. CHAPTER XXV, 
us, therefore, important to ensure that, if the links which do much to 
hold together the existing structure are removed, there is sufficient 
assurance that legislation and administration are not-completely divorced 
from each other. } 
Central Administration. 
This need arises in the case of all labour laws, but it is more 
imperative in some cases than in others. Acts whose essence is the 
creation of civil privileges or liabilities, such as the Workmen’s Compensa- 
tion Act and the Trade Unions Act, do not demand any intimate relation 
between the authority responsible for the law and the authority responsi- 
ble for the administration. Still less is such relation necessary in the case 
of Acts which merely confer the power to invoke machinery, such as the 
present Trade Disputes Act. On the other hand, in the case of protective 
Acts, such as the Factories Act and the Mines Act, it is vital that the 
authority passing the law should have the assurance that they will be made 
universally effective. This point could be completely secured by making 
the law and the administration both provincial or both central. As 
regards the first of these alternatives, it is important to observe that it is 
precisely in connection with laws of this type that the need for central 
legislation is greatest and the peril of withdrawing legislative power from 
the centre most acute. As regards the alternative of combining legisla- 
tion and administration at the centre, the centralisation of some machinery 
and particularly the factory inspection staff, would bring distinct ad- 
vantages. The present system has led to unjustified variation from 
province to province in the standard of enforcement of the Factories 
Act ; some provinces administer the Act rigorously and others do not. 
[t may render the factory inspectors at times unduly exposed to local 
influence. It makes it difficult for the smaller provinces to recruit a 
satisfactory staff; they cannot offer scope for advancement, cannot 
look for or properly utilise high specialist qualifications, and are unable 
to make satisfactory arrangements for leave vacancies. The Central 
Government are deprived of experts on factory administration, and an 
mspectorate divided between many Governments cannot get the fullest 
value from common experience. Occasional or periodical conferences of 
inspectors can do something to secure the pooling of experience, but 
bhey cannot yield the results which are gained by an inspectorate working 
as a single team. The administration of the Mines Act, which has always 
been central, seems tous to have gained considerably thereby, and its 
provincialisation, if that proves necessary, is bound to weaken its force. 
Central Legislation and Provincial Administration. 
We must recognise, however, that considerations with which 
we are not competent to deal may make it inadvisable or impossible 
b0 move in the direction of centralisation or even to maintain centralised 
administration where that is at present in existence. If this proves 
to be the case, we believe that the difficulties of combining central 
legislation with provincial administration must be faced, as this com- 
bination is, in our view, infinitely preferable to the complete withdrawal 
of legislative power from the centre. So far as we are in a position to