INDUSTRIAL PEACE LEGISLATION IN CANADA went on strike, and, while a Board was being established for the investigation of the differences, a settlement was effected through the instrumentality of an officer of the Department. A somewhat similar result followed the application for a Board preferred by the employees of the Railway and Irrigation Company at Lethbridge, Alberta. It was at the mines located at this point that the dispute of last year occurred, resulting in the prolonged strike already referred to, which conduced in a large measure to the enactment of the statute now under review. The employees in this instance sought to secure the adjust ment of numerous differences between them selves and the company, and a Board was in process of establishment for this purpose when the Department was advised by the employees that all matters in dispute had been satisfactorily settled, and that this fortunate result was wholly due to the influence of the new Act. During the month of July, a dispute occurred between the Intercolonial Railway and the freight handlers in its employ at Halifax. The men had ceased work, but on learning that their case came within the scope of the Industrial Disputes Investiga tion Act, they returned to their labours and agreed to have the dispute referred for adjustment by conciliation. It being a case in which railway employees were con cerned, they had the right, as we have seen in the first part of this article, to a reference either under the Industrial Disputes Investi gation Act, or under the former Conciliation and Labour Act. They preferred the procedure of the earlier Act, the only instance, by the way, in which that preference has been made. In the several railway dis putes which have arisen since the passage of the new legislation, the employees have invariably selected the procedure provided by the new Act. The chairman of the Board established in this case was Professor Walter Murray, of Halifax, and, after an enquiry extending over several days, an agreement
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was reached which was accepted by both parties, and the terms of which were applied not only to the freight handlers of Halifax but also to those of St. John, N. B. The next Board established had relation to differences between the Grand Trunk Railway Company and the great body of its locomotive engineers. Here, again, a strike was threatened which, if carried out, would have tied up the whole of that im portant railway system, and have caused incalculable loss and damage to the carrying trade of the country. Professor Shortt was again chairman of the Board, having been a second time selected and appointed by the Minister, and the labours of the Board were again successful, an agreement being concluded good for three years and duly signed by representatives of both parties. During the month of August there occurred a dispute relating to a class of industries not directly within the scope of the Act. Between two and three thousand employees of the cotton mills at Valleyfield in the province of Quebec, which were operated by the Montreal Cotton Company, had gone on strike, and a long and strenuous struggle was imminent involving great hardship to the workmen and serious injury to the business interests of the town itself and the district dependent on its industries. An officer of the Department, who was visiting Valleyfield, succeeded in inducing the disputants to accept a reference under the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act. This was in accordance with section 63 of the statute, which provides for the proce dure being applied to any dispute whether coming directly under the operation of the Act or not, if the parties to the dispute so agree. The employees returned to work immediately upon arriving at this decision, and a Board was established under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Fortin. The proceedings resulted, in the course of a few days, in an amicable settlement of every matter contained in the reference. In connection with this particular dispute, it
