State settles
the conditions of employment in a constitutional way by agreement
of the parties and prevents disputes which otherwise would have to
be taken care of afterwards under psychological difficulties. The
results in Tasmania (population 208,000), with its wages boards, are
analogous, there being a correspondingly low number of strike days.
Western Australia, with a population not quite double that of
Tasmania—3885,000—has on an average about ten times as many
strike days. The population of Western Australia is more industrialized,
 but not to the extent indicated by the difference in the time
lost through strikes. Western Australia bases its social legislation on
the settlement of disputes by the arbitration court.
Queensland (population 894,000), with its mixed system,-has fair
results and South Australia (population 570,000), with its mixed
system, even very good results.
Local circumstances, of course, play their role, but the outstanding
fact is the great degree of industrial peace achieved in Victoria and
Pasmania by wages boards alone, without need for court intervention
and penalties against strikers.

“ Howard Law Review, January, 1919, pp. 207-209: “A new province for law and
order,” by Henry Bournes Higgins.
Australia. Bureau of Census and Statistics. Quarterly Summary of Australian Staistics,
 Melbourne, September, 1927, pp. 65, 66. i :
* The population of Victoria June 30. 1927, was 1,726.000, as compared with 2,370,000
'n New South Wales. Australia. Bureau of Census and Statistics. Quarterly Summary
of Australian Statistics, Mclbourne, September, 1927, p. 3.
“4 Jdem, p. 14. Victoria is a preponderantly industrial country.