If it be admitted that there may be a certain reduction in output as a
consequence of this Bill, that reduction must be considered, not by
itself, not in isolation, but in relation to the steady and persistent
movement of coal production for the last fifty years. To me it seems
certain that the small temporary restriction will be lost in the
general tendency to expansion, as the eddy is carried forward by the
stream and the recoiling wave is lost in the advancing tide.

But these arguments would be wholly vitiated if it could be shown that
the restriction of hours was so violent in its character, so sudden in
its application, so rigid in its methods as, not merely to cause a
certain shrinkage in the volume of the output, but to upset the
economy of the coal-mining industry. In that case there would be not
merely a curtailment which might be mitigated, but we should have
injured and possibly disorganised the industry; and it is at this
point that it is proper for the House to consider the safeguards
introduced by the Government into the Bill. These safeguards are of
the greatest importance.

There is the safeguard of overtime. Sixty hours a year are permitted.
In districts where men work ten days a fortnight, twelve weeks may be
one hour longer than the usual time allowed by the Bill; and where the
days laboured are only four in the week, fifteen weeks of extended
time will be possible through the provision of overtime. There are
provisions with regard to the labour of certain persons permitted to
remain below ground beyond the legal hours for special purposes, and
there is a power which relaxes the Bill altogether in an emergency
which is likely to delay or arrest the general work of the mine, and,
of course, in any case where there is accident or danger. Finally, if
there should be risk of a corner or an unexpected rise in price, the