Part 1 Charity, health and housing: evangelical social work in Canada - Salvationists and Sailors' Friends, 1890-1920, Judith Fingard; the child welfare movement in Montreal to 1920, Terry Copp; the health of Buenos Aires in the second half of the nineteenth century, Carlos Andres Escude; the mandarin, the shelter industry and the wish to possess - the denial of social experiment in Canadian housing policy before World War II, John Weaver; housing in Buenos Aires, 1887-1914, Francis Korn and Lidia de la Torre. Part 2 Labour: labour, capital and the public interest - the Australian experiment of compulsory arbitration, Diane Kirkby; the Canadian state's attempt to manage class conflict, 1900-1948 - from the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act to the post-war Accord, Gregory S.Kealey. Part 3 Comparisons: Argentina and Canada, 1880-1930 - problems and solutions in immigrant communities, H.S.Ferns; social welfare and the slump - Argentina in the 1930s, Peter Alhadeff; social experiments in regions of recent settlement - Australia, Argentina and Canada, John Fogarty.