The Intervening State, 1893–1914

Abstract

Gladstone’s decision to dispatch Lord Rosebery to try to settle the 1893 mining dispute was a new departure. Neither employers nor unions were enthusiastic about state involvement in industrial relations. Arbitration Acts from previous decades had proved to be largely dead letters. In 1886, however, the Board of Trade began to collect statistics on aspects of labour¹ and in 1893 a Labour Department of the Board was formed. Its main task was still the collection of statistics and it added information on unions, strikes and lock-outs to what it already had on wages and hours. In addition it immediately became interventionist and unofficially mediated in major disputes. The Royal Commission on Labour, by far the biggest inquiry into trade unions and industrial relations yet carried out, reporting in 1894, gave every encouragement to the Board to extend this role. It talked of the need for ‘partnership’, of ‘common interests, by employers and workmen’ and looked forward to workers’ organisations having ‘a consultative voice in the division of the proceeds of industry’. The Government’s role, according to the Commission, was to encourage strong voluntary organisations of both employers and workers.²