The Boards will still be needed, just as arbitration tribunals will be required to settle specific disputes between nations.  The aim in both cases is to substitute arbitration for war (or its equivalent) or threats of war.  Something more is aimed at in the establishment of Industrial Councils.  They contemplate a “continuous and constructive co-operation of Capital and Management on the one hand and Labour on the other.”  They are not tribunals for the settlement of disputes which have arisen, but joint committees which can discuss and propose methods of dealing with any question affecting working-conditions generally, e.g., the introduction of new machinery and its effect on employment and the status as well as the wages of the workpeople, and even its economic effect generally.  Suggestions can be made as to changes which may “increase output or economise effort” and eliminate waste.  The effect of any alterations on the health of those engaged in any industry would be within their purview.  The idea is to promote co-operation, to make all recognise certain common interests, not merely to adjust competing claims.  In international affairs the nearest analogy would be a League of Nations for promoting the common interest of all.  While, of course, the main object of such a league is common action to prevent breaches of the international peace by restraining wrong-doers, it should not be the sole object.  In the case of Industrial Councils the object is to promote the general welfare of all engaged in the trade and to increase productive efficiency, as well as to secure fair terms between the parties and prevent disputes.  If such a Council has been established for any industry Government Departments will consult it, and not the Trade Board, on any questions affecting that industry; but the constitution of the Council should make provision by which Trade Boards can be consulted.  Roughly speaking, “the functions of the Trade Board will be called into operation mainly in the case of the less organised trades, and the highly organised trades will be the sphere of the Industrial Councils.”  These, in their most developed form, will be national, district, and local.

A memorandum which has official sanction states that the chief duty of the Trade Boards, on the other hand, is to fix minimum rates of wages which can be imposed by law.  They are needed primarily to insure that in trades where the workers have no official organisation to guard their interest a living wage shall be secured for all.  They are statutory bodies set up under an Act of Parliament just passed, and will be connected with the Ministry of Labour, by which their members are largely nominated.  The work of such Boards is being extended.