Note 657 — Chapter X

The number of stoppages through disputes known to the Labour Department of the Board of Trade, which between 1891 and 1899 had never been fewer than 700 in a year, did not again reach this figure for a whole decade; and sank in 1903-5—years during which trade was checked, and some reduction of wages took place—to only half the number. Of the 135 claims to the Strike Benefit admitted by the General Federation of Trade Unions in 1903, we read that “no less than 130 have been caused by attempts on the part of employers to encroach upon the recognised conditions prevailing in the particular trades” (Fifth Annual Report of the Federation, 1904, p. 11).