same time in consultation with the Scottish and Irish offices for Scotland and Ireland. The Scottish and Irish rules contained slight modifications necessary to adapt them to Scottish and Irish law.

Substantially the same form of organization applied to both general and local tribunals. In either case the court consists of a chairman sitting with two assessors, one drawn from a panel of employers or their representatives, and the other from a panel of workmen or their representatives.

The procedure laid down by the rules, though generally analogous to that of courts of summary jurisdiction, presented certain important differences and novelties, of which the following examples may be given:

1. No party to any proceedings before a local munitions tribunal was allowed to be represented by counsel or solicitor.

2. The rules provided that complaints could only be made by a person aggrieved or by or on behalf of the Minister of Munitions. In the Munitions Tribunals rules of 1916 this limitation was removed.

3. The procedure on complaint by a workman that a leaving certificate had been unreasonably withheld by his employer was of a less formal nature than that in prosecution cases and evidence on the hearing of these complaints was not usually taken on oath.

4. Any person upon whom a fine of £20 ($97.33) or more was imposed by a general munitions tribunal was given a right to appeal to a court of quarter sessions.

Immediately after the passing of the munitions act in 1916 chairmen of general and local munitions tribunals throughout the United Kingdom were appointed by the minister of munitions. Most of these were barristers or solicitors. In the case of the local tribunals the chairmen of the courts of references appointed under the National Insurance Act were invited to serve as chairmen of the tribunals. Panels of workmen's assessors and employers' assessors were appointed, from which assessors could be drawn to sit with the chairmen of the general munitions tribunals. The existing panels under the National Insurance Act, 1911, were constituted panels from which assessors could be drawn to sit with chairmen of local munitions tribunals. Clerks were also appointed for each tribunal, these being chosen as far as possible from men who had had experience of the working of the summary jurisdiction acts as clerks to justices or otherwise.

One of the main difficulties connected with the procedure of the munitions tribunals was that there was great danger of different decisions being given on the same point by different tribunals. In fact, as time developed, this happened not infrequently. The appeal to quarter sessions given by the rules proved ineffective, no appeal

ever being made. It was therefore strongly urged that when the amending act was brought in an appeal tribunal should be set up, and in the meantime with a view to obtaining as complete uniformity as possible in the decisions of the tribunals the suggestion was made that opinions given by the treasury solicitor and the law officers on important points of law and practice under the principal act should be printed and circulated to the chairmen of the tribunals. The suggestion was approved and the opinions in question were printed and circulated. It is considered that this step was of very great importance and that it prevented serious confusion arising from a number of conflicting decisions.

The Munitions of War (Amendment) Act, which came into force on the 27th of January, 1916, together with the new rules for munitions tribunals, which came into force on the 24th of February, 1916, introduced a number of changes in the procedure and working of the munitions tribunals. The principal changes were as follows:

1. A new appeal tribunal was set up. This matter is more fully dealt with below.

2. Provision was made that the chairman of a munitions tribunal should consult with his assessors before giving a decision and should on questions of fact give effect to the opinion of the assessors.

3. It was arranged that a female assessor should sit with the tribunal in all cases where female workers were affected.

4. The power of the general munitions tribunals to imprison for nonpayment of fines was taken away. There had been much opposition to the original conferring of this power to imprison for nonpayment of fines on the ground that it would cause irritation among the workmen and their trade-unions without any corresponding benefit. This power of imprisonment seems to have been exercised on only one occasion.

5. The extent of the powers and duties of the munitions tribunals regarding applications by workmen for leaving certificates was greatly enlarged and extended and power was conferred upon them to grant compensation in certain cases where a certificate had been refused by the employer or where the employer had failed to give to the workman either a week's notice or wages in lieu of notice.

6. Provision was made that any notice required to be served by the rules might be sent by registered post and if so sent should be deemed to have been duly served.

7. It was provided that the chairman of a munitions tribunal should keep a note of the evidence given in proceedings before the tribunal. This provision was desirable in any case and was rendered necessary by the provisions of the appeals rules mentioned below.

1 Munitions Tribunals Statutory Rules and Orders No. 123 (Feb. 24, 1916), added to

8. Power was given to the munitions tribunals to award costs against any person commencing frivolous or vexatious proceedings. 9. Provision was made that in cases of applications by workmen for leaving certificates or for compensation for dismissal without a week's notice or wages in lieu of notice, a workman might instead of attending the hearing send to the chairman of the tribunal a statement in writing of the facts of the case, and that the employer might also do this if he did not wish to attend the hearing. The rules provided that these statements if sent should be considered by the tribunal.

As regards appeals from the decision of the munitions tribunals, this had been a subject under serious consideration for some time before the amending act was passed. It was ultimately decided that the appeal tribunal in England should be a judge of the high court selected by the lord chancellor; in Scotland, a judge of the court of sessions selected by the lord president of the court of sessions; and in Ireland, a judge of the high court selected by the lord chancellor for Ireland. Statutory effect was given to these decisions by section 18 (3) of the amending act.

The most important provisions of the appeals rules as applicable to England and Wales are briefly as follows:

1. (a) A person convicted of an offense or against whom an order is made or to whom a leaving certificate is refused, and in all cases the minister of munitions, may appeal to the judge without leave on any ground involving a question of law alone.

(b) With the leave of the judge or with the written permission of the chairman of the munitions tribunal he may appeal on any ground involving a question of mixed law and fact.

(c) The other party to the proceeding may appeal with the leave of the judge or with the written permission of the chairman on any ground involving a question of law or a question of mixed law and fact.

2. Notice of appeal or of application for leave to appeal is to be sent to the judge within seven days of the decision appealed against. This time may be extended by the judge. Notice of intention to appeal is given to the clerk of the munitions tribunal whose decision is appealed against.

3. An appeals officer is appointed to receive and deal with all documents, notices, etc., connected with appeals.

4. On receiving notices of appeal, the appeals officer, when directed by the judge to do so, sends a copy to the chairman of the tribunal whose decision is appealed against, and the chairman thereupon furnishes certain documents to the appeals officer, including a

1 Order No. 137 (Mar. 2, 1916).

report in triplicate on the evidence in the case, the facts found by the tribunal, and the grounds of the decision.

5. Appeals may be summarily dismissed by the judge or may be abandoned by the parties.

When an appeal is to proceed the appeals officer sends a copy of the notice of appeal to the respondent and to the Minister of Munitions, and gives due notice of the time and place of hearing.

6. The minister may with the leave of the judge appear and be heard on any appeal and may also at any stage of an appeal substitute himself for either party to the proceedings by giving notice in writing to the appeals officer and to both parties.

7. Power is given to the judge, among other things, to sit with two or some other even number of assessors drawn from the employers' panel and workmen's panel, to order any witnesses who would have been compellable witnesses before the munitions tribunal to attend and be examined on oath before him, and to exercise any powers exercisable by any judge of the high court.

8. In addition to the power to set aside the decision of the munitions tribunal, the judge may order a rehearing of the case before the munitions tribunal, and may direct that his decision shall not invalidate any leaving certificate issued or ordered to be issued by a munitions tribunal. Orders made by the judge are enforced as if they had been made by a munitions tribunal.

9. Costs are in the absolute discretion of the judge.

10. The decision of the judge is final and binding on all munitions tribunals in England and Wales.

In order that the minister should be kept informed of the decisions of the munitions tribunals and, in proper case, be able to exercise the power of appeal conferred upon him by the amendment act, it was decided to appoint, as reports officers, men possessing legal qualifications and experience to attend sittings of the tribunals and also to appoint a chief reports officer at the Ministry of Munitions to carry out the duties hereafter referred to.

The duty assigned to the reports officers was to call attention, first, to decisions involving questions of law or of mixed law and fact doubtful in themselves or conflicting with decisions of other tribunals or those of the high court given on appeal; and, secondly, to any decision, whether involving a point of law or not, which would appear to militate against the successful working of the munitions acts. The reports on such cases sent by reports officers, as well as the notes. of evidence and decisions of cases sent by the chairmen of tribunals, enabled the department to be kept informed as to the general working of the tribunals and the trend of their decisions.

By means of the exercise of the right of appeal given to the Min

formity of decisions and practice in all the tribunals. In cases where decisions did not accord with established and recognized principles, but were of insufficient importance to justify an appeal, the ministry, through the chairmen of tribunals, assisted in bringing about the desired uniformity.

The right of appeal by the ministry of munitions was frequently exercised and important decisions were rendered upon the interpretation of, and the procedure to be observed by, tribunals under the munitions acts.

In many cases the minister either on his own initiative or upon the request of the judge was represented by counsel at the hearing of appeals. Generally speaking, the cases in which the minister so appeared were those in which questions of substantial and far-reaching importance to munitions works and workers were involved or those which related to the administration of the munitions acts by the ministry or other Government departments.

In order that the judgments of the courts of appeal for munitions cases should be accurately recorded and made accessible to Government departments, to the chairmen of tribunals, and to others interested in the working of the munitions acts, arrangements were made for the publication of cases in a convenient form. As each part appeared it was circulated to chairmen of tribunals, reports officers, and generally to the Government departments immediately concerned with the munitions acts. These reports were found of great value in securing uniformity of decisions between the many different tribunals and formed a ready and convenient reference for the solution of the many questions put to the department upon the interpretation of the munitions acts.

NEW PLAN FOR LABOR SUBSTITUTION IN MUNITION FACTORIES OF GREAT BRITAIN.

[Reprinted from the British Board of Trade Labor Gazette for May, 1917, p. 161.] PARTICULARS OF NEW APPEAL FOR VOLUNTEERS.

An appeal for volunteers on a new plan has been set on foot by the Director General of National Service.

Under the old scheme a general appeal was made to all and sundry, and the volunteer was invited to offer his services for any work to which he might be sent. The essence of the new scheme is that, instead of this general appeal, a direct and specific appeal is being addressed to the various trades to prepare and carry through schemes of substitution by means of joint committees of employers and workpeople in each organized trade; or, in the less well-organized trades, through the local national service committees referred to below.