Coal Mines Minimum, 1912.—The Coal Mines Minimum Wage Act of 1912 stands in quite a different class from the legislation dis cussed above, and cannot properly be regarded as a minimum wage act at all. It was passed primarily in order to remedy a grievance peculiar to the mining industry—that of the man who, finding himself in an "abnormal place" in which coal-getting is especially difficult, is unable at piece-work prices to earn a reasonable wage. The act of 1912 provides for the payment to such a man of a minimum wage based on the wages actually in force in the district concerned. Thus, if the district wage fixed by collective bargaining falls, the legal mini mum falls too. The act is designed, not to secure a particular rate of wages, but merely to protect individuals from earning, owing to condi tions beyond their control, less than a standard established by the ordinary process of collective bargaining. The Cotton Weavers' Act of 1934 rests on a similar principle, as it provides merely for improving generally the rates agreed on between the Union and the Employers' Federation.
In general, the question of the legal minimum wage is bound up with the wider question of the State's duty to secure for all its citizens a reasonable standard of life. In Australia, where the conception has been furthest developed, the minimum wage has been gradually forced up in accordance with an expanding conception of the minimum stand ard of civilized living. The growing practice has there been to define in relation to human needs a "basic" wage, which is then established as a general minimum, rates in particular trades being fixed at varying levels above the basic wage. In other countries, including Great
Britain, legislation has been introduced only with great caution, and the boards entrusted with the task of fixing minimum rates have been guided largely by the immediate "ability to pay" of the trades con cerned, with the result that they have had relatively little effect in raising the general standard of living. Under these circumstances, fears that the fixing of minimum rates might "drive trade out of the country" have not been verified. In certain trades—notably tailoring —there has been some tendency to stimulate factory production and the use of machinery in place of home work and the small workshop. But on the whole the acts have had relatively little effect on the struc ture of organization of industry. Their purpose has never been to bring about any general rise in wages, and their ability has in prac tice been limited to the prevention of some of the grosser forms of "sweating." Within this limited sphere minimum wage legislation has undoubtedly produced good results, and would produce better if a more adequate system of inspection were provided.
The regulation of wages by State action in Germany and Italy, and the methods of wage-determination in the Soviet Union, have not been dealt with in this article, as these systems prescribe actual, or standard, and not minimum wage-rates.