The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1893. COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2892, 7 February 1893, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1893. COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION.

On No /ember 23 last there was inaugurated, in the Guildhall of the City of' London, the London Chamber of Arbitration, which has been created for the purpose of settling commercial disputesexpeditiously and economically —especially such as can best be dealt with by experienced men of business— without ha/ing recourse to litigation. The Chamber owes its creation to the joint exertions of the Common Council ar.d the London Chamber of Commerce. j It is constituted by Act of Parliament, will be open as well to voluntary applicants as for the arbitration of cases ■ referred to it by courts of law or by judges' orders; and its decisions have the legal force and ett'ect of a verdict in the High Court. When once the parties to a dispute have signed the form of submission neither can subsequently retract without the consent of the other. The appointment of arbitrators is vested in the Corporation, on the nomination of the Chamber of Commerce, and the London Press speak in high terms of the first appointments made—the members of the Court being gentlemen specially qualified either by long business experience or special trade knowledge, or both. Disputants way select from the official list of arbitrators the names of those they would prefer, or they may leave the seleatiqu to the Registrar of the Chamber, intimating whether they wish I them selected from any particular trade or calling, They may decide whether their dispute shall be. referred to one arbitrator or to three—the award of two of whom shall be sufficient—or to two arbitrators and an umpire. The scale of fees in the Chamber is on a very moderate scale, being fixed at £2 2s for the first hour's sittings and £1 Is for each subsequent hour. For an additional fee the services of the legal assessor under the Act, who is an eminent Q.C., may bo secured : otherwise th,e Registrar will apt as assessor. Sittings' may be field on any lawful day. All proceedings are to be private and confidential, and no persons except the officials and witnesses and those whom the parties ii. jthe case may jointly request to attend at* *}lpwed to be present at the hearing. A'digpuianf may be represented by a barrister or » solipifar or by a plerk or ojtiierof his permanent cm r ploy^s, pr, shQuld he reside more than fifty miles from fcho p»ildhall, by his business agent i» London. This is a roost important departure, for though most trades have their arbitration committee, this ig the first that has embraced t|>e pommerpe qf, practically, the whole world in its scope. It is a good omen that the Corporation, the Chamber of Commerce and the merchants of the commercial capital of the world have adopted the principle of arbitration, and we are confident that their action will have great influence in bringing the principle to bear upon trade disputes, and b^pyent calamitous strikes on the one gide and' lockouts oh 'the other by constituting a neutral frft&ntil, recognised by the law courts, to whicft' «ty such disputes shall be submitted for adjudication.