It hp,d enabled an increase of wages to be made and other conditions favour able to workmen, which under the cir cumstances of the colony they are en titled to, to be settled without that fric tion and bitterness of feeling that other-

wise might have existed. He adds that the effect of the Act has been undoubtedly to make the public pay generally more for the products of industry, which have been regulated by a Board or Court when the tariff is high | enough, or other conditions occur to prevent foreign competition. (Received 9.45 a.m.) Judge Backhouse adds that while the effects of the Act so far are good, the time has not yet come when it can be said with any certainty that it is a measure which will provide a solution for all labor troubles. Since the Act came into operation in New Zealand every thing has been in favor of the increase of emolument and amelioration in the con dition of labour, and there cannot be the slightest doubt that wages would have risen if there had been no Act, but when the years come, as come they must, when there will be a curtailment instead of an expansion, then, and not till then can anyone speak with authority as to whether the principle involved is work able or not.
Gisborne News.
