STRIKE AVERTED.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 38, 8 November 1907, Page 5

STRIKE AVERTED.

A SETTLEMENT.

THE INFLUENCE OF KING EDWARD. CONCILIATION SCHEME. APPROVED BY ALL SIDES. ■ BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COrYRIQHT. (Rec. Nov. 7, 11.19 p.m.) London, November 7. Mr. Richard Bell, M.P., and secretary of Jho Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, speaking at a dinner given by the Sphinx Club, announced that as a result of conferences with Mr. Lloyd-George (President of tho Board of Trado) ,a settlement of the railway trouble had been reached, which would, ho hoped, he satisfactory to all concerned. The King had, said Mr. Bell,, interested himself in tho matter, and the result must be communicated to His Majesty before the terms of the settlement were announced.

A FINAL ARBITRATOR. SECTIONAL BOARDS. (Rec. Nov. 7, 11.23 p.m.) London, Novciiiber 7. The compromise with respect to tho rail-way-men was secured through tho instrumentality of Mr. Lloyd-George. ; It consists of the appointment of a conciliation board for each group of employees of every railway, and, on large systems, of sectional conciliation hoards representing groups; and in the event of disputes regarding hours and wages remaining unsettled, tho matter to be referred to an arbitrator chosen by the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Master of tho Rolls. The conciliation boards will represent both the masters and tho men. Tho election of the men's representatives will be conducted by tho Board of Trade, and, in tho event of disputes remaining unsettled in a district, or by tho sectional and conciliation boards, tho matter will go to a central board composed of representatives of the company and .of the i conciliation boards for all the groups. As a final resort it will bo laid before the arbitrator. This arrangement does not recognise tho Unions. Lord Claudo Hamilton, chairman of the Railway Directors' Association, describes tho scheme as being' very satisfactory, especially to'non-Unionists. " (Rec. Nov. 8, 0.2 a.m.) London, November 7. Mr. Lloyd-Gcorgo .submitted to tho railwaymen tho proposed agreement which Mr. Bell and tho representatives of tho railway companies havo accepted. Mr. Fox, secretary of tho Associated Socity i of; Locomotiyo Engineers and. Firemen, also signed, as did Mr. Lowth, secretary of the Railway Workers' Union. ' What the Germans' cnll tho "all-pervading personality of-1 he--English King" evidently can mako itself felt in home-uffairs, as in foreign diplomacy. No doubt the peaceful settlement of the dispute, avoiding'what might have heen a wholesale paralysis of transport and business, is a great triumph for tho conciliatory powers of the President of the Board of Trado, Mr, Lloyd-George, the Minister from Wales, who, unarmed with compulsory powers, has so successfully intervened. "Wo can remember some head-shakings when his appointment to presido over the Board of Trade was announced at the formation of the present ■ says tho " Westminster Gazette." "No one questioned that he was an extremely clever man, or that his skill and courage had been proved in a hundred stormv debates. But, it was added, he had that fata'l Celtic temperament and with it all those versatile and imaginative qualities which are so repugnant to British business instincts.- And now at the end of eighteen months, we find one business man after another getting up in the House of Commons to testify that ho is tho best man of business they have had to deal with for many a long day. ... Mr Lloyd-Georgo has well earned the .eulogies which are passed on him, and his rise to favour with the business world is one of tho pleasantcst incidents,of this Administration "