SECOND SCHEDULE. SHOWING MAIN PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT OF 1921, WHICH WERE THE SUBJECT OF NEGOTIATION PRIOR TO THE INQUIRY (REFERRED TO IN paid day-wage Subsistence allowances to be No claim (v) Recoupment of deficien cies in profits owing to ... 30 30 35 35 (a) Addition of one-eighth to No amendment (b) No wage to fall below an (c) Any resulting anomalies Deficiencies in "standard No change... Deficiencies in "standard profits due to paying wages at minimum percentage to be recouped from subsequent surpluses (stated by owners to have proved ineffective). profits to be recouped by application of 50 per cent. of subsequent surpluses so far as necessary. No 321 amend 5000 5/24 H & S, Ltd. Gp. 41. the threatened stoppage of work at the Coal exporting ports of Great Britain, 1924. Presented to Parliament by LONDON: PRINTED & PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Imperial House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W.1; York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; or 120, George Street, Edinburgh; or through any Bookseller. 1924 Price 3d. net Cmd. 2149. APPOINTMENT OF COURT OF INQUIRY AND RULES OF PROCEDURE. LEITH COAL TRIMMING DISPUTE. Whereas by the Industrial Courts Act, 1919, the Minister of Labour is empowered to refer any matters appearing to him to be connected with or relevant to a trade dispute whether existing or apprehended to a Court of Inquiry and to make rules regulating the procedure of any such Court; And whereas a dispute has arisen between the Leith Employers' Coal Trimming Committee and the Transport and General Workers' Union concerning the continued employment by the Leith employers of twenty-one men who were taken on a coal trimmers during the course of a strike at the port of Leith; And whereas no settlement has been arrived at and it has been decided that the members of the Transport and General Workers' Union, the Cardiff, Barry and Penarth Coal Trimmers' Union, the National Union of Railwaymen and the National Union of General Workers employed in the coal exporting ports of Great Britain shall stop work; And whereas such a stoppage of work will have a serious effect on the national interests; Now, therefore, the Minister of Labour, by virtue of the powers vested in him by the said Act, and of all cther powers enabling him in that behalf, appoints the following to constitute a Court of Inquiry :— The Hon. Lord ANDERSON (Chairman). J. F. ARMOUR, Esq. Col. J. LITHGOW. And the Minister of Labour directs that the terms of reference of the Court shall be as follows: "To inquire into the causes and circumstances of the threatened stoppage of work in the coal-exporting ports of Great Britain and to report thereon." And the Minister directs that the following Rules regulating the procedure of the Court shall have effect, that is to say: (1) (i) Any person may by notice in writing signed by the Chairman of the Court, be requested to attend as a witness and give evidence before the Court, or to attend and produce any document relevant to the subjectmatter of inquiry, or to furnish, in writing or otherwise as the Court may direct, such particulars in relation to the subject-matter of the Inquiry as the Court may require. (ii) The Court may require any witness to give evidence on oath, and the Chairman, or any person duly authorised by him, may administer an Oath for that purpose. (2) The Court may act notwithstanding any vacancy in its number, and two members shall form a quorum. (3) The report and any interim reports of the Court shall be made to the Minister in writing, and shall be signed by such of the members as concur therein, and shall be transmitted to him as soon as practicable after the conclusion of the Inquiry; and any minority report by any dissentient member of the Court shall be made and transmitted in like manner. (4) Subject to these Rules the Court may regulate its own procedure as it thinks fit. (5) In these Rules the expression "Act" means the Industrial Courts Act, 1919; the expression "Minister '' means the Minister of Labour; and the expression "Court" means the Court of Inquiry appointed above by the Minister under the Act. And the Minister further appoints Mr. H. C. Emmerson to be Secretary to the Court. Dated this 17th day of May, 1924. Given under the Official Seal of the Minister of Labour. (Sgd.) H. J. WILSON, Secretary. Ministry of Labour. 17918 J 2 REPORT. SIR, To the Right Honourable the MINISTER OF LABOUR. PRELIMINARY. 1. We have the honour to report that, having been constituted as a Court of Inquiry by the prefixed letter of appointment dated 17th May, 1924, we held a preliminary meeting to determine procedure on 19th May, 1924, and the Inquiry was opened and the evidence concluded on the same day at Parliament House, Edinburgh. 2. Mr. James Currie, Mr. H. C. Somerville and Mr. A. C. Cormack appeared on behalf of the Leith Employers' Coal Trimming Committee. Mr. Robert Williams, who is Secretary of the National Transport Workers' Federation, presented the case to us on behalf of the four Unions concerned. Other representatives were Mr. J. T. Clatworthy for the Cardiff, Barry and Penarth Coal Trimmers' Union, Mr. J. R. Bell for the National Union of Railwaymen, and Mr. D. Milford, Mr. J. Houghton and Mr. J. Veitch, for the Transport and General Workers' Union. There was no representative of the National Union of General Workers. 3. It was made plain to us at the outset that the threatened national stoppage is occasioned by a dispute entirely local in character and that any action taken by members of the four Unions employed at other ports would be in sympathy with the men at Leith. Accordingly, we focussed our attention upon the circumstances which have led to a stoppage of work at Leith. The fundamental issue between the Leith shipowners and the coal trimmers who are members of the Transport and General Workers' Union can be stated in a few words, but it will assist in a proper understanding of the dispute as it exists to-day if we indicate briefly how the situation has developed from the events of the past few months. CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO THE PRESENT DISPUTE. 4. In July, 1923, the men employed at the port of Leith in the trimming of cargo and bunker coal ceased work as a protest against the appointment of a firm named Messrs. J. Kennedy & Co., Ltd., who had contracted with the Leith shipowners to perform all managerial functions in connection with coal trimming in the port. This dispute was terminated by a written agreement dated 30th August, 1923, between representatives of the Forth District Committee of the Shipping Federation, |