New Zealand not prosperous from 1879 to 1895. Conditions under which the arbitration act was passed in 1894. Mr. Reeves its author, 661. — Increase of associations and unions, 669. — Conciliation expected to be sufficient, but compulsory arbitration in fact resorted to, 672. — "Contract superseded by status," 673. — Agricultural laborers not affected, 675. — Minimum wages and their influence on efficiency, 678. — Preference to unionists, 679. — "Fair wages" and the "living wage," 683. — Rigidity of wages, and the inefficient employer, 686. — Uncertain whether workers' welfare has been in fact advanced, 687. — Influence on manufacturers and on cost of production; other factors affecting them, 689. — Opinion of employers and workmen, 692. — Amendment act of 1908 due to dissatisfaction among laborers, 693. — Strikes in 1906–1908, 695. — Peculiar case among miners, 697, and in the state collieries, 701. — Provisions of the amendment act of 1908, 704. — Voluntary arbitration again sought to be encouraged, 706. — Workers may evade the act altogether by the device of cancelling registration, 707. — Its future still uncertain.