MINES [EIGHT HOURS] BILL (July 6, 1908) 173

UNEMPLOYMENT (Oct. 10, 1908) 189

THE SOCIAL FIELD (Jan. 13, 1909) 211

THE APPROACHING CONFLICT (Jan. 30, 1909) 225

THE ANTI-SWEATING BILL (April 28, 1909) 239

LABOUR EXCHANGES AND UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
(May 19, 1909) 253




THE SECOND READING OF THE MINES [EIGHT HOURS] BILL

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _July 6, 1908_


Whatever arguments may be urged against this measure, no one can say
that the Government have acted with precipitation in bringing it
before the House and the country. It has been debated for twenty
years. Parliaments, Tory and Liberal, have affirmed the principle, and
I do not suppose there ever was a similar reform put forward in this
House upon a greater volume of scientific and accurate information, or
after more prolonged, careful, and sustained scrutiny. If the debate
on the Second Reading has thrown very little new light on this
question, it is because it has been fully and thoroughly explored on