First principles of industrial relations

The genesis of this book is to be found in my Report on Industrial Relations in New Zealand published in 1946. An essay was included in that Report on the fundamental problem of the causes of industrial dis contents and the remedies for them. My attention has been drawn to the fact that this essay, inaccessible and long out of print and originally intended to: stimulate informed thought in New Zealand, was being used for teaching industrial relations in several universities and amongst extra-mural classes in Great Britain. It has therefore been almost completely re written and greatly expanded to form a discussion of the fundamental problems of industrial relations. It is hoped that it will fill a gap in the literature of the subject.

All books are derivative in the sense that no man can build except upon the foundations laid by previ ous thinkers. Some books, however, are the result of wide reading digested over a long period until the specific contributions of other writers are hard to disentangle. Others are more directly derivative and some are compilations which do little or nothing except discuss what others have thought. They are, therefore, usually accompanied by copious references and footnotes and exhaustive bibliographies. This book is of the first kind and consequently very few references will be found in it.