Should the parties so desire, a dispute can be referred by the Minister of Labour under the Act either to a single arbitrator appointed by him or to a special Board of Arbitration composed of members selected by the parties from panels of persons appointed by him to act on these Boards. Reference to the Industrial Court is, however, the normal procedure. A dispute may be referred for settlement under the Industrial Courts Act only after the exhaustion of all available means for conciliation already existing in the trade. Under the Industrial Courts Act, the Minister has power to establish a Court of Inquiry to investigate the causes and circumstances of any industrial dispute, whether the dispute exists or is merely apprehended; moreover, to this course the consent of the parties is not required. These Courts have no power to settle the dispute by arbitration, but are restricted to making a report which serves to put before the public an impartial account of the merits of the case, with possibly a recommendation as to the best course to be pursued to effect a settlement. The policy of the Ministry of Labour is to place the prime responsibility for the harmonious working of industry upon the employers and employed in each industry, and only to intervene when negotiations between the employers and the Trade Unions have broken down, and then merely for the purpose of bringing them together again and trying to promote a solution of the difficulty acceptable to both sides. Since the armistice, the industrial situation has been peculiarly difficult, and in certain disputes, there has been a political as well as an industrial element which would have made a settlement almost impossible whatever machinery existed, but on the whole it may be claimed that the existing policy of the Ministry of Labour has been fully justified by the results. Statutory Minimum Wages