to before the outbreak of war; and these origins are to be found in
the desire of certain groups of individuals, with knowledge or
experience of industrial disputes, to create some new form of
joint organization which would unite the employers and em-
ployees in an industry in cooperation for common ends. Thus,
the conception of a building-trades parliament may be traced
back to 1914. Again, a national painters' and decorators' joint
council was formed in the winter of 1916-7, before the publication
of the first Whitley report. Before also the Whitley Committee
reported, the activities initiated by certain private individuals
interested in industrial matters, leading up to the formation of
the Pottery Joint Industrial Council (the first of the officially
recognized Whitley Councils), had been in progress for some time.
Here it may be noted that the name " Industrial Council " has been applied to other bodies which must not be confused with the joint industrial councils set up through the Whitley report, though they have certain connexions with these councils. Further reference to these bodies is made at the end of this article.
The Whitley Committee presented an interim report on joint standing industrial councils in March 1917 (Cd. 8606). In this report they recommended that, so far as the main in- dustries of the country, in which there existed representative organizations of employers and employees, were concerned, the best way to deal with the first point in the terms of reference was to settle the second point, and for this latter they proposed the institution of joint standing industrial councils. The proposed councils were to be joint, so as to bring employers and work- people together; standing, to ensure the regular discussion of matters of common interest; and industrial that is, formed on an "industrial" rather than a trade or craft basis. In order to secure the realization of what may be considered the fundamental idea of " continuous cooperation in the promotion of industry " the committee recommended that, in addition to national joint industrial councils covering complete national industries, there should be formed also district councils and works committees. It was contemplated that the machinery should be decentralized, the district councils dealing with district matters within the limits laid down by a national council for the industry, and the works committees dealing in the same way with questions peculiar to the individual workshop or not of general concern. A fundamental condition affecting the formation of the councils was that the members should be chosen exclusively from the trade unions of the workpeople and the associations of the em- ployers; this first report had reference only to well-organized industry, and the scheme outlined was not considered applica- ble where organization was weak or non-existent. Following its circulation to all the principal trade unions and employers' associations, the report was adopted by the Government in Oct. 191 7 as part of its industrial policy. At the same time the Govern- ment decided to recognize the industrial councils as standing consultative committees for their industries.
The Minister of Labour was charged with the duty of providing the industries with assistance in the formation of councils, and the first joint industrial council to be officially recognized was that formed in the pottery industry in Jan. 1918. The following list includes all the councils which had been officially recognized up to the end of Jan. 1921, at which time, however, n of the councils listed had more or less definitely broken down (these being marked by an asterisk). The operations of several others were intermittent, a principal reason for the failures being lack of adequate organization.
Asbestos manufacture 'Bread-baking (England and Wales) Bread-baking (Scotland) Bedsteads, metallic Bobbin and shuttle manufacture Boot and shoe manufacture Building trades Cable-making, electrical Carpets Cement
Chemicals, heavy China clay Civil service (administrative and legal departments)
Coir mat and matting
Cooperage 'Elastic webbing
Electrical contracting
Electricity supply 'Entertainments
Flour-milling 'Furniture
Gas mantles
Gas undertakings
Glass
Gloves 'Gold, silver and horological trades
Government industrial establishments
Heating and domestic engineering
Hosiery (English)
Hosiery (Scottish)
Insurance committees (National Health) 'Leather goods, made-up
Local authorities' non-trading services (manual workers)
Local authorities' non-trading services (manual workers) (Scotland)
Local authorities (administrative, technical and clerical)
Local authorities (administrative, technical and clerical) (Scotland)
Lock, latch and key
Match manufacture 'Music trades
Needles, fish-hooks and fishing-tackle 'Packing-case making
Paint, colour and varnish
Paper-making
Pottery
Printing
Process engraving
Quarrying 'Road transport
Rubber manufacture 'Sawmilling
Seed-crushing and oil-refining
Silk
Soap and candles
Spelter
Surgical instruments
Tin-mining
Tramways 'Vehicle-building
Wall-paper making
Waterworks undertakings
Welsh plate and sheet
Wire, iron and steel
Wool (and allied) textile (England and Wales)
Woollen and worsted (Scottish)
Wrought hollow-ware
In the formation of nearly all these 65 councils a main part taken by the Ministry of Labour, which arranged conferences and carried through the often difficult and prolonged work of negotiation between the various associations of employers or workpeople concerned. Of the 65, 20 were formed in 1918. 30 in 1919, and the remainder during the next 13 months.
On Oct. 18 1918 the Whitley Committee presented a second report on joint industrial councils (Cd. 9002). This recommended, for trades where organization was very weak or non-existent, an adaptation and expansion of the system of trade boards, working under an amended Trade Boards Act, and, in trades in which organization was considerable but not yet general, a system of joint councils with some Government assistance which might be dispensed with as the industries advanced to the stage of organiza- tion contemplated in the first report for joint standing industrial councils. The second, unlike the first report, was not completely adopted by the Government. In June 1918 a joint memorandum on the proposals contained in the second report was issued by the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Reconstruction. This memorandum emphasized the desirability of separating completely as possible the trade board and the joint industri, council forms of organization, so as to develop the voluntary bodies only where the degree of organization warranted them, and the trade boards only where lack of organization made the statutory regulation of wages necessary.
In the meantime, for the purpose of consultation on questions of industrial reconstruction, it had been agreed by the Minister of Reconstruction, the Minister of Labour and the President of
