Strangely enough, it is the compulsory portion of the Act that has withstood all attacks, while the conciliatory portion has partially broken down. After the Act had been in operation for some years, its critics brought the full force of their attacks to bear upon the Boards, which they saw were the weaker part. The Boards designed by Mr. Reeves were unpaid bodies. When the Legislative Council, in 1894, inserted an amendment in the Bill providing for the payment of members of the Boards, he opposed the proposal, and, as he was supported by the House of Representatives, it was struck out. He left the colony to go to London in 1896, and the Government then decided that members of the Boards should be paid a fee of £1 1s. for each day they sat.
This has helped to bring about the undoing of the Boards, as it placed a powerful weapon in the hands of their enemies. When the Boards were arraigned before Parliament and charged with having failed to discharge their duties, it was alleged that members stirred up strife with the object of bringing about disputes so that there should be more work for the Boards and more fees for the members. There seems to be some truth in the allegation as far as one Board at least is concerned, but it is unjust to make the charge general. Judge Backhouse, who was appointed by the Victorian Government a Royal Commissioner to inquire into the New Zealand scheme, says that it is clear to him that some members of the Boards entirely failed to appreciate their functions. In taking an active part outside in furtherance of the claims of one of the parties, he finds that they became partizans out and out, rendering their bodies Boards of Irritation rather than Boards of Conciliation. He believes that the adoption of these reprehensible methods is partly due to this “vicious system of payment by fees.”
The workers have always favoured the Boards. They have not ceased to fight against any curtailment of the functions those bodies were given in the original scheme. Throughout the Act’s operation, the workers have maintained that the Boards are highly desirable. They say that the very informality of the proceedings before the Boards is a high recommendation to men who have not been trained to appear before a
