Prominently in its third Report (_Parliamentary Paper_, 1918, Cd. 9085) the Whitley Committee emphasized once more the need for the constitution in each factory or workshop, where the circumstances of the industry permitted, of a Works’ Committee, representative of the management and the men and women employed, to meet regularly to consider questions peculiar to the individual factory or workshop which affected the life and comfort of the workers. In the Committee’s fourth Report (_Parliamentary Paper_, 1918, Cd. 9099) it recommended the establishment of a standing Arbitration Tribunal to deal with cases where the two sides of a Joint Industrial Council had failed to come to an agreement and wished to refer the dispute for settlement by arbitration. The far-sighted proposals of the Whitley Committee represent the machinery that is necessary if the government of industry is to be a matter of mutual arrangement between the employers and the employed. Great progress has already been made in establishing Whitley Councils; in some industries they have operated remarkably well, and have succeeded in conferring a very considerable measure of joint self-government on employers and employed. But in other industries where they have been started they have not worked so satisfactorily. On paper no doubt the number of National Joint Industrial Councils which have been established appears large, and the number of Joint District Councils substantial, but their effect in avoiding disputes in some industries is negligible. The reason, in my opinion, is that too much attention has been paid to setting up National Councils and too little to forming Works’ Committees. Progress would have been much more marked if employers generally had been prepared to press forward more enthusiastically with the constitution of Works’ Committees—they are the crux of the position. It is they which deal directly with the individual worker who is necessarily out of personal touch with the Joint National or District Councils. The Slow Progress of Works’ Committees