This” “Booklet can be supplied in : quantities at the following paces; oe oo - a5 coplesy Qs, —post free, 25, ee 100 ee oS. 9d. —post free, 8s. od. = oie Cd - £1 12s. 6d. £3 3s. Od. | eae : Further. and more detailed Jiterature on : | the subjects dealt with in this ene | may be obtained from— Pete: a THE LIBERAL PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT, G 2 Parliament Street, Penton, ie es ‘Literature on 1 the Fiscal ae can be . bo ons obtained from— ‘THE FREE TRADE ‘UNION, 25 Vietorla Street, London, S.W. : } - Literature on the Irish Question can - : : obtained from. ; ae oe THE HOME RULE COUNCIL, = = Parliament Chambers, Creat Smith Stroot, Of 3 ae SW. -NATIONA } aia lagias alae escameianeen — _ For Index see end, L REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, ~) Year Expenditure Ending Revenue. charged against March 31st. me Revenue, | | = & L. 1895 | 101,697,000 100,932,009 Bo & LP. 1896 109,340,000 105,130,000 cu 1897 112,199,000 109,725,000 pee 1898 116,016,000 112,338,000 eal hes 1899 117,857,000 117,671,000 ire ah 1900 129,805,000 143,687,000 ae IQOI 140,124,000 193,332,000 “aes Ne 1902 152,712,000 205,236,000 oad 1903 161,319,000 194,251,000 es 1904 151,341,000 156,756,000 Gs 1905 153,183,000 151,769,000 T.& iL. 1906 ... 158,879,000 150 413,000. L, 1907 . 155,036,000 149.638 000 ws 1908 156,538 000 151,812,000 be ios 151,578,000 152 299,000 13 1910 —S i... ~Ss-« 161,743,000 157,945,000 ee Igii__..._ ~—- 178,805,000 ~... +: 171,996,000 Me Ore. | Tee S006. ot 78,545,000 1 1913 (Est.)’ 187,189,000 186,885 000 Under the Finance Act, 1907, the Revenye which had. been assigned to local purposes was paid into the Exchequer in 1907-8, and the amounts formerly paid direct to the Local Taxation Ac. counts, &c,, became a charge on the Consolidated Fund, For the ‘purpose of comparison the figures for prior years have been adjusted, ARMY AND NAVY EXPENDITURE, [Exclusive of War Expenditure.] Army. Navy. £ Bo aS 1903-4 36,728,618 35,709,477 ee 1904-5 28,894,624 36,859,681 T. & LL. . 1905-6 28,478,863 33,151,841 L. 1906-7... 28,501,421 31,472,087 iD 1907-8 .... 27,115,000 31,141,000 1s; 1908-9 ... 26,840,000 32,188,000 Li. 1909-10 27,236.000 35,807,000 L. 1910-11 27,449,000 40 386,000 L. 1QO1I-12 ... . 27,649:000 42,858,000 L. 27,860,000 1912-13 (Est.) 4} TAXATION PUT ON AND TAKEN OFF. TEN TORY YEARS: 1896-1908, I.—TAXATION PUT ON. = Yearly Yield, 1896-7 Cocea: Butter 34.4. yee er ~ 6,500 -1899-1900 New Stamp Duties _... sae 542,000 3 Increased Wine Duties ... fees x ee Spirits imported in Bottles ... 40,000 1900-1 Beer (1s. per barrel) and Spirits i (6d. per gallon) an 3 Tea (4d. to 6a. per 1b:) .2. Pobaccoi!,:. He ban are Income Tax (8d. to Is.)... 1901-2. = Coal 3 2 Sugar Ghicose i ie sitet Income Tax (Is. to Is. 27.) 1902-3 Come ie Ye tas ae teenies Income Tax (is 20; tos, sa. Imported Spirits (1@. per gal.)... 1904-5 Income Tax {1id. to Is.) _ ae Dea (6d. 106d, pen lbsy), 2 HP ODACCO! cine tay, Ey 440,045,500 II.—TAXATION TAKEN OFF. ¢ 1896-7 Modifications of Estate Duty ... 110,700 Reduction of Land Tax from 4s. ie - In the-4 to: Is. 7 a 1898-9 Further graduation of Income i . aa he boa A aie nh Rearrangement of Land Tax ... _. Reduction of Tobacco Duty 1903-4 Income Tax (4d.) - ! Com) Pax). She ) 74 wo lasses yi Pe gs We Ge at BORGO: 1905-6 Tea (8d. to 6d. per Ib.) see ew 1,988,000 . £16,351,700 - Total Taxation Put on (1896-1906)... £40,045,500 _ ' Total Taxation Taken off (1896-1906) 16,351,700 NET TORY YEARLY ADDITION £23,693,800 SOEELY | ROA OTTER A Na, ety N.B,—Care should be taken not to confuse addition (or reduction) of taxation with increase (or decrease) of total national VEVENNE, Thus whilst in ten Tory years 1896-1906 this revenue increased by 449,293,813 (from £94,683,762 to £143,977,575), the added taxation was only £23,693,800 [see above]. This is easily accountéd for because (@) revenue grows with the growth of population and pros- perity, even if the taxes remain the same, and (6) there has been great growth in “non tax revenue” (such as Post Office, Suez Canal Receipts, &c,), is ; a 85000 ff TRATION PUT OW AND TAKEN OFF. SIX LIBERAL YEARS : 1906-12. 1907-8. Estate Duty (increased on Estates £ | exceeding in value £150,000) 1,200,000 _ Ig09-10. Spirits (extra 3s. od. per gallon) — 1,800,000 2 a ae _ Tobacco (extra 8d. per Ib.) ... 2,750,000 a aes Motor Spirit (3¢@. per gallon) .... 800,000 pee i ieheg _ Liquor Licences (increased) ... 2,300,000 e ie _- Motor-Car Licences tes + 080,000 Se Lees Estate Duties (increased) —...._-~«(7,225,000 eG a Stamps (increased) vs ... 1,800,000 | Pe | Income Tax (Is. to Is. 2a.) ..» 9,350,000 ie Land Values Duties—(Increment (eed values, £30,000 ; Undeveloped Land, £100,000; Reversion, #125,000; Mineral Rights, A ZOO, O00) 11) eve a so5 48,000 we 805,000 ss YL.—TAXATION TAKEN OFF. £_ ene tose: 7. Tea (6d. to sa. per re ib s+ by 120/000 : be Tobacco: ... 170,000 iste Coal (ise) per ton: on piportedl 2,600,000 -». 1907-8. Income Tax (Tax on Earned In- comes not exceeding £2000 at as reduced from Is. to 9a.) .»» 1,250,000 a) roo8-o, Sugar (4a. per Ib.) ee -- 9,650,000 Marine Insurance sank ‘Ginmp 1909-10. Income Tax ideduction an chil- : dren, and relief under Schedule . | A, lands and houses) ... .. 860,000 1911-12. Cocoa Duty (rearranged)... ne 45,000 : Licence Duties (modified) peas OO OOU 9,305,000 otal Taxation Put on (1906-1912)... £28,805,000 Total Taxation Taken off (1906-1912) 9,805,000 ieee eee eS NET LIBERAL YEARLY ADDITION £14,500,000 po eS : Ses eS * z 8) ie) TAXATION PUT ON, Years vous ee A MHS Daty oo. aa 70,000 — NATIONAL INDEBTEDNESS = (Including Funded and Unfunded Debt, Estimated Capital Liability in respect of Terminable Annutties, and other Capital Liabilities in respect of suis borrowed under various Acts) FOR YEARS ENDING MARCH 3ist. | Million £ Million £ : | Pi 51805 Le BBGD To 21604... fee 1} L&T 1896 >... 652: LT. 1995' 2. 707 1897... 645 TERE TOOO nae eee 1608" * 0.) GSU 1907). Gas ee } 18090) (0. O3e 1968-0 eee 1900... +» 639 1909... 754 TOOL! 04. - OIQIO #0 1 TAS 1902 (405 16a IQ ee oe 1903 0. 1 7788 [012 oe ee ‘NATIONAL INDEBTEDNESS: _ Decrease (—) or Increase (+). T Year ending March 31, 1904 — 3,851,000 ~/ 1905 + 2,238,000 1906 —%7,746,000 1907 —9,826,000 1908 —16,839,000 1909 — 8,205,000 1910 —12,658,000 IQII — 8,391,000 — 1912 — 8,266,000. RAN Sh tet an hs 1895 (last previous Liberal year)... 659 millions. 1906 (last Tory year) Ge Ke OD Oe yg oes - Tory ADDITION TO INDEBTEDNESS 130 millions. Of this the Liberals have in six years (1906-1912) now paid off almost exactly half (64 millions), in addition to which 5 millions of the realised surplus of 1911-12 is being spent on paying off debt. _ THE BUDGET OF 1909. i 8 YEARS? EXPERIENCE. wt i : 1 : i _ In 1909, Mr. Lloyd George introduced the famous Budget, which was only carried into law after the greatest political conflict since the Reform Bill of 1832, a conflict which deeply shook the Constitution, and in the issue profoundly modified it, Tories, Tariff Reformers, and Peers ail doing their best —and worst—to prevent the Budget be- . coming law. | In framing the Budget, Mr. Lloyd George laid down four cardinal principles :— _ (1) The new taxes had to. meet, not merely one : year’s requirements, but had to be such as to produce in future years a growing revenue to meet a growing Ni ty erpeniure, | i" (2) All classes of the community ought in time of financial emergency to be called upon to contribute | their share. : (3) Although all classes were called upon to bear ' their share, the new taxes must not increase the cost of the necessaries of life for any class. _ (4) The new taxes to be of such a character and so | ae to be adjusted as not to interfere with the industry and ee the trade and the commerce which are the sources of wealth of this country. SS Trews as aa aa SS ase ~ All these four principles were carried out, and sufficient a time has now elapsed to.show how ludicrously ss wrong ail the Tory gloomy prophecies about the Budget have proved to be. : The Country is not ‘ruined.’ Trade, so far from being - injured, has been amazingly good, with the number of unemployed about as low as it has ever been in our history. The ‘predatory Socialism’ has merely proved to be that those who have the broadest backs have had to shoulder the biggest burden, as they have been able to do quite easily, The State has got by the taxes of the Budget the very large sum of money it has needed with- “out any new taxation, much to the annoyance of the discredited Tariff Reformers. Ina word, the Budget has been a triumphant success, thanks to Mr. Lioyd George's skill and to the sound- . ness of Liberal Finance based on Free ( Trade. : ee 4 A 2 (6) | | Beaty ! y THE BUDGET OF 1909. In the financial year, April rstroit, to March 31st, 1912, the new taxes imposed. by the Budget of 1909 produced a sum of 24 millions, the chief. items being the following :— INDULGENCES AND LUXURIES. Wield in 1911-12. Intoxicating Liquors ... TLORREOOl SE Sula wee aus “| 8 millions, Motor Taxes... Dies INCOME TAX. 2a.'in ‘the 4 ~on "unearned incomes over £3000 a year. SUPER TAX. 6¢. in the £ on incomes a 3 millions. : over £5000 a year. : sal DEATH DUTIES. Increased duties on estates of over £5000. Three-fourths of the total property passing at death in 1911-12 belonged to 7000 persons who owned £5000 and over. LAND VALUE DUTIES. } 5 millions. 6i millions, yield for a few years, and until the land valuation is completed, which it is ex- pected will be the case in three years time. 2 million. These cannot give their full | THE THREE REALISED SURPLUSES. _ For every year since the Budget of 1909 there have been Large Realised Surpluses :— é | Year ending March 31st, 1910 Pie 3,798,000 re) 29 99 IQIiI elvis 1,809,000 29 29 I9QI2 wee 6,545,000 £,12,152,000 The money of the surpluses of the first two years was voted to Sanatoria for Consumption (41,500,000), the De- welopment Fund (£1,500,000), and the Redemption of Debt (42,357,000). The surplus for 1911-12 is given to the Redemption of Debt (45,000,000), the N iat (41,000,000), and Loan to Uganda (£500,000). : INCOME TAX oN F EARNED’ INCOMES, ey the Dudsct of 1907 the rate of income ‘ ee tax payable by all persons with incomes j/ Of not more than £2000 was reduced |. from 1/- to 9d. on that part of their income which is ‘ earned.’ Previously it had made no difference whether __ the income was earned in the process of invest-. ment. A clerk earning £300 a year had to pay : as much as a man who did nothing but live on #5300 a year left him by his father. This was an unfair plan which was altered by | the Liberal Government in rooy.. Line reform _ brought direct financial relief (at a cost - of a million and a quarter every year) to - 780,000 taxpayers. Tories suggest that there is no relief eens the amount collected in income tax was not ve reduced by so much as had been expected. _ This is nonsense. It is true that the changes _ made revealed a good deal of income which had hitherto escaped income tax, but what honest citizen can object to that? The fact cannot be _ disputed that all who paid 1/— on their earned incomes, and whose total income is under £2000, Save each year 3d. in the £ as the result of hes Asquith’s Second Budget. Income Tax on Incomes wholly Earned. are waht ie, Equivalent to Amount now EN batement. Income iiein the a ay Saving Ws b e ~~ 160 200 — 0 0 100): 300 : 0 1 160 400 Ua eda 150 500 6 4 120 600 0 6 0 70 700 6 tol £100 to £2000 By the Budget of 1909 an abatement is allowed to persons with incomes below £500 who have children, at the rate of £10 of taxable income for each child under 16. @ Se ee er Se ~ a SE —————— SS = SY ae = Ss er" Pe ee SES ae oe sil TORY TAXES ALTERED. (4) Sugar Tax Reduced. By Mr. Asquith’s Budget of 1908 the tax on sugar was more than halved by being reduced from 4s. 2d. to is. 10d. per hundredweight. The tax was originally imposed by the Tory Government in 1901. The effect of the tax was to raise the retail price of — sugar by a halfpenny a pound (a little more than. the tax) and to press very hardly on all the various manufacturing interests (and these are very many) which use sugar (e.g., confectionery, biscuits, and mineral! waters). Mr. Asquith, in order to make sure that the consumer got the benefit, reduced . the tax by 2s. 4a. a hundredweight, or exactly _ a farthing a pound. he At different times the Tariff Reformers have promised pensions and a reduced sugar tax, but only as the price for new taxes _ on food. The Liberal Government has — ziven pensions and taken off more than | half the sugar tax whilst. pales. to Free Trade. (2) Coal Tax Abolistied: In 1901 the Tories put a tax of Is. a ton on export coal. This tax severely hit the coal industry in Northumberland and South Wales by giving the Germans the opportunity of selling their coal in competition with ours. In their first Budget (1906) the Diberal Government repealed this tax and enabled us to recover our lost market. Tories attack the Liberal Government for taking off this tax, but at the General Election of 1906 Mr. Chamberlain tried to get votes by promising to do the same thing! On January 9th, 1906, he wrote that he was ‘personally in favour of the repeal of the Coal Tax,’ and that he believed Mr. Austen Chamberlain ‘intended to repeal it if he had remained in office.’ | Bi, EF ITT MI I SIT... TNA TT TET o eet ri eet eh Sica Ne SUN a ete i Bu ae SOc a ent penntrneletiens femme F WITHDRAWAL FROM THE «SUGAR CONVENTION, © _On September Ist, 1912, the Government gave the necessary year’s notice of withdrawal from the Brussels Sugar Convention, and on September Ist, 1913, accordingly, Britain will cease to be a party to the ‘workmg model of Protection’ to which the Tories committed the country in 1902, _and for which we have had to pay so dear. , The avowed object of the Convention was ‘ efficacious protection of the market of each producing Power.’ This object it effected by abolishing the Sugar Bounties, the only part of the Continental Protective system which not only did not hurt us, but was of great — actual benefit to us. They hurt the producing countries; they secured to Britain, a non-producing country and the principal im., porter of sugar, a great stream of cheap sugar, a boon of untold. advantage to the poor and to numerous great industries. The Con- vention has completely secured its object—the Bounties are gone, and with them the supply of cheap sugar to Britain. For, of course, the ‘efficacious protection’. of the markets of the producing countries. _ has simply, and necessarily, meant the raising of prices here. The average official price of sugar per cwt. in 1902 was 6s. 8id.: in the cheapest year since it was almost 2s. more ; in 1911 it was 12s. 10d. and in the first seven months of ror2 it had risen to no less than * 138. 2a. Yet in advocating the Convention policy Mr. Gerald Balfour made the ‘confident forecast that the average price of sugar during the coming ten years, if bounties are abolished, will not exceed the average price during the ten years that are past, but will - in all probability be less,’ and Mr. Arthur Balfour said that, in the opinion of the Government, the price of sugar ‘ would not be raised, but, on the contrary, would be diminished!’ Other factors, doubt- less, have been at work as well as the Convention, but what becomes of the ‘confident forecast’ of lower prices? Increased price, of course, means lower consumption, and it is only what was to be expected that our consumption per head should fall from gr‘39 in 1902 to 83°47 in 1910. ea ee eS The ‘ main reason’ (as Lord Lansdowne explained) for the Tories _ entering into the Convention was to help the West Indian sugar planters, who, it was estimated, lost 45 a ton on their sugar owing to the Sugar Bounties. To make good this loss meant an increase in price of 3d. per lb., but that in turn meant a tax of probably not less than 7,000,000 a year on the people of this country. At the same time the prophecy of the Tories that the Convention would result in a largely increased export of sugar from the West Indies to Britain has been falsified as completely as their ‘confident pre- diction’ as to price. So far from increasing, the export has actually gone down, for while in 1902 it was 301,280 tons, in 1910 it was only 219,946 tons ! id Bes pn ST =, =e a —— et er = SS STSSS ——S pt ee It is unlikely that foreign countries, now that they have ex- perienced the blessing of cheap sugar (for the Convention has given them cheap sugar while making ours dear), will ever return to the system of Bounties, which gave them dear sugar. But our with- drawal from the Convention is all to the good, for by withdrawing we regain our complete economic freedom. Our markets will be open to whatever supplies of cheap sugar there are, and we shall havea possibility of cheaper sugar, such as, thanks to the Convention, we have not had these past ten’ years—in any case, the greatest pos- sibility of cheap sugar there isin non-bounty conditions. (10) : | THE LAND VALUE DUTIES. os [imposed by the Budget of (999. ] (2) increment Vaiue Duty. A tax on the increment of value accruing to land from the enterprise of the community or the landowner’s neighbours. It is mot to be retrospective, and not to be charged on agricultural land when its highest value is its value for agricultural purposes. All land is to be valued (apart from buildings) at its present market price, and the duty will be charged upon the additional value which the land hereafter acquires (after 10 per cent. of increment has been allowed to cover expenses). On future unearned increment of this kind the State is to take one-fifth (20 per cent.). This tax is to be paid when land is sold or transferred (by death or otherwise). Cor- porations will pay at-stated intervals, beingallowed to pay in annual instalments. : (2) Undeveloped Land Duty. ‘An annual duty of $d. in the Z on the capital value of undeveloped land. The tax will be charged only on unbuilt-on land. All land not valued £50 an acre will be exempt, and any land over that value whose highest . value is its value for agricultural purposes. ° Under these provisions all purely agricultural land will be exempt. (3) Reversion Duty. A 10 per cent. reversion duty on any benefit accruing toa lessor from the determination of a lease, the value of the benefit being the amount (if any) by which the total value of the land at the time the lease falls in exceeds the value of the consideration for the grant of the lease. (4) Mineral Rights Duty. A duty of Is. in the £ on mineral royalties and way leaves. Estimated Yield, 1912-13. ra (1) Increment Value Duty £0 coat (2) Undeveloped Land Duty ... 100,000 (3) Reversion Duty ve 1 te 5 OOU £545,000. (4) Mineral Rights. Duty ++ 290,000 | (11) LAND VALUATION. Mr. Liroyp Grorce, in the speech in which he introduced the famous Budget of 1909 (April 29th), explained why the new land values taxes proposed by that Budget (and carried into law next year) involved a complete recon- _ struction of the method of valuing property :— _ *The existing taxes upon real property are levied upon the annual value of such property as a whole with- out distinguishing between the value which resides in the land itself and that which has been added to it by the enterprise of the owner in erecting buildings or effecting other improvements. Even apart from this, the - methods of valuation vary in different localities, with the - result that the incidence of existing burdens is very uneven. It becomes necessary for the purposes both of » the increment value duty and of the undeveloped land duty to distinguish between the two elements in the _ value of real property, while as the increment value duty and the reversion duty will both of them have to be collected from the particular interest to which these accretions respectively accrue, a complete register of the owners aod other persons interested in land, with full — details of the various interests, will ultimately be ') required. : _ *The preparation of such a register will be a lengthy task which must in the main be proceeded with as each separate property comes under taxation, but the question of valuation is of greater urgency. The existing valu- ation lists on an annual values basis (even if they repre- sented the true annual value, which in many cases they do not) would be of little use for the purpose of deter- - mining capital values—the basis of the new duties—and it will therefore be necessary to provide machinery for a complete valuation on a capital basis of the whole of the Jand in the United Kingdom.’ This valuation is now being carried out at the expense of the State. It is an operation which necessarily takes a considerable time, but good progress is now being made, and already the fuller and more accurate information obtained has incidentally secured for the State a large increase in the amount paid in Estate Duties. =f I ne ees Sa ag IOS OO Deerremeeprcmetien ae ae Veemmeg an ee ore Re eee = i Ro pA TE RST Tae separ ER NES STE Se ee ee Se ee eS eT ——— = = — ee ates ae ee a nn 5 —— es = nee ae eae Se NS wT SAT hes a —— a ETI = RS { THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE NAVY, The policy of the Liberal Government in regard | to the Navy, is to maintain such a standard of naval strength as will give the country and the Empire a complete and absolute command of the | sea against any reasonably possible combination of Powers. This object the Government has secured at the present time; and they have taken the necessary measures to secure it in the future. The development of the German fleet during the last fifteen years is the new factor which has to _ be considered in the naval situation to-day. That development has been authorised by the five successive Fleet Laws of 1898, 1900, 1906, 1908, and 1912. These Laws cover the period up to 1920. Whereas in 1898 the German fleet consisted of 9 battleships (excluding coast defence vessels), 3 | : large cruisers, 28 small cruisers, 113 torpedo boats, and 25,000 men, maintained at an annual cost of 6,000,000/.; the full fleet of 1920 will consist of 41 battleships, 20 large cruisers, 40 small cruisers, 144 torpedo ;boats, 72 submarines, and 101,500 men, estimated to be maintained at an annual cost of 23,000,000/, The main features of the German Fleet Law of 1912 is the increase, not so much in the new con- struction of large armoured ships, asin the striking force of ships of all classes which will be imme- diately available at all seasons of the year. Under the German Fleet Law of 1908, the active battle fleet consisted of 14 battleships, 4 battle cruisers, and 12 small cruisers. Under the new Law of 1912, the active battle fleet will consist of 25 battleships, 8 battle cruisers, and 18 small cruisers. Further, the new Fleet Law provides for very large additions to the active service numbers of the German Navy. In order to maintain national security the Government have :— (1) Provided the sum of 444,085,400 for the urgent needs of the Navy in the financial year 1912-132. _ (2) Made further provision in a Supple- mentary Estimate of £990,000 to meet the expense of additional naval necessities arising 2 from the new German Fleet Law. (3) Reorganized the Fleet in Home Waters so as to enable the number of battleships avail- able for service at short notice to be increased from 28 to a minimum of 33 and a maximum of ar. (4) Maintained two further battle squadrons Of 8 ships each in reserve. (5) Provided for the addition of 5000 officers and men to the active service numbers of the Fleet during 1912~13. (6) Provided for the maintenance of a 60 per. cent. superiority in vessels of the ‘ Dread- nought ’ type over the next strongest European naval power. (7) Secured a sufficient margin in ships of all elasses to meet at our average moment the naval force of an attacking Power at their selected moment. It must never be forgotten that the command of the sea is the first condition of our National and Imperial existence. 3 13 ee eNO AEA - RE RN Ne: = I RA RE RR — a SS emer x . - scpaenacoseetaeranigphisceteaiceuae Saal Hiaicaa EE mm 3 A : aS FA PRONE IT *, aes ag re » rs ere —s = 1 arse (14) : : ‘Never at any modern period of our history were we more formidable as @ military Power than we are to-day. We have the first Army created by soldiers that the country has ever possessed since the Middle Ages, and we have every reason to be proud of it, cavil as politicians may.’ — Times Military Correspondent, February and, 1912. i The re-organization of the Military Forces Or es | the Crown has been undertaken on the lines laid down by Lord Haldane, and is rapidly approaching completion. The new organiza- tion is based on a generous but sane estimate — of the military needs of the Empire and on the predominant power of the Navy ; it has been evolved with direct reference to the pur- poses for which an army is required in the complete scheme of Imperial Defence. With this end in view the military forces are com- posed of two main lines, the Regular Forces — with their reserves (including the Special Reserve) and the Territorial Force. Supple- mentary to these, but without definite liability — for service, are such organizations as the | Officers’ Training Corps and the National Reserve. THE REGULAR ARMY. The governing idea of the Regular Army is that it should be a small, professional, fully trained body, capable of furnishing the troops normally required for foreign service in various parts of the Empire, and of providing at once in time of war an Expeditionary Force prepared and equipped for striking rapidly at a distance. An important feature of the new organization is the Special Reserve, which has taken the place of the old Militia. Its members are liable for foreign service when mobilisation is ordered, and the result is that for the first time the Country has an assured means, not only of completing the whole of the Expeditionary Force, but of expanding and maintaining it in the field, and of making good the wastage of war. : THE ARMY. j Sak want ?, AN re LaLd © RA eey fv bey “PRY Sate PEA nde. Reed Basil aw acid y AL wt Uy NC NMR EN td Rec mRTE ete OV Materia : ¥ peta f Cheah ee ee (15) THE TERRITORIAL FORCE, The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act of 1907 provided for the ‘creation of a second line, for Home Defence. The Force which it established is @ non - professional citizen force, organized on a County basis, whose main \ function is to ensure the Country against a ae raid or sudden attack of the enemy during the absence of the Expeditionary Force. There is, : however, ; a Special Service section whose members have volun- ae teered for service abroad should the emergency arise. The Picts establishment of the Force, inclusive of officers but exclusive of i ae permanent staff, was laid down at 312,000 men, and the strength ae on October Ist, 1912, was 261,742, There is a complete or- lias ‘ganization of 14 ‘Divisions and 14 Mounted Brigades, with Army. ‘Troops and Coast Defence Artillery and Engineers. The training | | _ of the Force devolves upon the General Officers Commanding-in- | _ Chief, but the duties connected with its administration and res ‘ruiting are entrusted to specially created County Associations | epresentative of all interests in the Counties. OFFICERS’ TRAINING CORPS. . Lord Haldane’s administration has also seen the formation o bodies which, though not strictly part of the Army, are subsidiary (i etO-it; and: are designed: to expand the military resources of the oe Country in accordance with an organized and scientific scheme. _ ‘ a, The Officers’ Training Corps aims at providing a fresh source of i officers by giving to those at our universities and public schools : the opportunity of such military training as will fit them for ly subsequent commissions in the Territorial Force, the Special : i . Reserve, or the General Reserve, if they do not make the ry f ° i Regular Army their career, _ Ps ' THE NATIONAL RESERVE. | tt The National Reserve is organized on a County basis, and is tf Open to those who have passed through one of the branches of the Service. There is no age limit, and members undertake’ no ‘Tability, but the Reserve keeps in touch with the State, as it has hitherto been impossible to do, those who have served her well, and who would again be ready to serve her should the need arise. Some of the members of the Reserve will doubtless be prevented, from age or infirmity, from ,again actively partici- ; pating in the defence of the Country; to these the Reserve a offers an honoured place where their influence may work. for the | public good. . Many will, however, be ready and able to come forward in the time of crisis, and the orderly registration of their ef names on the roll of the Reserve will enable the Military Authorities k | with the least possible delay to utilise their seasoned strength and xperience. ; SEEREMADSOGTRATRSTARD par LAMENT IRVIN ENT nape Tee ; (16) . THE MAINTENANGE OF PEACE. The Government have not only maintained | peace during the past seven years, but have done much to secure its maintainance in future by making numerous Agreements wih Foreign Powers by which possible causes of misunderstanding are removed Of such Agreements the following may be mentioned :— Algeciras Agreement with regard to Morocco: Anglo-Russian Agreement with regard to Persia, Tibet, and Afghanistan. Agreement with the French Government regard- ing the New Hebrides. % Agreements with the German and the French Governments as to our respective frontiers in certain parts of Africa. i Agreements with the Governments of Turkey and the Congo State as to the delimitation of fron- tiers in Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Soudan. Agreement with the United States Government as to the demarcation of the Canadian Frontier. The renewal of the Arbitration Treaties with France, Germany, Italy, Holland, aden Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. Agreement with the Governments of France and Spain as to the status guo in our respective interests in that part of the Mediterranean and Atlantic with which both countries are concerned. Agreement with the Governments of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, as to the sfafizs gwo in our respective interests in the North Sea. Agreements with the Governments of France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the Congo State, putting further restrictions on the importation of arms into Equatorial Africa. Agreement with the French and Italian Govern- ments for the. maintenance of the S¢tafus guo in Abyssinia, and for the regulation of the traffic in arms on the Somali Coast. International Convention. Prohibition of night work for women in Industrial employment. Treaty respecting the Independence and terri- torial integrity of Norway The Gavscunicnt have initiated a great policy of Indian Reform, the object of which is more closely to associate the natives of India in the government of their country. -1.—Lord Morley, when Indian Secretary, ap- Boiatcd (1) two Indian gentlemen to be members of the Council of India, and (2) another to be member of the Governor- General’s Council, the supreme executive - authority in India. These appointments were considered to be the most important steps in Indian Government since the assump- tion of full regal authority half-a-century ago. 2.—The Indian Councils Act ne been passed (1909) embodying a great scheme of Reform. Its - main points are as follow :— (a) The Legislative Councils enlarged in member- ship and their powers increased. (6) The elective principle introduced into the councils, working alongside the nominated element, so as to get a genuine representation of the com- munity. (c) The standing official majorities on the Legisla- tive Councils abolished, except in the case of the Viceroy’s Legislative Council. (d) Power. given to the Councils to discuss public questions, to express their views by vote on Budget proposals, and to make recommendations to the Government. (¢) A native member appointed on the Executive: Council of the Viceroy, and on the Executive Councils of Madras and Bombay. 3.—_At the Coronation Durbar in 1911 a Royal Proclamation announced the transference of the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi, thus bring- ing the seat of Government into closer contact with the interests and-sentiment of native India, and a rearrangement of the province of Bengal, which allayed a strong feeling against the previous. partition. The result “of this’ policy was welcomed in a striking message of loyalty and _ gratitude: from India, AS WR ERERGR Le VERRORIN RITT OEE RRO TTT eae rao acne rahe Se a Ns ad 7 vy Pret! a eta ab a etia ea. SASSER ee PEA RE Te ag ; a af é . : ¥ ‘ ‘ A ; Cat Ns P hi) i i ¥ hae (20) THE OLD AGE PENSIONS. ACT. ‘i The Old Age Pensions Act became law on August 1st, 1908, and the first pension became > payable on January Ist, 1909. At the end of. June, 1912, some 950,000 pensions were being paid to old men and women of 70 and over. The amount of pension is settled as follows :— Yearly Income of Pen- Equal to average Pensioi stoner from all sources. Weekly Income of per Week. Not more than £21. Not more than 8s. - 5s. £21 O01 £23 12°6 8s. to Os. 4S. ZCI Gs 6204.5 o Oso. .5 TOs he £26 BO L238 F706 FOS) PEs, Bene £2657 Oso gt 18.0 Pip .teres, Ds. Over £31 10 0 Over fas.0) No Pasian No pension can be claimed by any alien, criminal, lunatic, or person actually in receipt of parochial! relief (other than medical relief). Up to January Ist, 1911, the receipt of Poor Law Relief since January Ist, 1908, was a dis- qualification. By the Act of 1908 this disqualifi- cation ceased on the later date. All previous Old Age Pension Schemes had treated the receipt of Poor Law Relief as a disqualification ; those proposed by Tories in the 1895-1905 Parliament always made the disqualification extend to receipt of poor relief within the previous twenty years. The Liberal Act, therefore, was from the beginning very much more generous than any previous proposal, All the money for the pensions is provided by the State—no pensioner and no locality have to contribute anything. | The Pensions are paid weekly through the Post ‘Office. There is, therefore, no taint of pauperism about them. STORY OF OLD He GE PENSIONS, I.—UNDER THE TORIES. " 1895.—Tory Government returned to power pledged to give Old Age Pensions. The promise of Old Age Pensions was the most attractive item in the ‘Social _ Programme’ put forward by Mr. Chamberlain in. 1894 and ‘fully approved’ by the Tory leader (the late Lord Salisbury) before the General Election of 1895. 1895—-1905.—Tories in power for a period of ten years. _ Nothing done, except the appointment of one Commission and three Committees to inquire into the question. I]—UNDER THE LIBERALS. 1906 (Jan.) — Liberal Government returned to power ~unpledged to give Old Age Pensions. : 1308.—Gid Age Pensions Act Passed. -I9gi1 (Jan.)—Poor Law Disqualification came to an end. IIl.—WHAT THE PEERS SAID - ABOUT THE OLD AGE PENSIONS BILL. ‘A measure which we regard with great apprehension, and which, we fear, may have far-reaching and disastrous effects upon the future of this country. . .... This measure, I am much afraid, is one which will weaken the moral fibre of the nation and diminish the self-respect of our people.’ ; LORD LANSDOWNE. ‘A system of demoralisation would be established among the working classes, thrift would be done away with, families would cease to regard it as an obligation to maintain those of their members whose working days were passed, and self-reliance would be diminished.’-—-LORD WEMYSS. ‘These lost millions.’—-LORD CROMER. ‘The Bill would involve an immense increase of taxation, perpetuate poverty, lower wages, and discourage thrift.—-LORD AVEBURY. RS = i PRE LTR NSE LARTER OEM fy lhe (Dipl aba Dianna blahjns Diaper ioe Uae Oe La RECOUNT £ SN Sareea DUE pa RUE E ae CA BRA STE SS PSUR ES IR oar he ae ERR PL ATR EOS Se ERNE is Pre ABR STs PRESTR ERIE i ) (22) T HE T ORIES AN OLD AGE PENSIONS. | How the Tories in the House of Commons voted on the Old Age Pensions Bill. On the Srconp Reading, : SECOND 29 Tories voted AGAINST | READING hee : (June 16th, 1908) 91 Tories did not vote at all. On the Tuirp Reading, THIRD 141 Tories voted AGAINST 4 READING | the Bill. | 12 Tories voted FOR it, and aa ie bein si 140 Tories did not vote at all. After all their promises to give Old Age Pensions, the Tories refused to vote FOR pensions, though they were afraid to vote AGAINST them. THE TORIES PROMISED PENSIONS. THE LIBERALS HAVE COT THEM FOR THE OLD PEOPLE. 42 Tories voted FOR it, and 83) One of the Tory objections to giving a pension of 5s. a week at most to old folk of 70 or over has been that it would pauperise the recipient and be destructive of thrift. In this ‘connection it is not irrelevant to notice that _there are certain eminent Tories who have not been unwilling to run the risks involved in taking a State pension. The following is a list of all the ex-Ministers who at present draw pensions under the poe) Offices: Pension Act of 1869 Year Amount Total up to Name. of per January, | Pension. Year. 1912. Z Fe The Rt, Hon. Nikebant Cross 1887 2000 38,760 17 5 The Rt. Hon. Lord George : _ Francis Hamilton ie O02 2000 ee QOR Oar ae | ane Rt. Hon, Henry Chaplin 1900 1200 13,088 13 11 - The Rt. Hon. Lord Balfour of Burleigh i ss 1903". 1200 :, 9,389: 18-9 When the. Liberal Government came into power in 1905, six pensions were held—all by Tories. Since then two have been given up {by Sir John Gorst and Mr. Gerald Balfour), but the vacancies have not been filled up. ———— ee (20) es NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE CONTRIBUTORS & CONTRIBUTIONS. 4.—Who are to Pay. } The Insurance Fund will be made up ‘oe contributions by: : (a) The Worker. (6) The Employer. (c) The State. The employer must pay the contributions of each of his insured workers, as well as his own contribution due in respect of each of them, and will repay himself by deducting the amount © of each worker’s contribution from the wages payable to him. When an employed person is ill, the con- tributions are excused, and the provisions as Me arrears are exceptionally generous. : 2.—What has to be Paid. Weekly contributions are to be paid as follows :— | (a) When wages are over 25. 6d. a day— Weekly payment by employer Re bigeye 9 is — workman eee a 93 workwoman ... 3a. Addition per week by State, the equi- Vareht OF sce an ‘ Medes (6) When wages are not more than 2s. 6d, a day (the employer zo/ providing board and lodging )— Wages or other remuneration not \1s.6d.\ 2s. | 2s. bd. exceeding | 2 cays _aday, | a day. Weekly payment by employer: | a, a. a For workmaz 6 5 4 55 Workwoman ... on 5 4 5 Weekly payment by workman | or woman ... 0 1 3 Addition per week by State the | equivalent of ie fescue aa : i SET NE PRITAM par Pe OE gad t NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE | © ‘THE BENEFITS INSURED PERSONS ~~ pe WILL RECEIVE. ( (1) The Ordinary Benefits are as fol- Wie lows 0 ve K _ Medical Benefit. | Medical treatment and attendance throughout life, Be including medicines. | Sickness and Disablement Benefits. mane _ No payment for-the first three days of sickness, } payment reckoning from the fourth day. ‘Sickness » . Benefit’ can last twenty-six weeks, after which payment is called ‘ Disablement Benefit.’ |. ORDINARY RarTEs (Age 21-70, or 16-21 if married or Be | with dependants). | WEEKLY i Sickness Benefit : ave ve 8 , ee | : : TED ean See ae 8 aT i | : First 26 weeks women .., ea OG iW Disablement Benefit .., is ie Le a Nf i : rs ik REDUCED Rates (Age 16-21 if unmarried and with i | , no dependants). | i Sickness Benefit : ie i . First 13 weeks. Ca es ue i women ,., A ann 2, i ; oh el Second 13 weeks { men BN it | ; \ women ... 4.0 i H} } Me ii | Disablement Benefit -,.. * men hale hk Un \ women .., ph 40 | hd ° ae There are special lower rates in the case of persons | it : na bens | f° Over 50, who, at the time of making a claim, have not paid 500 contributions. _ Sanatorium Benefit. ) | Treatment in sanatorium or otherwise for the insured } | person and (if the Insurance Committee so decide) for his wife and children, Maternity Benefit. | . 305, payable from the father’s insurance, or from the be mother’s if she is insured, , | (2) Among the Additional Benefits—one — 7 or all of which may be given by the approved societies, where funds permit—may be men- | tioned :— 7 | | (1) Free medical attendance for dependants ; | | (2) Free dental treatment : | ) Ee (3) Convalescent allowances : | (4) Increase of the Maternity Benefit ; and (5) Increase of existing Old Age Pensions, or Old Age Pensions at an earlier age than seventy. (28) Pa a UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. a The scheme of insurance against unemployment em- bodied in Part II. of the National Insurance Act provides for—(a) Compulsory insurance in certain scheduled trades; and (%) Encouragement of voluntary insurance in all trades. ScoPpE OF COMPULSORY SCHEME. The scheme applies compulsorily to all. workmen, skilled or unskilled, organized or unorganized, in building, construction of works, shipbuilding, engineering, construc- tion of wehicles, ironfounding, and saw- milling in connection with or of a kind commonly done in connection with any of the other insured trades. The term ‘ work- man’ does not include foremen (other than. manual | workmen), clerks, apprentices, or persons under 16 years of age. CONTRIBUTIONS. ' The income of the unemployment fund is raised by contributions from workmen, employers, and the State. The workman’s con- ‘tribution is 24d. for each period of employment of a week or less, and the employer’s contribution is also 2d. for each period of employment of a week or less, but where the period of employment is two days or less, the contributions of employers and workmen are Id. a day. Inthe case of workmen below the age of 18 the contributions are Id. for each week or less from workman and employer respectively. The State contribution wili be one-third of the total contributions from workmen and employers. 2 THE BENEFIT. The benefit provided consists of weekly payments to the insured workman whilst unemployed, after the first week of un- employment. Workmen over 18 years of age will get 7s. a week, and workmen from 17 to 18 will get 35. 6d. a week, up to a maximum of 15 weeks ‘in any i2 months.: A workman under 17 receives no benefit, his contributions being accumulated against a later period when he will have more need for it. ; The Scheme will be under the general administra- tion of the Board of Trade through the Labour Ex- changes, but its local*tadministration may be deputed to Trade Unions. ; | THE TORY RECORD THE INSURANCE ACT. ce er en ii : | For sheer duplicity the attitude of the Tory Party towards the Insurance Act is without parallel, the only I thing to which it can at all be compared being their Hl attitude on the Old Age Pensions question. ; | ae IN THE COMMONS. I.—FOR. Tbe Tories did not divide against either ) - the First or the Second Reading of the Bill, thus } showing that they accepted its principles. But | | they went far beyond mere acceptance of it, for in their | speeches on both occasions they warmly welcomed the Bill and promised their hearty co-operation in passing it. i : TL—AGAINST. But to the Third Reading they - moved an amendment which was in order only because | _ it stated reasons against the Bill and which, had it (i _ been carried, would have meant the loss of the Bill. a Mr. Bonar Law tried to explain away the plain and only i meaning of the amendment by saying it meant that they | were neither For nor Against the Third Reading ; i *On this question we decline to say either Yes or No.’ Truly a strange position for a Party to take up in regard to a measure they had so warmly welcomed! But Mr. Law’s attempted explanation was useless. Nothing can get rid of the fact that the amendment was one against the Bill, and therefore, the Tories (who—all except two—voted For it) voted Against the Bill. On the motion for the Third Reading the Tories i all walked out without voting, except nine who voted for \ it and eleven who voted against it. IN THE LORDS. The Lords were, Lord Lansdowne explained, ‘not absolutely hostile’ to the Bill, and took what he called the * wiser course’ of letting it go through without any attempt to hold it up or even to ‘revise’ it. The Tories sometimes say that they acted thus: (1) Because they had — no time to do otherwise, or (2) because the Parliament Act prevented their touching the Bill. Neither reason will do. There was nothing to prevent them from taking as much time as they wanted, and the Bill did not come i within the operation of the Parliament Act at all. The ! | simple truth is that the Lords ‘allowed’ the measure to | go through, not because they approved of it, but because | they considered it ‘ground not favourable to themselves.’ Av4 | t | i oc bee THE TORIES AND THE INSURANGE ACT. Repeal the Act? ‘CERTAINLY!’ Mr. Bonar Law very quickly made it quite plain that, in spite of his ‘Yes—No’ talk, the Tory amendment to the Third Reading was meant to be, as it was in fact, against the Bill. At the Albert Hall (January 26th, 1912) he declared that he ‘believed’ it to be ‘in vital principles’ ‘ bad,’ and on the first day of the Session of z912 (February 14th) the following conversation—which, if any doubt still existed as to his hatred of the Bill, set it at rest once for all—took place between Mr. Asquith and him (we quote from the official report):— __ Mr. AsquiTu: ‘Is the right hon. gentle- man, if and when he comes into power, going to repeal ft (tie /nsurance Act)?’ Mr. Bonar Law replied by giving a nod, and saying, ‘Certainly !’ The Tories were so alarmed by this frank revelation that the*same evening Mr. Law ‘explained’ that he meant they would repeal it only if they came into power before _ the Act came into force on July 15th ; if afterwards, that they would ‘ drastically’ amend it. As an explanation this is, of course, absurd; but as proof of the Tory hatred of the Bill they so enthusiastically welcomed, it is more than sufficient. 3 : in the Country: ACAINST all the time. im the country all the time—even while they were supporting it in Parliament-——the _ Tories were dead against the Bill. The reason ' is as simpleas it is discreditable to them. From the very beginning, every one knew that such a measure—novel, complex, touching many interests, difficult to understand —was sure to pass through a period of unpopularity, and at first the Tories virtuously declared they weuld not take what electoral advantage there might be in this. Mr. F. E. Smith, for instance, said (on May 12th, just after the Bill was introduced) that ‘no temptation born of party spirit, no desire for an Opposition advantage, would induce him to oppose the main features of the Bill for a single moment.’ But they speedily found that there were votes inopposition to the Bill, and they at once succumbed to the temptation. Thenceforward they stopped at nothing, from misrepresentation to downright lying, to create and increase distrust and suspicion of the measure, and to turn dissatisfaction with it into out-and- out opposition. Every by-election after its introduction they have fought on the Bill, everything else—Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment, and Tariff Reform—taking a minor place, if any place at all. i a Saaremaa AO ee ee eee @t) THE. INSURANCE ACT: TORY LIES AND CRITICISMS. A TORY LIES. (1) That the Friendly Societies will lose their reserve funds.—_The TRUTH is that the Act doubles these funds, throwing some £10,000,000 free for in- creased benefits for their members. (2) That an insured person will get only half the bene- fits that would be given for the same money by a well- managed Friendly Society.—The TRUTH is that, in order to give the same benefits as the Act gives, a Friendly Seciety would have to charge, according to age, a weekly contri- bution of from 7d. to 1s. 3d. instead of the ae. a@ week charged under the Act. (3) That an insured person who is already a member of a Friendly Society has to pay the 4d. a week under the Act in addition to what he now pays his Friendly Society.—_The TRUTH is that he has not. (4) That the insured person’s 4d. a week goes to pay the salaries (a) of Members of Parliament, and (2) of the officials who work the Act.—The TRUTH is that not a farthing of the insured persons’ con- — tributions is spent in either of these ways. B.—_TORY CRITICISMS. i. The Tories complain of the Insurance ‘TAX.’ This means that the scheme is compulsory and contribu- tory. Mr. H.W. Forster, M.P., the official spokesman of the Opposition in the House of Seana admitted that compulsion was essential (May 24th, 1911). Again, the Liberal scheme of Old Age Pensions was denounced by the Tories on the ground that it ie to have been contributory. Now when, in the case of Insurance, a contribution from the insured person is asked for, that is denounced as a ‘ Tax,’ although every suggested Tory alternative scheme | is also contributory and there- fore equally a ‘ Tax.’ 2. The Tories complain because the Act is UNIVERSAL. What would they not have said if it had excluded certain classes? Then we should have had a campaign inciting the excluded to resent the way in which they had been deprived of benefits given to others. 3. The Tories complain that the Insurance. Act was ‘RUSHED’ through the House of. Commons. Asa fact, it was considered at great length. What the Tories wanted was to spend more time in a second Session so as to block the way for Home Rule. RSS = = z — ae = BS SSS ESS SS ee ee ar = = enn SSS SSS Se ce ree Deets alle Ab bah aba SAAC RAE ca RUNGE ARR ast MRM Ab belies ALAR IRISH HOME RULE. | The Home Rule Bill of 1912 is at once an act of — justice to Ireland and a first step in the large policy of relieving the congestion of the Imperial Parliament at = Westminster by the delegation of local matters to, the 4 | different constituent units, of the policy (in Mr. Asquith’s _ words) of ‘‘the combination of central union with local autonomy.’ %* ae * * : The progress made by Irish Home Rule is admirably _ | | illustrated by the fate on Second Reading of the three {ff Home Rule Bills of 1886, 1893, and 1912. Thefigures ¢ | for Great Britain and Ireland are given separately, and i for the United Kingdom as a whole :— | hoe | | Great Britain. | Ireland. | United Kingdom. j 1886 .... 94 AGAInst | 64 For | 30 AGAINST a (80 to 16) | y y T3803" ayy) “24 AGAINST 57 For | 43 For j Mh) | |. (80 to 23) : pa ritot: ae i (O79 2 30 FOR S62 FOR: 1: LOT Fon ie Be i | (82 £0°19), Hi) | ; ; a ! i 4 Gye ||| It will be seen that whilst Ireland has for more than a W quarter of a century steadily asked for Home Rule byan il overwhelming majority, Great Britain has slowly but ~ surely progressed from strong hostility (1886) through — i weakened opposition (1893) to approval (1912). Liberals were constantly told in 1893 that they had got to convert — Great Britain ; and that is exactly what has been accom- __sifiil plished. Both of the contracting parties to the Act of | Union now agree to vary its terms, just as they did in ~ i 1869 when the Irish Church was disestablished. oe : | \ x rid 3¢ ise ¥ ; i Guid WH] In his speech in introducing the Home Rule Bill of | 1912, Mr. Asquith, referring to the opinion of the — Dominions on the subject, said that he ‘did not believe that there was one of them to-day of which the vast majority of te Inhabitants were not in hearty sympathy with the spirit and purposes’ of the Bill. His belief received the fullest justification in the great volume of approval of the measure which came from many of those - best qualified to represent opinion in every self-governing part of the Empire—an approval fully shared by the large number of Irishmen who hold prominent and influential positions in the United States. Ina word, there could be no truer piece of Empire-building than Irish Home Rule. SS —= ———————— — = ————— — = —SSSaeasssSSS=a ——— Sas —— - — = Did the Electors know that the passage of the Parliament Act would at once be followed by a Home Rule Bill? _ ‘The Tories pretend that the answer to this question is ‘No.’ They say all manner of things about the way in which the electors have been ‘tricked’ and ‘defrauded.’ As a fact, the Prime Minister, in a speech made before the last General Election (at Hull, on November 25th, 1910), before a single vote had been cast, said that the object of getting rid of the Lords’ Veto was to make clear the way for (amongst other measures) Irish Home: Rule. | No one was deceived, least of all the Tory Party whose main appeal to the electors was based on the proposition that a Liberal victory would mean the Parliament Act followed by Home Rule. ‘That is made sun-clear by the - following extracts, only a few out of the many which might be quoted. But these are sufficient to ‘prove that the Liberal Government is amply entitled to treat the result of the last General Election as giving it authority to carry a Home Rule Bill, | Mr. Balfour. -* The avowed intentzon of the Government is, in substance, to abolish the Second Chamber, and ¢hen, wzthout any - reference to the electors, to grant a sweeping measure of Home Rule to Ireland. . . .—Message to Mr. C. S, Parker, Barnstaple, ‘ Times,’ December 12th, 1910. Lord Lansdowne. ‘Mr, Asquith, to my mind, makes it Zerfectly clear that the first step that will be taken will be to deal with the question of Irish Home Rule.’—Portsmouth, November 30th, IQIo. | Mr. Bonar Law. ‘If the precious Veto Bill were law now, Home Rule would be passed to-morrow.’—Penge, November 17th, 1910. Mr. Austen Chamberlain. ‘What was the Government going to do if they had a majority—a sufficient majority? ‘They were going to abolish ~ the Veto of the House of Lords. ext, they were going to establish Home Rule in Ireland,—O/dbury, December 8th, 910. Mr. Chaplin. ‘Every vote given in support of the Government at this Election is given in support of Home Rule.’—Waz¢dy, December 13th, 1910. Mr. Lyttelton. ‘The Parliament Act once passed, a Radical Government, if faithful to its pledges, would carry Home Rule.’—vection Address, December, 1910. aE A end wk ANAS Da a a A ea ak ly WB mE ANA PR 1 As Ml DN RR ert Ach caer” ey (4) Does Home Rule mean SEPARATION ? No! It is quite true that in the course of the long con- troversy Irishmen have sometimes demanded Separation. It would have been surprising if they had not. But what we have to consider is not the old speeches of angry Irishmen, but the present request of the Irish people. To-daythe Irish nation does not want, does not ask, and is not by the Home Rule Bill to get, anything which can possibly be described as Separation. The Home Rule Bill states in its very first clause :— ‘Notwithstanding the establishment of the Irish Parlia- ment or anything contained in this Act, the supreme power and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected and undiminished over all persons, matters, and things within His Majesty’s Dominions.’ It is perfectly clear, therefore, that the Home Rule Bill is NOT Separation. ; _ (2) Would Home Rule mean. aod BAD GOYERNMENT FOR IRELAND? No! The theory that the Irishmen would be sure to govern themselves badly was worked for all that it was worth against Mr. Gladstone’s two Home Rule Bills. Lord - Salisbury, in a famous speech at Newport in October, 1885, | asserted that of the two things, Local Government would be _even more dangerous than Home Rule. Yet this same Lord Salisbury was the head of a Government which in 1898 gave Ireland Local Government, and thus destroyed one of the strongest arguments used by the Tories against Home Rule. By common consent Local Government in Ireland has been a great success. The County Councils have done their work well, and they have done it economically. In the first eight years of the Irish County Councils the average total county rate in the £ was reduced by 3¢. In England and Wales during the same period the rates increased by over is. As faras Ireland has had the chance to show her fitness for Self-Government, she has shown it fully. (3) Would Home Rule mean ROME RULE? | No! If in Ireland the Roman Catholics wished to per- secute the Protestants, they could do it now. As a fact, they do nothing of the kind. The truth is that this outcry about the danger of religious persecution is intended to con- ceal the fact that under existing conditions the Protestant policy is to exclude Roman Catholics from places of honour or profit—and this in a country overwhelmingly — Roman Catholic. Home Rule would certainly break down this Protestant Ascendancy. It would be a failure and a sham if it did not do so. But if the Protestants lost their privileged position,—as they ought—they would lose nothing more. They would not be persecuted and they would continue to be treated fairly, as they are to-day in districts where Roman Catholics are in the majority. 3 HOME RULE ‘NOES!’ per either teers ne ahead ss isigene nana Ad Aedes NS TT or ee Sd ee ene ee Ne totrenmrtraeterrretoe: taro F , f } i Vi bids ‘ iy i f } + ) n "i os : c (35) IE RULE BILL. jf The Irish Parliament. } | ; | ay | it _ The Irish Parliament (to meet on the appointed day, the first i Tuesday in September, 1913) will consist of . two Chambers—a ! { i : Senate and a House of Comnzous, in which alone Money Bills can originate,’ and which thus will have the same control of the i ‘Executive as the British House of Commons. The Sexzate may ! not reject a Money Bill, may not amend fimancial provisions of any Bill, and may not amend any Bill so as to increase any pro- : posed charge or burden on the people. ii ! (1) The Sezate will consist. of .40 members, nominated as re- q oe the first Senators by the Imperial Cabinet. Afterwards the Senate will be elected by the four Irish provinces. The election will be according to the principle of proportional representation, the electors being the same as at present, and each elector having one transferable vote. ‘The term of office to be five years, and not affected by a dissolution. _ (2) The House of Conimons (corresponding to the House of Bi Commons at Westminster) will consist of 164 members elected by the present Parliamentary electors. Ulster will will have 59 members, Leinster 41, Munster 37, and Con- naught 25; and Dublin University retains its two,members. The members are distributed among the existing consti- ya | ; aes . - tuencies on a basis of 27,000 population per member. ‘The : i duration of a House of Commons is limited to five years, but it may be dissolved sooner by the Lord-Lieutenant acting eat | for the Sovereign, under circumstances similar to those that eat) would lead to a dissolution of the House of Commons at i. Westminster. ha . The consent both of the Senate and of the House of Commons | is necessary to the passing of Bills. In the event of the rejection 4 by the Senate of a Bill passed by the House of Commons, pro- | vision is made to avoid a deadlock. Such a Bill may be sent up age nore -asecond time by the House of Commons to the Senate in the next _ Session, and if it is not adopted by the Senate, the two Houses are i to deliberate and vote as one body, and the Bill is to be adopted or a rejected according to the decision of the majority of those members é | present and voting on the question. The number of Irish representatives in the House of Commons at i Westminster is to be 42. (The number to which Ireland is entitled &) by population is 65.) When the Exchequer Board report that financial equilibrium is reached, there can, for the purpose of revising the financial relations between the United Kingdom and Ireland, be summoned to the House of Commons at Westminster such number | of members of the Irish House of Commons as will make the | representation of Ireland in the Commons House of Parliament a of the United Kingdom equivalent to the representation of Great | _ Britain on the basis of population; and the members of the Irish | | House of Commons so summoned shall be deemed to be members of _ the Commons House of Parliament of the -United Kingdom for the Ne, purpose of any such revision. The number of such extra members I at present would be 26, MO ee POWERS OF IRISH PARLIAMENT. — | Subject to certain exceptions and _ restrictions, the ay Irish Parliament will have full power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland, in respect of matters exclusively relating to Ireland, or some ~ part thereof, (As to Finance, see opposite.) as (1) Subjects of Legislation Reserved for the Imperial Parliament. : The Irish Parliament will haveno power to make laws “4 in respect of certain defined matters, the more important — being (1) The Crown ; (2) The making of peace or war ; | (3) The Navy, the Army, the Territorial F Orca, Wess (4) Treaties or any relations with Foreign States. Pe al The Irish Parliament will also have no power to legis- | late as to— aa Ae al (2) Any of the ‘ Reserved Matters’ (see below) ; ag (6) The laws relating to the election and to the 4 qualification of electors of members of the _ |i Parliament of the United Kingdom ; or eal (c) Any change in the Home Rule Act, except in so _ far as it is expressly authorised in the Act itself [41 (1)]. Lue We ae (2) Matters Reserved for the Imperial Parlia- ment and the Imperial Executive. | (‘Reserved Matters.’) The Irish Parliament will have no power to make laws in respect of any of the following matters :— ye (1) Lrish Land Purchase Acts. (2) Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 4 Transferable to Tok and 1Oll. Government at a (3) National Lnsurance Act,\ year’s notice if re- ITI. | solution passed by (4) Labour Exchanges Act, both Irish Houses 1908. of Parliament. (5) Collection of Taxes (other than duties of postage). (6) Royal Irish Constabulary and its management and control. To be transferred to Ireland at the end of six years from the appointed day. (7) Post Office and Trustee S. avings Banks, and friendly Soctettes. Transferable after ten years to Irish Government if resolution passed by both Irish Houses ot Parliament. a (8) nde Loans made in Ireland before passing of - ct. \ “FINANCE. | From the’ Trish Exchequer will be met the whole of the cost of Irish Government except the expenditure on _ the ‘Reserved Services’ (Old Age Pensions, National Insurance, Labour Exchanges, Land Purchase and Col- ection of Taxes), the control and cost of which are ‘retained by the Imperial Government. In 6 years the Royal Irish Constabulary will also be a Reserved Service. The Bill provides first for the period in which the yield of Irish taxes is less than the cost of Irish administration. When these balance, the arrangements are to be modified. The finance of the Bill can best be illustrated by two Balance Sheets (figures only provisional and approxi- mate, actual figures to be determined by Ur Exchequer Board set up by Bill). | Irish Government Balance= Sheet. Revenue. | | Expenditure. ee ane Sum .... ... 6,127,000 | All purposes not separately Ps COTRCE dh! Maes ual ace it eB OOG) La. ¢ SPECUROE Te yaa tate 3 a4) Sip AO 25000 Fee Stamps... a. vs. eee 81,000 | Post Office ... sw. ++ 1,600,000 fi 47,062,000 UPR saint as 50¢,000 Total ee lasbe Nee kegO2;000 { i | { | | CEDO GAD Siieltireb. aye Ze RO e700 Imperial Balance-Sheet on Irish Account. a Revenue. | | Expenditure. Can Revenue: i: £- teat | CMSLOMES 2 yeuitiexs 35290,000 THARSEr HEA SUM). gia. \sax O127j,000 PPE RORSE she BO gy By gee OOO. Reserved Services: ~ Income Tax sien, 522,000. He Old: Age, Pen. bL ! ‘Estate Duties ,., 939,000 POU RSTOMISY Co ihen ue dae segs I NGAI TN ua weiss 200,000 National Insur- Miscellaneous +++ 137,000 ance and. La- . ea 9,404,000 bour Exchanges 191,500 Deficit Paar ee eae eis Gog Land Purchase... %\) 761,000 _ | Constabulary... 1,377,500 No rE.— The poesens ae cit borne Collection of Re- by the Ineperial Hauchequer VENUE sre ore 298,000 ey B1515:000- oa " 5) 292,000 “Total ba Oe eat ae Ggiodo TPotah ais ou 411,419,000 The Irish Parliament is given certain powers to levy and vary taxation, but so as to preserve Free Trade between Great Britain and Ireland, and also not to interfere with powers of taxation of Imperial Government, which continues to collect all taxes. _* The transferred sum is altered after this year so as to make the surplus £50,900 a year less a year for 6 Sheva until it reaches 4200,000, at which sum it remains. ; i i ‘ hike US UAD Asta MRTG 1.0 ans A aA A DAES SINAN. le NGAUS EAN AU ey Mare ‘ULSTER AND HOME RULE. Ulster is represented in the House of Commons by 33 Members. Of these, 1 5 are Nationalists ; there is one Liberal Member; there are 17 Tories— so that as nearly as possible half of Ulster is represented by Home Rulers. The Toryism of Ulster is confined to a limited number of constituencies in the North-East corner of that Province. Not a single Tory is able to obtain election to Parliament for arry other Irish constituency, excepting only Dublin University. No less than 84 Nationalist Members are returned to the House of Commons for Irish Constituencies —84 out of a total of 103. It would be very foolish to attach too much : importance to threats about Ulster being likely to. fight. Ulster Tories have won renown by war-_ like speech, followed by acceptance of any law approved by Parliament. The. story of the Irish Disestablishment Act of 1869 is one of the many stories which show how Ulster Tory threats are ‘rash vows better broken than performed.’ The religious liberty of the Protestants of Ulster is amply protected by the third clause of the Home Rule Bill :— ‘In the exercise of their power to make laws | under this Act, the Irish Parliament shall not 23 make a law so as either directly or indirectly to . establish or endow any religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, or give a preference, privilege, or advantage, or impose any disability | or disadvantage, on account of religious belief or religious or ecclesiastical Status, or make any religious belief or religious ceremony a con- dition of the validity of any marriage.’ Any laws made in contravention of these res i strictions would be Von. avert i ee [Sane Oa feo Ase atic Np Fe ERSTE EAU een, ar . ‘THE IMPERIAL ASPECT OF | HOME RULE, . In 1906 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and the y= Liberal Government gave the Transvaal Home Rule, 2] believing that this was the quickest and surest way of i i making the Boers into loyal British subjects. The Tories bitterly opposed this being done; they voted against it, a and Mr. Balfour denounced it in the House of Commons _ as being ‘the most reckless experiment ever tried in the development of a great colonial policy.’ | } It has needed only six years to show that the 7 Liberals were right and Mr. Balfour and a the Tories wrong. Experience has shown that it Ee was ‘safe’ to give Home Rule. | | What has proved to be ‘safe’ in South Africa will be equally ‘safe’ in Ireland. The magic of freedom will be as powerful in the one case asin the other. Ten years hence we shall all be laughing at the fears about Irish , Home Rule, as to-day we laugh at Mr. Balfour’s unftlfilled prediction about South Africa. Le Then again it must be realised that in the interests of the Empire the Irish question needs to be settled. Here is what Mr. Garvin, now the editor of the Pall Mall - | Gazette and the Observer, said in the Fortnightly Review in November, 1910 :— ‘It is only one acute sign of the fact known to every one who makes a candid study of American conditions that there is no possibility not only of an alliance but | Boe of a close rapprochement, or even of a permanent treaty | of arbitration between the British Empire and the American Republic while the Irish question remains on its present footing. To place it ona different footing has | become one of the chief needs of our foreign policy. ‘Further, we have to reckon with the sentiment of the self-governing Dominions. In one way or another the _ existing state of the relations between Great Britain and | Ireland makes them all uncomfortable. Their chief statesmen of various political parties in Canada, | _ Australia, and South Africa alike are full either of Irish sympathies or of Irish blood, or both. They will have nothing to do with any definite scheme of Imperial union while the working of the Imperial Parliament is obsessed and perverted by the over-representation of an unrecon- ciled race. To the Dominions our dealing with this - question in the twentieth century, in spite of the 1m- mense changes of the last twenty years in every single | aspect of our policy, external and internal, seems to | be madness.’ is; | SU BNE Sata aM NMA Ad LB LAIRD Rad aS NN 8 LI a ah Aaa pik te BUY NON ea RN UO a ‘THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH | (WALES) BILL, 1912. The Bill for the Disestablishment and Disendowment of the Church in Wales, introduced by Mr. McKenna, on April 25th, 1912, is, in allits main proposals, the same as the Bills introduced by Mr. Asquith in 1895 and 1900, the one important difference being that it treats the Church much more generously, leaving it a sum ot ~ it. Its chief provisions are as follow :— 460,000 per annum which they would have taken from 1. Ecclesiastical Corporations to be dissolved, and — ecclesiastical law to cease to exist, but to be binding on the Disestablished Church by agreement. 2. No Welsh bishop to sit in the House of Lords. 3. Two bodies to be constituted as a result of disen- dowment : (z) Temporary body to be called the ‘ Welsh Com- missioners.’ (2) Church Representative Body. : 4. Ecclesiastical Commissioners to ascertain the value © of Welsh Church property, and _ transfer it to Welsh Commissioners. in 5. All'‘Church property, cathedrals, churches, palaces, ane i deaneries, parsonages, &c., to be transferred to the Representative Body. 6. All benefactions made to the State Church since 1662 to be transferred to the Representative Body. 7. All existing interests to be completely safeguarded. 8. Tithe rent charge to be transferred to County | - Councils. g. All property vested in the Welsh Commissioners, other than that transferred to the Representative Body and the burial grounds, to be used for any charitable or public purpose of local or general utility, or for Univer- sity education in Wales and the National Museums and the National library. The Disendowment proposals of the Bill will leave the Church with £87,100 a year as her minimum income from endowments, which equals 6s. 8d. in the £. In addition, the life interests are estimated as equivalent to £62,000 in perpetuity, and there is a further sum, averaging £31,000 a year, which she may possibly — retain. ee a. : (44) | THE CASE FOR WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT, The broad practical ground on which the case. for the Welsh Disestablishment Bill rests is the fact that the Church in Wales is only the Church of a small minority of the Welsh. people. Every test, both religious and political, that can be applied, proves thisto be true. On the: religious side here are the facts (as given in the Report of the recent Welsh Church Royal Com-. mission, which was signed by all the Church of England members) :— | Chapel. Church. Churches and Mission Rooms er - 4,762 1,864 Clergy and Preachers 4,341 1,597 Communicants - 550,280 193,081 Accommodation - - 7 3,500,185. 458,917 Sunday School Teachers and Scholars © - . GFI,AZG Toe, 24 e0" SSS eeeaste ses Ses All round, these figures show a three-to-one pre-- _ ponderance on the side of Nonconformity. Politically, too, the case is overwhelming. For the past twenty-five years the Welsh people have voted by overwhelm- ing majorities for Disestablishment,,. as is shown by the results of recent General Elections :— , In 1895 the majority for Disestablishment was 49,145- Tey 3000; as »> 60,804. AN 1006 55) 39 | »5 91,380. min Po10 (Jans) 5s Tas ieee ere eee In 1910 (Dec.),, 3» 945319. During the same time almost all their repre- sentatives have been in favour of it, never more than 5 out of the 34 having voted against it. In the 1906 Parliament all the 34 Members were in favour of it, while in the present Parliament no fewer than 31 are. As Mr. Asquith has said, a demand sup- ported like thatcannot be refused on. any ground that is consistent with. - @emocratic principles. AO peneararennenseretssinn ic etn annem NT SPT Eon eTaE nee nE TIT er ana wre rtrsnr navn iret ar iets he ne abi ndie dR ATURE (42) ee The Case for Weish Disendowment (rt) The Disestablishment of a National Church involves its Disendowment. On ceasing to be a National Church, it must cease to hold National Property. The holding of such property is, indeed, almost invariably a distinctive mark of its being an Established Church, and, therefore, to dis-_ establish it without at the same time disendowing it would > ‘be a contradiction in terms. ‘This principle was settled once for all by the case of the Irish Church in 1869, and has, indeed, been admitted by leading Tories and Churchmen. Bishop Gore, for instance, has said (in Convocation, 1909) that ‘if Disestablishment is required by justice and proper. political considerations, no doubt it must be accompanied by ~ some measure of Disendowment.’ In proposing to dis-° endow the Church in Wales when disestablishing it, the Welsh Church Bill-simply follows, therefore, the logic of the matter and the precedent set by the Irish Church Act. . (2) The National Property held by the Church is not her own, absolutely. It is not her private property, and is not entitled, therefore, to be treated as if it were. It is simply held by her on trust. Parliament, under which alone the © trust is held, has the fullest right to vary or divert any such trust. This right Parliament constantly exercises, and never with fuller justification than when a trustee is no longer able to carry out the terms of the trust. This is precisely — the case with the Church in Wales, which administers for the benefit of only a small part of the Welsh nation the National Property which she holds for the benefit of the whole. To take this property from the Church and to restore it to the nation is simply to do what is right and just, and the cry of ‘ Robbery of God,’ and ‘Sacrilege’ which > is raised is pointless. As Bishop Thirlwall, one of the greatest. of the Welsh Bishops, has said, ‘such expressions applied. to this subject are as irrelevant and misapplied as they are irritating and offensive.’ | te (3) In all the circumstances, however, it would be hard (which, of course, no one wishes to be) to press against the Church the full demand of abstract justice, and, accordingly, in the Bill only the narrowest possible definition of National Property is applied. This covers the Ancient Endowments {before 1662) and the Tithes, which together amount to some 4£170,000ayear. Tothese Ancient Endowments the Church has no moral claim—they were given when Church and Nation were one and the same, when, therefore, what was given to the Church was given to the Nation. As tothe tithes, they are, and have been for centuries, simply im- posts levied by the State and enforced by the authority of the State, and like any other tax, therefore, variable at the will of the State. As Mr. Justice Phillimore, a strong Church- man, said in the Guardian (May 3rst, 1893): ‘Thus the voluntary subscription became a tax... . If this bit of legal history be correct, there was no “‘ giving’’ of tithe except by some early Saxons during their lives. All subsequent tithe is a tax imposed by the State for the bene. fit, in the first instance, of the Church.’ In Wales, ait must be noted, it is extremely doubtful whether tithe were ever voluntary at all. Reason, Precedent, and Justice, all alike require Disendowment as right and equitable. In the Bill statesmanship tempers abstract right and equity with generosity, and Mr. Asquith has promised full considera- ‘tion for any case that can reasonably be made out for Still further generosity. THE REFORM BILL. (43) The Franchise and Registration Bill (commonly called the Reform Bill) was introduced by Mr. Pease and read a first time on June 17th, and a second on July rath, 1912. The Bill replaces the existing network of Parliamentary Franchises by one simplified Parliamentary Franchise, abolishes plural voting, and (as a logical consequence of the abolition of the University Franchise) gets rid of the nine University seats. eo Every man of 21 and over is to have a Par- liamentary vote for the constituency in which, for a continuous period of six months, he has resided or occupied land or premises (for in- stance, a house or shop). Much better arrangements are made for getting qualified persons on to the voting _ lists, At present Revision Courts are held only once a - year, and a man may have to wait nearly two anda half years before getting a vote. By the Bill this period is so reduced that it can never, at longest, be more than just - over eight months. In England and Wales, the Registra- tion Officers for the future are to be the Clerks of the City, Town, and County Councils. In Scotland the work will continue to be done by the Assessors, ‘As to the result of these sweeping and long-needed _ changes, at present there are 74 million electors; but since one man may have more votes than one, these ! 7% millions have between them 8 million votes. The result of the changes made by the Bill—of the shorten- “ing of the period of qualification, of the better regis- tration arrangements, of the new qualification of resi- dence—is that there will be 10 million electors, all of them having one vote, and only one vote. The effect of this will be that a large number of persons who are at present kept off the Register by our faulty laws will for the future get on to it easily and quickly. The Bill makes it an offence for any elector to vote in _ more than one constituency, and sets up rules to prevent an elector being on the voting lists in more than one constituency. No longer will it be possible for the resi- dents in a locality to be swamped by outsiders possessing a vote because they happen to own land in the division, or in some adjoining constituency. The Tories them- selves have admitted the case for ‘One Man, One Vote’ in at least two ways: (1) By themselves insisting on it when they set up County Councils ; and (2) by pro- mising that in their Referendum on Tariff Reform no one should vote more than once. y { 44) HOW THE REFORM BILL ALTERS THE FRANCHISES I.—THE PARLIAMENTARY FRANCHISE. | (a)—Existing Parliamentary Franchises | Abolished. [The numbers are those of electors with these _- franchises on existing registers in the United = Jj Kingdom. | (1) Ownership (6375083). (2) Servace (not given separately). (3) Undtversity degree (49,614). * Freeman (5) Reserved rights (55,786) Practically all these electors will be abe to ; obtain one vote apiece as residents or OCCED ats under the franchises set out below. | (b)—New Parliamentary Franchise _ Created. Residence.—Six months to be the length of qualifying period. (0)— Existing Parliamentary Franchises — Altered. (1) Occupation.—Length of qualifying period shortened from twelve to six months, and test of value abolished in case of Ten- pound occupier of land or premises. (2) Lodger.—Length of qualifying period shortened from twelve to six months, and test of value of rooms abolished. (The need for an annual claim for the lodger vote is abolished.) — ll.—THE LOCAL COVERNMENT FRANCHISE. The number of the Local Government Fran-. chises is left unaltered, but the Occupation and Lodger Franchises are altered in the same way as for the Parliamentary vote (see above). sti ee - THE GASE AGAINST PLURAL VOTING. When at a General Election the electorate of the United Kingdom elect members who together make up the Commons House of Parliament, any one individual may exercise the franchise in any and every constituency in which heis upon the register. He may not vote more than once in any one constituency, but there is no theoretical limit to the number of constituencies in which he may vote. There are tens of thousands of citizens accordingly who have two or more votes, whilst Mr. Chamberlain once referred to a ‘reverend pluralist’ whose name was to be found on 23 electoral registers. The Liberal Party holds that plural voting is inconsistent with really popular government, and that no man ought to be allowed to have a vote in more than one Parliamentary constituency. _ The only intelligible defence made for the perpetuation of the plural vote is that a person owning property is rightly entitled to a larger share in the government of the - country than his fellow-citizens. But what could be more absurdly anomalous than the present system? A owns half a county constituency and resides in it; he has one vote and one vote only. Bownsatenth of the amount of land in twenty different constituencies, on none of which he resides; he has twenty-one votes—twenty for his property, one for his residence. B has twenty-one times the voting power of A though his ‘stake in the country,’ as evidenced by the land he owns, is only one- ‘tenth of A’s. It is impossible to find out with certainty what the country wants so long as the voice of the nation is obscured by persons voting two, three, or even twenty times. That this is so has already been recognised in many directions. The principle of ‘One Man, One Vote,’ is already applied to County, Borough, and Urban and Rural District Elections—to County Council Elections by the Tories themselves by the Act of 1888. The case for applying it to the election of the House of Commons is even stronger, the more particularly as the House is primarily elected for matters of Imperial and National, rather than of local, concern. No reason can be found why, in an appeal to the country on Free Trade, a man should be allowed to have two votes merely because he lives in London and has property in Cornwall. x rade -— OS LL LTO SL CO ET STO TNA RS SSS Se eet aN SSE —- Sern Sa RIE PAE REO ATs OIE OE RSS SEN / : | | / 4 1 4 | (48) THE FARMERS, THE DOGS ACT, 19068. _ This Act provides that the owner of a dog shall be liable to damages for any injury done to cattle by that dog. © A Dogs Bill was more than once introduced by the Tories, but in ten years of power they never found time to pass it! THE FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS AGT, 1906. This Act secures that a farmer will know that he is getting what he wants and what he is paying for: by compelling sellers of fertilisers and feeding stuffs to set out in the invoice the chemicals and ingredients of which their wares are composed. ACT, 1907, This Act provides for the registration and inspec- tion of butter factories, fixes the amount of moisture for butter, margarine, and the article hitherto known as ‘milk-blended butter,’ and provides generally for the protection of the farmer and the consumer. THE GROUND GAME AMENDMENT ACT, 1906. This Act extends the rights of occupiers of moorlands, &c., to kill game. : DEVELOPMENT AND ROAD IM- a ar se rsa saan eed eS rmn o PROVEMENT FUNDS ACT, 1909, ee ne A eal aeration leet dst This Act created, in addition to a Fund for Road Improvement, a Fund for aiding and develop- ing agriculture and rural industries, the improve- ment of rural transport, and similar objects. SMALL HOLDINGS ACT, 1910, alee seeenmeonnnnetinetmetaestencmhrsadliseiasetieatt Micandine This Act provides compensation for disturbance to tenants on whom notice to quit is served with a view to the use of land for the provision. of small holdings under the Act of 1908. iin | SIX LIBERAL MEASURES FOR THE BUTTER AND MARGARINE ~ THE SMALL HOLDINGS AND - i . 2 PSR 7 cies nm SAS ia sia sgl NET ete cone ane vecher. siti Pie PD osBy x Bee ORAL ieer | Noe Ranet Me YT : a & 49) ALLOTMENTS ACT, 1907. This Act, which applies to England and Wales and came into operation on January ist, 1908, made the following : important changes :— i— (1) It sets up machinery to find out the - extent of the demand for Small Holdings and Allotments in Ce ks Wales, and (3) The extent to which it is teasonably practicable under the various Acts to satisf y that demand. (3) It authorises the taking of land com- _ pulsorily—that is, against the will of the owner—for Small Holdings and Allotments, either by purchase or on lease, and it provides a cheap and easy process for acquiring such land, either in the case of purchase at its fair oe value, or in the case of leasing at a fair rent, without any addition for compulsory purchase or r hiring. | (4) It enables voluntary associations to take part in the provision of both Small Holdings and Allotments. (5) It provides considerable sums out of _ the taxes to be spent in the extension of Small Holdings. a ee ee erat A £ Ree reac en aR aS aS tg a ap 60) ne SMALL HOLDINGS AND ALLOTMENTS © AGT—PROGRESS, The Act came into operation on January 1st, 1908, and the first six months were mainly occupied in ascertaining the extent of the | demand for Small Holdings, and in the holding of local inquiries by Sub-Committees of the County Councils into the applications received with a view of ascertaining whether the applicants — were suitable men, with sufficient experience and capital to justify the acquisition of land for the purpose of providing them with Small Holdings. | It has been proved that the demand for Small Holdings is very large in almost all parts of the country. No fewer than 35,000 persons have applied for over 584,000 aeres ; and after careful investigation 19,700 individual appli- ecants and 17 Co-operative Societies have been approved for an area of 299,400 acres. Negotiations are in progress for the acqui- sition of suitable land to satisfy the demand, and up to the end of September, 1912, 155,400 acres had been, or were in process of being acquired. With the exception of about 16,000 acres the land has been obtained by volun- tary agreements. In some cases Councils are not yet in possession of the land, and must wait until the present tenancies have expired, or else come to some arrangement with the tenants before they can instal their own small-holding tenants on the land. SHALL HOLDINGS & ALLOTMENTS FROM TE TT SE aimee ey ary ee ty —TWO RECORDS. THE TORY RECORD. (1) Under Allotment Acts of 1887 & 1890. Local authorities acquired 2249 acres for 5536 tenants in 73 years. | (2) Under Small Holdings Act of 1892. Local authorities acquired 881 acres for 244 tenants in 15 years. THE LIBERAL RECORD. (1) Under Parish Councils Act of 1894. Parish Councils acquired 15,546 acres for 30,224 tenants in 74 years. (2) Under Small Holdings and Allotments Act of 1907. | Local authorities acquired 155,400 acres for small holdings : for 12,000 tenants in 4% years. eer Re ye ant seer as ros gee OI Sp STINT SSS 62) THE LIBERAL PARTY AND THE EDUCATION QUESTION. The ideal at which the Liberal Party aims is to secure that in our elementary school system the following principles shall obtain :— (1) In all rate-aided schools full and com- plete popular control and no Ee test for teachers. (2) Every parent to have the opportunity of sending his child toa Council school of the above kind. | (3) Where Denominational teaching is permitted, none of the cost to come out of the rates. (4) A recognition of the value of the simple Bible teaching (under the Cowper- Temple clause) which the experience of 40 years has shown to be satisfactory to the parent. Up to the present the resistance of the House of Lords has made any legislation impossible, but, having passed the Parliament Act, it is the intention of the Government to introduce another measure next Session (1913). on July 30th. { 4 Fi ¥ ied lepers ate wo ata Agta ee a) dip ars wae yb Seedy aor Sin a? Recs titty artes EFS RI odin Cais SNC cheat PRE soa Re St ABE NRT cen igs aN 4 (ene eae ek rh yd is iad TPP TAD ier <2. o Srcceeusemssiniininmusgemmecreaensn asamp, -_ This Bill, embodying the first attempt of the Liberal Government to deal with the Education Question, was introduced in the House of Commons by Mr. Birrell on April 9th, 1906, and was sent up to the House of Lords o Its main proyisions, as it left the House of Commons, may be summarised as fellows :—It placed all Public Elementary Schools under popular local control, while at the same time affording generous facilities for de- nominational instruction. Special arrangements were made under Clause 4 of the Bill for schools of a homo- - geneous character, whereby on the request of four-fifths of the parents in any school in an urban area, where _ alternative accommodation was available, denomina- tional instruction of the character desired by the parents was permissible on every school-day in the week by _the regular teachers of the school. In no school might the denominational instruction be paid for out of public money or be given by the teachers employed in the _ school except in the case of a school under Clause 4, and then only if the teacher was willing and was permitted by the J.ocal Authority to do so. Three Commissioners were to be appointed to arrange terms for the transfer of Voluntary Schools held under edu- cational trusts where the owners were unable to come to voluntary arrangement with the Local Authority. A large number of minor provisions were included, most of which were re-introduced in the Administrative Provisions Bill, which became law in 1907 (see page 58). In the House of Lords extensive and fundamental amendments were introduced, completely altering the complexion of the Bill, and in direct’ conflict with the principles on which it was based. In spite of the attempts of the Government to find a basis of compro- mise, it was found to be impossible to arrive at an _ agreement without abandoning the cardinal principles to which the Government were determined to adhere, and the Bill was withdrawn. The rejection of the Lords’ Amendments was carried in the House of Com- mons (December 12th, 1906) by the unprecedented majority of 300. — AIR. BIRRELL'S EDUCATION BILL OF 1906 , Pp A ah SE ON AR INS EN IOP LE OT AIO A ALLL ; = = : SSS = EIEN NE SE IS MISSLIS SEPT ITAA LNED eae = 1 (54) THE EDUCATION BILLS OF 1908, The first Bill was eddies by Mr. Bae | on February 24th, 1908, and passed its Second Readingin ; the House of Commons on May 2oth. It provided tha rate aid should be limited to schools provided by a Local Education Authority, and that no teacher should be sub- jected to a religious test. Voluntary schools held under Educational Trusts in Single-School areas were to be compulsorily transferred to the Local Education Authority, with facilities, if desired, for denominational instruction, the instruction not to be given by the regular teachers. A safety-valve in the form of contracting-out was admitted for the benefit of those schools which were unable to conform to the requirements of the National System, by which existing Voluntary Schools in other than Single-School parishes might receive an Exchequer Grant of 47s. per child—but no rate aid—provided they complied with the standard of efficiency required by the Board of Education for Council Schools. During the summer and autumn protracted negotiations took place between the Government and the Archbishop of Canterbury, as a result of which a new Bill was introduced by Mr. Runciman on November 2oth, which it was hoped would result in an agreed settlement. Generous concessions were made to the demands of Denominationalists—concessions in which the Govern — ment could only have acquiesced as the price of obtaining a general agreement. An effective right of entry was given to Council Schools ; assistant teachers and existing head teachers were permitted to volunteer to give denominational teaching; the grant for contracting-out schools was raised from 47s. to about 50s. The Bill was read a second time in the House of Commons and some progress was made in Committee. It then became apparent that the Church was wanting such an increase in the contracting-out grant as would enable a majority of urban Church Schools to contract out of the system, and that a large body of opinion in the Church, voiced by the Representative Church Council, was averse from a settlement on the Government terms. It, therefore, became necessary to withdraw the Bill. PUBLIC. ELEMENTARY A f : . _ . : i — 7 res \' M ee Si Hel Wan 4 2) BL. CR 8 t , Vyat Sit Karem arian ie oe ES ie Lele aay ON t ¥ 4 Fai Oh oN SCHOOL ACCOMMODATION. Year ending July 31st, 1911. Accommodation. Average Attendance.. Council Schools... 3,962,819 3,164,591 Voluntary Schools ... 2,513,969 2,193,625 Year ending July 31st, 1906. Accommodation. Average Attendance.. Couneil Schools . ...°. 3, 520,095 2y812,570 Voluntary Schools ... 3, 509,914 2,490, 525 The five years, 1906-1911, have thus. produced an increase of 442,724 in the accommodation and 352,021 in the attend -- ance at Council Schools, and a decrease of 695,945 in the accommodation and 296,900: in the attendance at Yoluntary Schools. During the past years substantial progress has been made with the re-assessment of the Public Elementary School accommodation in England and Wales, so as to provide that not less than 10 square feet of floor space shall be available for each older child, and 9 square feet for each infant. The re-assessment is now practically completed. ee The Board of Education has made considerable pro- gress with the policy of reviewing, in co-operation with Local Education Authorities, the premises of all Public: Elementary Schools. It is hoped that, as a result of their action, Local Education Authorities may be enabled to frame a programme which will ensure a satisfactory standard being maintained in the premises of Public- Elementary Schools for some time to come. Building Grants for new Gouncil Schools. The sum of £100,000 was voted by Parliament in the- Appropriation Act, 1907, for the building of new Council Schools in areas where parents had hitherto no option but to send their children to denominational. schools. Sums of £40,000, £20, 500, and £5000 for the same purpose were voted in the estimates for 1908-9, 1909-10, I9IO-11 respectively, and included in -the Appropriation Acts, 1908, 1909, and -1910. Up to- March 31st, 1911, grants to the amount of £2 5,100: have been paid in respect of 21 cases in England, whilst: in Wales grants amounting to £33, 383 were sanctioned. in 32 cases. mitts T ae ye at Naa fp OER , “AY ‘ y ‘ } ‘y Cy t ! OR s i Hi ~ TRAINING COLLEGES, Important changes were introdiced in the 1907- nh Regulations, providing that no qualified student may be — refused admission to a Training College on. grounds | connected with religious belief or social status. Under these Regulations any duly qualified student would be eligible for admission, so far as accommodation was available. In 1908 the Regulations were so far modified as to | require the Training Colleges to afford a Conscience Clause up to 50 per cent. of the places vacant in the | Colleges. This concession was allowed, in the first | instance, for one year only without prejudice to future arrangements, in order to meet the objections of some of the Training College Authorities. It has since been continued from year to year. ey Building Grants up to 75 per cent. of thie donee cost are now offered from Exchequer Funds to Local Authori- ties which are willing to undertake the provision of New — | Colleges under public management with freedom from denominational restrictions. The total amount expended in building grants to Local Education Authorities and Universities for the provision of Training Colleges and Hostels since April Ist, 1909, has been £282,026. ‘Twenty-five new Colleges provided by Local Authorities, with accommodation for 4692 students, have been sanc- tioned by the Board, twenty of which have eka: been opened. In order to enable students in training at Universities and University Colleges to enter more fully into the life of the institution of which they are members, the Board have made building grants towards the establishment of hostels, provided that a definite number of places are reserved for teachers in training. The desire to secure for students attending a University, full participation in all the advantages a University has to offer, has led the Board to establish a four years’ course of training, in which the \} first three years are devoted almost exclusively to academic study, the last entirely to professional work. The relief from the over-pressure which the three years’ system inevitably entailed is considered a sufficient justi- fication for the increased expenditure. Seg Seg Se ~ oe SCTE Pe oe eh SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND _ TEACHERS’ PENSIONS, Secondary Schools. An additional sum of £250,000 has been voted for Secondary Education, leading to a considerable increase: in the scale of grant previously in force. All State-aided ‘Secondary Schools have now to be accessible to all — qualified scholars. The Regulations, therefore, lay down. _ that a proportion which is ordinarily not less than 25 per cent. of the total number of scholars admitted shall be open without payment of fees to suitable scholars from. Public Elementary Schools. Further, as a condition of | the receipt by any school of a grant on the higher scale,. the teaching staff and scholars must be free from de. nominational tests, and the Governing Body must con- tain a majority of representatives elected by popular con- stituencies. To meet the requirements of certain schools in receipt of grants previously to the introduction of - these regulations, which, although remaining denomi- _ hational, were nevertheless regarded as supplying an important part of the provision for higher education in their area, power was taken to waive these requirements. if the Board were satisfied that this course might be adopted with advantage to the educational needs of the- district. No such applications for waiver have been: entertained for some years. Teachers’ Pensions. By the Elementary School Teachers (Superannuation): Act, 1912, the Ios. per year of recorded service received by teachers under the Act of 1898 was increased to tity and Disablement Allowances of £1 for men and 13. 4d. for Women were increased to 30s. and £1 respectively.. The Act applies to all teachers in recorded service on: March 31st, 1912. The President of the Board of Education has appointed a Departmental Committee to advise him whether the money placed at his disposal by the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be exhausted by the improvements brought about by the Act, and, if not,. to consider various proposals for improving the existing system, including the application of the increased benefits: to teachers who have already retired, Mr. Pease has also asked the Committee to consider and report the best. system under which provision can be made for teachers in Secondary and Technical Schools and other Institu- tions, not being Universities or University Colleges, aided by grants from the Board of Education, and upon: its cost. = ———————— = SSS SSS SSS ae —— ——————— ——— Se SSS DS en a ee yt tert Saas — oan Ks : HNe 3 : KT - PPL tees A Ys oe © AY , Z > 1m ‘ v Jad hag t he Pa en NA ll } | Pes RRL Vv — NG ere Hairs p i ey ; Mf é 5a) ( 4 NU } GAS Wits tay } | (8) ea SCHOOL MEDICAL SERVICE, — (Rn Te ence a ena n a nee acre rmNaeS | Medical Inspection of School Ghildren. The medical inspection of children in Public Elementary Schools is provided for by the Education (Administrative | Provisions) Act, 1907. By Section 13 of that Act, which / _ .eame into operation on the Ist January, 1908, the duty was laid on all Local Education Authorities of providing for the, medical inspection of children on entering school, and on -sich other occasions as the Board of Education might direct. | | ‘So far the only class of children, the medical inspection of which has been directed by the Board, consists of those children who are expected to leave in the course of the educational year. A number of Authorities have, however, | done considerably more than the bare legal minimum | required of them. The majority of them include among ‘the children to be examined those children of any age who ~ are found at the time of inspection to be ailing or defective. In addition to this, in 1Ig1o0 about 100, and in 1911, 107 Local Education Authorities undertook the inspection of an inter- mediate group of children. The vast majority of the. Local ‘ Education Authorities have satisfactorily. performed the a duties imposed upon them by the Act. Ree q Much progress has been made in completing the necessary machinery for the work of medical inspection. School Medical Officers and Schemes of Local Education Authori- ties for medical inspection have been approved in nearly all the educational areas in England and Wales. Both the Local Government Board and the Board of Education have- emphasised the desirability of co-ordinating the Public Health and School Medical Services by the appointment of the same — Officer both as Medical Officer of Health and as School Medical Officer.. It is, therefore, satisfactory to note that in 258 out of the 317 educational areas the School Medical Officer is also Medical Officer of Health. In 1og11, of the 317 School Medical Officers, 5 were women, and of the 962 Medical Officers engaged in the work of the School Medical Service, 79 were women. ‘Medical Treatment and Ancillary Work 4 The Local Education Authorities, also, have not been slow in availing themselves of the further power given them by the | | Act of making arrangements, subject to the Board’s sanction, ~ for attending to the health and physical condition of children dn Elementary Schools (¢.g. treatment of minor ailments by school nurses, the provision of spectacles, &c.), and the ‘steady increase in the provision made for the suitable treat- ment of defective cases is very noteworthy. Hitherto the whole cost of the work of the School Medical ‘Service bas fallen upon the Local Education Authorities, but recently the sum of £60,000 has been placed at the Board's .disposal by the Exchequer, of which part will be distributed by way of grants to those Local Education Authorities who undertake medical treatment and ancillary work, and part will be expended on grants in respect of the medical treat- ment and care of children in Certified Open-air Schools for children suffering from tuberculosis and other ailments for which open-air treatment is specially suitable. oe D— SSS = ERS . Ss by “ a Seat net i a a enc SIR SSE awa eeaanceemneelda " Mi 2 cg a Boa 3) Dace PBA RANA EP ah td nahi rons “~ - eH eee cant esata AN AREOLA eMlue Aeassonn rpms nanny m mennnomerrrseg cemtae ener Beara parienrey reer yA TE wal ST oraeenvENrT yr reNTRTrTaTaNT EY a oo Lee aay _ MEALS FOR’ UNDERFED SCHOOL CHILDREN. a - The Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906, which was introduced by Mr. W. T. Wilson {Lab) and was passed with the assistance of the Government, gave to Local Education Authori- ties for the first time statutory powers in regard to the important matter of the provision of meals for children attending Public Elementary Schools. It brought those Authorities into recognised relation with the voluntary agencies which previously existed in many localities for. providing meals for school children, and gave them power to aid such agencies by the pro- vision of kitchens, dining-rooms and plant, as — well as of cooks, servers, and other necessary officers. It further empowered the Authorities, where sufficient funds for the purchase of food from voluntary contributions and parents’ pay- ments were not forthcoming, to spend money from the rates for the provision of food for such meals within the limit of a half-penny rate. A considerable number of Local Education Authorities have taken advantage of the Act. Expenditure on food out of rates was sanctioned by the Board in the case of 85 Authorities in 1908-09, of 96 authorities in 1909-10, of 100 Authorities in 1910-11, and of 104 Authorities in 19t1-12. The amount so expended was 441,089 in 1908-9, £81,728 in 1909-10, 489,609 in t91ro-11, and about £80,000 in rgo1i1-12. The total cost to the rates was A,725333, £134,105, £153,568, and about #150,000 for the four years respectively. The large increase in 1909-10 was mainly due to the London County Council. Since the Act came into operation the Board have emphasised the desirability of co-ordina- ting the work of providing meals with that of the School Medical Service, and with this end in view they have recommended that the work should be conducted under the supervision of the School Medical Officer. (60) THE LORDS’ VETO. The long struggle waged by the Liberal Party to get rid of the Peers’ absolute Veto—that is, - their right to the last word in all legislation save that involving finance, though even as to finance the Peers claimed entire rights when they re- jected the Budget of 1909-—ended in the great victory of the Parliament Act of 1911. That measure, passed after the second General Elec- tion of 1910 by large majorities in the House of Commons, was in the end accepted by the Peers after (but only after) it had been made clear to them that further resistance would be overcome ‘ _ by a large and prompt creation of new Peers. This use of the Royal Prerogative has led toa lot of bad language on the part of Unionists, but it was a perfectly correct ‘proceeding 1n which Sovereign and Ministers alike scrupulously respected the Constitution. The Tories threaten that one of their lena acts on getting into power will be to repeal the: Parliament Act. Rash vows are often better : broken than performed, but the electors can i afford to take no risks in a matter so grave, and ! it is of the first importance that the Tories — We should not be allowed to resettle the Constitu- \ tion so as to defeat the democracy. Mr. Oliver | Locker-Lampson, M.P. (in the Standard, Sep- ! tember 16th, 1912) argued for a Second | Chamber which should be only partially elective, | since ‘adequately to fulfil its functions it must | draw ss powers from other and less tainted sources. That shows clearly enough that the | Tories want to dodge the democracy, not to | respect and carry out its wishes. EP | q i i f | UW | | i ! “sions” taxation,” 6) THE PARLIAMENT ACT SUMMARISED — i A.—Shorter Parliaments. The law passed in 1715 which enacts that no Parliament can last longer than seven years is amended so as to make the period fve years. There must be in future a General Election at least every five years. This means that the House of Commons will be kept in touch with the _ Opinions of the electors it represents. B.—Money Bills. vas Money Bill passed by the House of Commons and sent up to the House of Lords ad /east one month before the end of the Sesston is to become law without amend- ment by the Peers, unless an amendment is made and ‘agreed to by the Commons. A Money Bill is thus defined :— * A public Bill which in the opinion of the Speaker of the: House of Commons contains only provisions dealing | with all or any of the following subjects, namely, the imposition, repeal, remission, alteration, or regulation of taxation ; the imposition for the payment of debt or other financial purposes of charges on the Consolidated Fund, or on money provided by Parliament, or the variation or repeal of any such charges ; supply ; the appropriation, receipt, custody, issue or audit of accounts of public money ; the raising or guarantee of any loan or the repay- ment thereof; or subordinate matters incidental to those subjects or any of them. In this sub-section the expres- *‘ public money,” and ‘‘ loan” respectively do not include any taxation, money, or loan raised by local authorities or bodies for local purposes.’ A Money Bill on being sent to the Lords must be certified to be such by the Speaker of the House of Commons, who must consult, if practicable, two Members appointed from the Chairman’s pane by the Committee of Selection. i | i i 4 j | | a so eee THE PARLIAMENT ACT SUMMARISED—II. C.— General Legislation. ; (2.e., & Bell not a Money Bill, not a Bill to extend the maximum duration of Parliament beyond five years, and mot a Bill for confirming a FProvistonal Order. | If a Public Bill is passed by the House of Commons in three successive sessions (whether of the same Parlia- ment or not), and, having been sent up to the House of Lords at least one month before the end of the session, is rejected by the House of Lords in each of those ses- sions, that Bill is, on its rejection for the third time by the House of Lords, unless the House of Commons direct to the ‘contrary, to be presented to His Majesty and be- come an Act of Parliament on the Royal Assent being _ ‘signified thereto, notwithstanding that the House of | Lords have not consented to the Bill: Provided that this provision shall not take effect unless two years have elapsed between the date of the second reading in the first of those sessions of the Bill in the House of Com- qmons and the date on which it passes the House of Commons in the third of those sessions. * A Bill is to be deemed the same Bill as a former Bill sent up to the House of Lords in the preceding session if, when it is sent up to the House of Lords, it is. identical with the former Bill or contains only such alterations as are certified by the Speaker of the House of Commons to be necessary owing to the time which has elapsed since the date of the former Bill, or to represent any amendments which have been made by the House of Lords in the former Bill in the preceding session and any amendments which are certified ‘by the Speaker to have been made by the House of Lords in the third session and agreed to by the House of Commons shall be inserted in the Bill as presented for Royal Assent in pursuance of this section: Provided that the House of Commons may, if they think fit, on the passage of such a Bill through the House in the. second or third session, suggest any further amendments without inserting the amendments in the Bill, and any such suggested amendments shall be considered by the House of Lords, and if agreed to by that House, shall be treated as amendments made by the House of Lords and agreed to by the House of Commons, but the exercise of this power by ‘the House of Commons shall not affect the operation. of this section in the event of the Bill being rejected by the House of Lords. In all Bills presented to the Sovereign under the Parliament Act the words of enactment at the beginning are to be :—‘ Be zt enacted by the King’s most excellent Mazesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Conintons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Act, 1911, and by authority of .the sane, as follows.’ ce . @ REFORM OF sw THE HOUSE OF LORDS. The Preamble of the Parliament Act says: ‘And whereas tt ts intended to substitute Jor the flouse of Lords as tt at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a Popular instead of @ hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation , And whereas provision will regutre hereafter to be made by Parliament in a measure effecting such substitution for limtting and defining the powers Of the new Second Chamber, but tt is expedient to make such proviston as in this Act appears for restricting the existing powers of the House DOF LGKESS oe 25? > Coa A | There is no pledge to be found here—or anywhere else —that the setting up of a new Second Chamber should immediately follow the Parliament Act (see page 33) The Prime Minister and the Preamble. The true position in which the matter stands has been clearly stated by the Prime Minister. Mr. Asquith said: | ‘I have said in the House of Commons, and I do not need to repeat it here, that it is our inténtion to carry out the promise contained in that preamble ; to carry it out, if time and opportunity allow, in the lifetime of the present Parliament: for, be it observed, to leave aside all considerations of honour and consistency, we have a direct political interest in so doing. The Parliament Act ceases to have any practical operation at all when you have a Tory majority in the. House of Commons - but when you have a Liberal majority in the House of Commons, as we have to day, the Parliament Act im- poses most serious powers of obstruction and delay at: the imstamce of the Second Chamber in the carrying out of the wishes of the chesen representatives of the people. In our opinion the present Second Chamber is ill-equipped for the exercise of those powers. Therefore, as I have said, from the lowest point of view of mere party expediency, we have every possible motive for putting a better depository and custodian of these powers in their place.’—(Ladybank, October 5th, 1912.) (64) AGT, 1906. This Act restored to the workers the right of effective combination. | Its METHODS of doing this are to | . | - (a) Amend the Law of Conspiracy; | (2) Make peaceful picketing legal ; and | | oS (.) Safeguard Trade Union Funds. It makes Law what Parliament in 1871-187 6 ! intended it to be, and what everybody thought it was until certain decisions of the Courts of — Law. Rights with which the experience over a quarter of a century shows they can safely be entrusted are given to the workers and put beyond all legal doubt. THE TORIES AND THE BILL. The Tories, who, when they were in power, would not do this for the workers, were dead against the Bill. In the Commons, Mr. Balfour, with five other Tory ex-Ministers, voted against every single clause, and in the Lords they could say nothing too strong against it. They said it was ‘outrageously unjust,’ ‘disgraceful,’ ‘tyrannical.’ But Mr. Balfour said it ‘must be accepted,’ and the Lords, as usual, obeyed his command—this time because (as Lord Lansdowne said) it was not ground ‘favourable to themselves’ for a contest with the Commons. So the Act was passed. | | But the Workers know what the . - Tories really think of it, and have nothing to thank them for. TRADE DISPUTES | SS = ————— SSS SS ———— BS eee ey A a ee ea Cee er = oe col 3 z Se ee ——s— ACT, 1906. (a) hinds and consolidates the law as tO compensation for injuries by y accident happening to workmen in course of employment, and provides for compensation in the case of certain industrial diseases. (8) Extends the benefits of the law Ms ‘workmen of every class (outworkers excepted), to seamen and shipmasters, _ Shop assistants, postmen, and domestic } ‘servants, and to all employees whose annual remuneration does not exceed i: £250 (a total of about six million persons - being added to those already entitled to a A es, 7 _ (c) Awards compensation for all injuries _ Causing more than one week’s incapacity (in place or two weeks), and, In cases of in- _ capacity lasting two weeks or more, makes it date back to day of accident. (d) Establishes a Special scale of com- pensation for persons under twenty-one earning less than £1 a week. (¢) Makes provision for facilitating the computation of the amount due as com- pensation, for safeguarding workmen against Oppressive agreements, for regulating the payment of the amounts payable to dependants of deceased work- men, and for enabling the services of. ‘Medical referees to be more fully utilised. Bs eg RS at WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1906. This Act is a large and comprehensive measure dealing, in a manner satisfactory both to shipowners and to seamen, with numerous defects in the law of shipping that haye long awaited remedy. | | It establishes for the first time a compul- sory food seale on board ship. It secures on all foreign-going ships the earrying of a certificated cook. : It increases (in the case of new vessels) from 72 to 120 cubic feet the space that must be given to the accommodation of the crew. It provides that the shipowner must bear the expenses of illness, where it is not clearly due to the seaman’s own fault. | 3 It imposes on foreign ships in British ports the same regulations as to load-line, life- saving appliances, grain cargoes and unsea- — worthiness, and other matters as are applicable to British ships. It prohibits the granting of any fresh pilotage certificates to aliens. | : GREATER SAFETY, BETTER FOOD, MORE COMFORT FOR THE SAILOR. - THE PATENTS AND DESIGNS (67). _ This important Act secures that British patents shalt: beworked in Britain. It thus puts an end to. the absurd. and unfair law which allowed persons to take out a. British patent, with no intention of working it here, but solely for the purpose of preventing British manufacturers. from making articles which might compete with them either in their own or other markets. The Tariff Reformers and Tories constantly assert that- the Act is really a Protective measure. So far from that being the case, this measure is framed’ entirely in the true spirit. of Free Trade, for- it aims at removing an obstructive monopoly which. _ checks individual development. The patents which the- Act revokes are only those which have been taken out-_ to prevent others from: producing articles in this country, although the patentee does not intend to produce them himself. Instead of increasing the price to the con. sumer, which is always the result of Protection,, the Act will lower it (1) by allowing British manufacturers to. step in, if the foreign patentees refuse to carry out the- purpose for which their patents are granted; (2) by allowing, in such cases, the free importation of the patented articles from abroad—the very opposite of Pro- _ tection ; and (3) by making it the duty of the patentee to- satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public, for which purpose he must not only manufacture to an- adequate extent, but supply the patented article on rea- sonable terms. It is true that the result of the Patents Act has been to. create new industries in the country, and so give more- work, but that. does not make it a Protective. measure. The Tory argument is something of this. ino (1) Tariff Reform Pronitses. more employment ; (2) The Patents Act ¢zves more employment ; (3) Therefore the Act is Tariff Reform. ‘The mere statement of the proposition suffices to show: how silly it is. : | PORT OF LONDON ACT, 1908. | This very important measure had for its. object the improvement of the Port of London. By it Parliamentary sanction has been given to the purchase of the existing docks on equitable — terms and their management henceforward by a Port Authority, of whom the majority will be elected by traders and shipowners using the Port. This Authority is charged with the duty of undertaking all necessary dock improvements _ and extensions, and all dredging and other works necessary for improving the channels of the river Thames. The Port Authority is given adequate borrowing and revenue to enable it to perform these important duties, and has, in addition, the powers hitherto exercised by the — Watermen’s Company and the Thames Con- servancy in the Port of London. , The Thames Conservancy now controls the river from Cricklade to Teddington only, and for this purpose has been reconstituted, — representation upon it being given to important _ boroughs and urban districts along its banks. By the Port of London Act a much -vexed — question was solved and a long period of uncertainty ended. Many conflicting authorities and jurisdictions have been welded together; the existing docks are transferred from private companies to a public Authority ; and this Authority is engaged in developing the Port of London so that it may hold its own against all rivals, | | The last Tory Government attempted — to deal with this pressing question, but failed. ) oe COAL MINES RECULATIO (69) No AGT, 1908, This Act provides a legal limit to the hours to be spent below ground, such limit to be eight hours s/s the times of winding the shifts up and down the mines. This is equivalent to an average time of 84 hours below ground for each man. | As introduced by the Government in the Commons, the Bill excluded the time occupied by one winding in calculating the eight hours. It was carried through all Its stages by large majorities, and amended so as_ to exclude both windings for the first five years. In the Lords the Bill was denounced but accepted, since it did not suit the Tory book to come into conflict with organized Labour. The Lords, however, made two amendments :— (1) Both windings permanently to be excluded in the computation of the eight hours, and not for a temporary period (five years). A temporary expedient proposed to meet the convenience of colliery manage- ment, was changed into a permanent state of affairs. (2) As the Bill left the Commons, the Bill was to come into operation on July Ist, 19009, except in Northumber- land and Durham, where the date was January Ist, 1910. The Lords altered the date to July rst, 1910, without any exceptions. | The Commons reluctantly accepted the first of these in. order to save the Bill, the second was not insisted upon by the Lords. The result is that both windings are permanently excluded. ) The measure is one which gives more _ leisure to a class of workers whose octupa- tion is peculiarly arduous and unpleasant. At the time it was most unscrupulously op- posed by the Coal Consumers’ League, which asserted that it would raise the price of coal by 5s. a tom. Confronted with this monstrous statement in the House of Lords, Lord Newton, the League’s President, attempted no defence of its except to say that here were always exaggerations at by-elections. It need hardly be said that the price of coal has not been raised by 5s. by the Act, or by any sum ‘approaching that figure. © (70) | : THE CHILDREN AGT, 1908. What it does to save life ~ and to protect the child offender. | 1, Little children who are put out to nurse away from ‘their parents will be more fully looked after by the local authorities, and the law for preventing the abuses of - ‘baby-farming is strengthened in many particulars. : 2. Among the ‘Homes’ supported by charitable ‘subscriptions in which orphan children are kept, it is _ believed that there are a few in which grave evils pre- -yail. There is at present no power for any one to enter these places to see what is going on except with a ‘magistrate’s warrant. The Children Act sets up a system of inspection. 3. Over-1000 little children are burnt to death every year through unguarded fires, and an even larger number _are seriously injured. In future, parents must have guards on their grates, or must take other precautions for the safety ‘of their children, or they will be liable to a fine if | death or serious injury occurs. : nea _ 4. Many hundred of infants, again, are overlaid in bed by drunken parents. There will be a penalty in such -cases also. 5. From time to time terrible disasters occur through fire or panic where large numbers of children are gathered together at entertainments. In future there must always be a sufficient number of adults to secure the safety of the -children. _, 6. Tens of thousands of children are brought before the magistrates every year, mostly charged with quite petty offences. The Act requires that these children shall be kept quite separate from older offenders, and that their cases shall be heard by a ‘Juvenile Court,’ sitting at a different time or place from the ordinary Court. , 7. Parents will be required to attend the Court, when their children are charged, and they may be required to pay the fine if they have not looked after their children “properly. : | 8. The imprisonment of children in the ordinary gaol ds abolished. 9. The death sentence on children is abolished. (71) THE CHILDREN ACT, 1908. ~ How it protects the Health of the Child. I. The law relating to Reformatory and Industrial Schools is largely amended, especially by enabling the children of parents who are so criminal or drunken as to be unfit to have the care of them, to be rescued and brought up in Industrial Schools. : 2. The Act contains several clauses for the better protection of young girls. 3. Children up to the age of fourteen will not be allowed to be in any part of a public-house used as a drinking bar or mainly for the consumption of alcoholic liquor. 4. It is forbidden to give alcohol to children under the age of five, anywhere, except in the case of illness. 5: Tobacconists are not allowed to sell cigarettes: or cigarette-papers to children apparently under the age of sixteen ; nor other tobacco if they have reason to believe it is for the children’s own use. Policemen and park- keepers may take away the tobacco from boys whom they find smoking in streets and public places. 6. Pawnbrokers are already forbidden to have dealings with children under twelve. The Act raises the age to _ fourteen (except in London and Liverpool, where the age has been sixteen, and will so remain). Metal and marine store dealers are also forbidden to make purchases. from ~~ children under sixteen. 7. Wagrants are prohibited from taking their children - with them about the country at such times and in such ae. way as to deprive them of all education. 8. If children are sent to school in a verminous con- dition, power is given to the school authority to have them cleansed. | The Employment of Children. In addition to the Children Act, the Liberal Govern- ment has also passed two Acts which deal with the Em- ployment of Children, and which will tend to lessen the number of those who enter ‘blind alley’ employment. The Labour Exchanges Act (1909) provided for thé estab- lishment of Juvenile Exchanges, and the Choice of Employ- ment Act (1910) enabled Local Authorities to arrange, with the approval of the Board of Education, for assisting boys and girls under seventeen with respect to the choice of . suitable employments. (72) PLANNING ACT, 1909, The objects of this Act, first introduced by the Government in 1908, are:—To amend the law relating to the Housing of the Working Classes ; to simplify and cheapen acquiring land for housing purposes, and to deal with insanitary areas and unhealthy dwellings ; to ? extend and amplify the provisions of previous Acts, requiring landlords to keep houses let to persons of the working class in repair; to give power to the Local Government Board to enforce the execution — ' of the Acts ; and to make some useful amendments _ with respect to financial matters, joint action by local authorities, and so on. The Bill required every County Council to appoint a Medical Officer. | of Health. Further, the Bill, for the first time in English | legislation, would provide for Town Planning. Town-Planning schemes may be made in respect of any land which appears likely to be used for — building purposes, with the general object of — securing proper sanitary conditions, amenity, and - convenience in connection with the laying out and. use of the land, either for building purposes proper or for the purpose of providing open spaces, parks, pleasure or recreation grounds. ! As introduced, and as it passed the Commons, the Bill secured the three essentials of efiective Housing Reform—simplicity, rapidity, and cheap- ness of procedure. The Lords, acting, of course as a body of landlords to whom, as the Duke of — Northumberland frankly avowed, it is ‘much more - important that owners should be safeguarded in the possession of their property’ than that cottages should be provided, completely destroyed its efficacy in these particulars by making innumerable amendments, the general effect of which was to render the procedure costly, slow, and complicated. On returning to the Commons, all the most im- | portant of these amendments were rejected by large majorities. In the end, though only at the cost of concessions on some points, the Bill was passed, and a step forward, short indeed of the Liberal ideal (thanks solely to the Lords), but still a great one, taken in Housing Reform. THE HOUSING AND TOWN the existing procedure for — ¢ 4) The Trade Boards Act (1909) is a measure in which, for the first time, the great industrial and social evil of sweating is attacked. What the Act does is to establish Trade Boards, the duty of which is to fix minimum rates of wages for time- work in certain trades. They may also fix general minimum rates for piece-work. The trades to which the > Act at present applies are: (1) Ready-made and whole- sale bespoke tailoring; (2) Cardboard box making ; (3) Machine-made lace and net finishing; and (4) Hammered and dollied or tommied chain-making. To these trades others may from time to time be added in which the prevailing rate of wages is exception- ally low as compared with that in other employments. Such rates of wages (whether time or piece rates) may be fixed so as to apply universally to the trade, or so as to apply to any special process in the work of the trade, or to any special class of workers in the trade, or to any special area. | | After a Trade Board has fixed a minimum rate for any trade, but before it has been made obligatory by the Board of Trade, employers may give written notice to the Trade Board that they agree to be bound by it. A ‘White List’ of employers doing so is kept by the ‘Trade Board, and is open to public inspection, and no contract is given by Government Departments or local authorities to any employer whose name is not on this register. During this period of limited operation all employers must pay wages at not less than the minimuni rate, unless there is a written agreement under which the worker agrees to accept less. Inthe absence of such an agreement, wages at the minimum rate can be recovered from the employer as a debt (but the employer will not be liable to a fine unless he has given notice in the manner mentioned). The Trade Boards are composed of representatives of _ employers and of workers in equal proportion, together with members appointed by the Board of Trade. In the case of a Trade Board for a trade in which women are largely employed, at least one of the appointed members must be a woman. Women are also eligible as representative members. A Trade Board may establish District Trade Com- mittees, whose duty it is to report on or recommend to the Trade Boards minimum rates applicable to the trade in their area. These are composed of members of Trade Boards and also of non-members, they must be repre- sentative of employers and workers, and each must have on it at least one appointed member. Oe (74) LABOUR EXCHANGES ACT, 1909. The Labour Exchanges Act, 1909, introduced by the ‘Liberal Government, provides for the establishment of -a system of Labour Exchanges which affords a remedy — for two features of the problem of unemployment—(1) the dack of mobility of labour, and (2) the lack of information | -on the question. iis A Uniform National System.—The system is a uniform mnational one, the whole country being divided into eight divisions, each with a divisional clearing house, presided -over by a divisional officer subordinate to a central office in London. Number of Exchanges.—The system was inaugurated -on February Ist, 1910, and by the end of 1911 there were 261 Exchanges in operation. At the end of September, 1912, the number had increased to 398. : Operations.—From the opening of the Exchanges on February Ist, 1910, up to September 30th, 1912, over -one-and-a-half million (1,500,000) vacancies have been filled, and in addition: nearly 270,000 jobs of a casual nature have been found for workmen. 156,000 persons chave been placed by Exchanges in districts other than — wthose at which they registered. Travelling Expenses.—Since the commencement of the Act, about 46800 has been advanced for travelling -expenses to 21,030 workpeople for whom jobs have been found through the Exchanges. Nearly the whole ~ -of this sum has been repaid. Expense.—For the year 1912-13, the estimated expen- diture for administrative purposes on Labour Exchanges _ and Unemployment ‘Insurance is 4343,537-. Unemployment Insurance.—I\t was intended when the Exchanges were established that they should serve as the centres for the administration of the proposed scheme of Unemployment Insurance, and that intention has been sgiven effect to in the National Insurance Act. Under Part Ii. of that Act, which embodies that scheme of Unemployment Insurance, the Labour Exchanges are used for the registration of unemployed workmen, and, except in the case of workmen paid through their Asso- ciation, for the payment of benefits to them. . Other Features.—(1) Separate provision is made in »Labour Exchanges for men and women. (2) Boy labour is dealt with in co-operation with the local education authority, the commercial side not being allowed to override the educational side. | THE SHOPS ACT, i911. } EPS ROSSA ASR be END PRET RAD SSE VAP LETS EE HSC ACIS BCEAO NEMS 2 EIECENE, The Shops Act came into force on May Ist, I912, provides for the early closing of shops, and brings about much-needed reforms in the conditions under which shop assistants work. : Early Closing. _ All shops must be closed on one week-day a week at not later than one o’clock, except, among others, public- houses, tobacconists’, chemists’, newsagents’, and shops for the sale of food and other articles of a perishable nature, and of motor and cycle necessaries. Any of these exempted businesses may be brought within the Act if the local authority is satisfied that two-thirds of their owners desire it. Local authorities may either fix the same day for all shops, or (a) Different days for different classes of shops; (6) Different days for different parts of the dis- trict; or (c) Different days for different periods of the year. In holiday resorts the early closing provision may be suspended by simple order of the iocal authority for not more than four months a year, but in this case the shop-keepers must give their assistants two weeks’ holiday on full pay. Trading in places not shops, at hours when it would be unlawful in shops, is forbidden, - with a saving for barbers attending at customers’ residences, for auctions of private effects in private houses, and for the sale of newspapers. Shop Assistants. The Act secures to each assistant in a// classes of shops _ one week-day in each week on which he is not to be em- ployed about the business of a shop after half-past one in the afternoon. This provision does not apply in the week before Bank Holiday, if on Bank Holiday the assistant is not employed, and if he also gets his half- holiday in Bank Holiday week. Different days may be fixed for different assistants. No person is to be employed for more than six hours without an interval during that period of at least twenty minutes, and further: (a) where the hours. of employment anclude 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. there must be allowed for dinner within those times three-quarters of an hour, or, if meals are not taken on the shop premises, a whole hour ; (4) where the hours include 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. half- an-hour must be allowed for tea. | In cases where assistants are employed in the sale of . refreshments or the sale by retail of intoxicating liquors, or are employed in any shop on the market day in any town in which a market is held not oftener than once a week, or on a day on which an annual fair is held, the © dinner interval may be taken so as to emd not earlier than 11.30 a.m. or to commence not later than 2.30 p.m. The provisions as to meals do not apply, if the only persons employed as shop assistants are members of the family of the occupier of the shop, maintained by him and dwelling in his house. SOME LABOUR MEASURES. Notice of Accidents Act, 1906, consider- ably stmplifies and. improves the system of re- porting accidents in mines, quarries, factories. and workshops, with a view to the better pre- vention of accidents. Factory and Workshop Act, 1907, shoreds ve the hours of labour in laundries, and brings — under the inspection of the Home Office all industries carried on for profit in charitable and _ reformatory institutions (Convent laundries, &c.) Employment of Women Act, 1967, abolishes from the Factory Acts the last pro- vision permitting the employment of women in © industrial occupations during the night. Employers’ Liability (Insurance Com-— panies) Act, 1907, affords additional protec- tion to the workmen entitled to compensation under the Compensation Acts by requiring all companies doing accident business to conform > to the law relating to Life Assurance Companies. Fatal Accidents (Damages) Act, 1908, _ provides that in case of fatal accidents insurance =) money shall not be taken into account in assess- ing damages. White Phosphorus Matches Prohibition Act, 1908, prohibits the use of white phos- phorus in the manufacture of matches, and so frees the workers from all risk of the terrible disease of necrosis (‘‘ phossy jaw”). Factory and Workshops (Cotton Cloth Factories) Act, 1911, empowers Secretary of State to make further regulations for protection of health in factories in regard to humidity and ventilation. SOME LEGAL REFORMS. Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, creates, after attempts renewed again and again during the last ‘sixty years, a Court of Appeal in criminal cases, which places within the reach of persons accused of crime rights of appeal similar to those enjoyed by persons who have verdicts against them in civil _cases. | Liberty has thus, for the first time’in legal history, remedies and safeguards similar to those which have long protected property. Probation of Offenders Act, 1807, enables, — _in suitable cases, any Court to release any offender on probation without sentencing him to fine or imprisonment, and provides for the appointment of officers to supervise and befriend -such persons while on probation. Prevention of Grime Act, 19038, provides (1) for the reformation of young offenders over the age of sixteen by giving Courts power to subject _ them fora period not exceeding three years to the Borstal system of moral instruction and industrial training, and giving power to place them out on licence; and (2) for the prolonged detention of habitual criminals under conditions somewhat less ‘severe than thosé of ordinary penal servitude. Costs in Criminal Cases Act, 19038, empowers (in England and Wales) certain Courts, in the case of indictable offences, to order reason- able costs of the prosecution of the defence, or both, to be paid out of the funds of the County or -. County Borough. Perjury Act, 1911, consolidates and simplifies the law relating to perjury and similar offences. Copyright Act, 1911, amends, simplifies, and codifies practically the whole law of Copyright, bringing under substantially the same conditions all original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic ~ works (including works of architecture and me- chanical instrument records and _ rolls), and also - the performance or translation of a work and the dramatisation of novels ; providing that copyright will last, except in a few special cases, for the life of the author and fifty years after his death; and extend- ing to the whole Empire, subject only to the option of each self-governing Dominion to adopt it or not. IRISH UNIVERSITIES ACT, 1908. é One of the problems hon have long we baffied successive Governments has been : the problem of providing suitable Univer- sity Education in Ireland, and the problem was at last solved by Mr. Birrell’s Act of 1908. | aie This Act abolished the Royal University of Ireland, which was a purely examining body, and — created in its place two new Universities, having their seats in Dublin and Belfast, and styled respectively the National University of Ireland and the Queen’s University of Belfast. These new Universities are autonomous and free from tests. The first governing bodies are nominated for five years; afterwards the governing bodies will be mainly elective. The National University — of Ireland has three constituent colleges, namely the University Colleges at Cork and Galway, formerly known as the Queen’s Colleges, and a new University College in Dublin. The Queen’s — University of Belfast has absorbed the Queen’s College, Belfast. Power is also given to each University to recognise other colleges. The exist- ing endowment (£20,000 a year) of the Royal University is divided equally between the two new Universities, and a further annual grant of £82,000 is to be provided in certain proportions for the new Universities and colleges. In addition, — | ‘the sum of £230,000 was to be provided under i the Act for lands, buildings, and equipment, and the greater part of this amount has already been provided. The University of Dublin (Trinity College) is not affected by the Act. The result of the Act is that there are Univer- sities to which Protestants, Roman Catholics and Presbyterians are all willing to send their sons and daughters, whilst at the same time the State has steadily refused to give its funds to endow denomi- nations. a I ES a. ee hte a Gr (79) IRISH LAND ACT, 1909, The finance of the Irish Land Act of 1903 having broken down (for the two reasons that it has never been possible to issue 22 percent. stock at par, and that the amount required for land purchase was ridiculously under-estimated), the further progress of land purchase was completely blocked. ‘To re- move the block and prevent the disorder that might arise from its not being removed, the Government introduced this measure—first in 1908 and againin 1909, when after a severe struggle with the Lords it passed, though in a mutilated form. The Government proposed that for future transactions a new 3 per cent. stock is to be issued, which the landlords are to take at its face value instead of cash. Instead of an annuity of 3} per cent., future purchasers are to pay 34 per cent. The landlord’s bonus is also to be the smaller the larger the number of years’ purchase he gets for his land. That is to say, in consideration of the fact that the Treasury has to find an additional 25 millions, each of the other parties is asked to pay more for the benefits received. The measure also adopted the main recommenda- tions of the Dudley Commission as to Congested Districts. The Board has been remodelled, its income has been raised to £250,000, and its powers generally greatly enlarged, including that of compul- sory acquisition of land for the relief of congestion. The Bill was bitterly contested by the Tories in the Commons. The Lords read it a second time, _ but in Committee they altered it so completely as to make it a new (and very Tory) Bill, except that they did not touch the part dealing with finance— there was money in this part for the landlords! -» In the end the Bill was saved, though in a badly mutilated condition. % ; % % ; It should be added that, speaking on the question of Irish Land Purchase, Mr. Birrell said (in Com- mittee of the Home Rule Bill) :— ‘The pledge I give is this—that, whatever hap- pens to the Bill, we propose at the earliest possible moment to deal with this subject on the lines on which we have hitherto dealt with it, not on new lines, and to carry out to completion at the earliest possible day a job which is already two-thirds done. That is the assurance which I am authorised by the Prime Minister to give’ (House of Commons, October 16th, 1912). | (80) Scotch EDUCATION act, 1908 This Act, which marks a great Liberal : ‘success where the Tories only scored failure, is a comprehensive measure, conferring on the School Boards numerous new powers of a far- reaching character which will ae increase the efficiency of Scotch Education. It sti eidee for the medical inspection of children, and for the care (ineluding the supply of food and clothing) of neglected children, and makes special provision for defective children and children in isolated districts. e It improves in certain respects the position of ‘the teachers, pools all the Local Taxation - Funds in aid of Education, alters the franchise for School Board Elections, and deals with ‘the transfer of Endowed Schools to School Boards. | It empowers School Boards to make attendance at continuation classes eompulsory between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. ‘This provision, which appears for the first time in any Education Act, is one of the utmost importanee, not only educationally but industrially. In the Lords, it should ‘be noted, an attempt (which fortunately came ito nothing) was made to cut it out. Sr Os a Oe eS ~ : ; AA THE SCOTCH LAND ACT. (81) LLL RS ERE ES ET WE THE Scotch Small Landholders Act had, thanks. to the House of Lords, a remarkable history. It was first introduced by the Government in 1907, when, in spite of passing its Third Reading in. the Commons by a majority of 127, it was wrecked by the Lords. Reintroduced by the Goverment in. 1908, it passed its Third Reading in the Commons by a majority of 257, but was rejected by the Lords on Second Reading by a majority of 120. At last, in 1911, when it was introduced by a private member, but was taken up later by the Goverment, the Lords gave way, and it reached: the Statute Book. For four years, therefore, the Lords prevented Scotland from getting the measure,, Land Reform, which, as the census figures and the emigration returns alike proved, was a vital neces- sity to her well-being, and which she demanded through five-sixths of her representatives in the Commons. What the Act does. The Act gives Scotland a comprehensive and drastic reform of its land system. Among the | ' more important of its provisions are the follow Re (1) The extension of the Crofters Acts throughout Scotland, and their application to all small yearly agricultural tenants, and, in certain cases, to leaseholders. Posi (2) The establishment of a Land Court, con- sisting of five members, one of whom must be able to speak Gaelic, for (a) arranging schemes for new holdings, (4) fixing fair rents for holdings, (c) assisting small holders with loans, if they think. fit, and (d) compulsory purchase of land required for small holdings. (3) The creation of a separate Board of Agri- culture and Fisheries for Scotland, the administra- tion of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act being reserved for the English Board for the sake: of unformity of action. : (4) The grant of £200,000 a year for the creation: and enlargement of small holdings, and for housing. purposes connected therewith. i oe THE SCOTCH LAND VALUES BILLS OF 1907 & 1908, The Land Values (Scotland) Bill, introduced first in 1907 and again in 1908, provided for the insertion in the _ valuation roll of each county and burgh in Scotland of an additional column under the heading ‘Capital Land Value,’ under which it should be obligatory to enter the capital land value of the several lands and heritages required by the Valuation Acts to be entered in the valuation roll. Its object was simply the ‘ascertainment’ of land values, and no person was liable to be taxed or rated in respect of the entry prescribed by it, until Par- liament otherwise determined. But the measure ~ was the first essential step towards the taxation of land values, and as such en- countered the bitter opposition of the Tories, and notably of Mr. Balfour. Not-— withstanding this, however, the Bill was read a second time in both years by overwhelming majorities :— Second Reading; 1007. (ge ae SOA IO. FO _ Majority—218 For. second Reading, 1900 20 ses )i060 1 363 to 99 Majority—264 For. : The Lords and the Bills. In the two years in which the Bill came before them the Lords adopted different methods of dealing with it, but in both their action was determined by their hatred and fear of the taxation of land values (or the ‘ pur- loining’ of the unearned increment, as Lord Balfour ‘called it). Its result was the same—the Bill was lost. | In 1907 they rejected it outright on Second Reading by 118 to 31 (majority 87). In 1908 the rejection of the Bill was again proposed. The motion, however, was withdrawn and the Bill given a Second Reading. This was merely a meaningless form, as the subsequent proceedings speedily proved. In Committee they carried amendments which (1) made the valuation optional, and (2) substituted ‘ yearly’ for . ‘capital’ value, thus leaving the basis of the valuation as at present. The effect of this was, as Lord Halsbury said, to ‘negative the purpose’ of the measure, and it was useless to proceed with it. The triumph of the Lords was, however, short-lived, as the object of the measure was, of course, secured by the great Budget of 1909. f ee oe (83) | THE LICENSING BILL, 1908, Its Two Main Objects. en ar SN SS (1) To reduce the number of Public-houses. It is generally agreed that there are far too many public-houses, ind that all legitimate needs of the public would be served by less facilities for drinking. That much was admitted in the Tory Act of 1904, which taxed ‘the Trade’ in order to get money with which to _ shut up public-houses. That Act has done something to _ reduce their number, but not enough, and the Bill of 1908 proposed to quicken the process, so that by reductions Spread over 14 years, the total number of public-houses in England and Wales might be reduced by a third (from 96,000 to 64,000). All who have studied the habits of the people know that this would have made for a Steady bettering of cur social conditions. _ (2) To put an end to the present licensing _ System so that the State may recover that full control of the retail trade which has always been an essential part of public policy. It was proposed that after this reduction period of fourteen years, all applications for public-house licences shall be treated as applications for new licences, the “monopoly value’ of which, after 21 years, should. be secured for the benefit of the State, as provided for by the Act of 1904 in the case of new licences. A licence is only an annual grant. There is ncthing new about this. It has been the law for three centuries. Everybody has known it to be the law since the decision in Sharpe v. Wakefield nearly twenty yearsago. ‘The Trade’ has had full warning, therefore, that a public-house licence not being a freehold interest, the State would sooner or later insist upon resuming its full right to treat it asan annual grant. In other words ‘the Trade’ knew that it was engaged in a speculative business which demanded the setting up of insurance and reserve funds to meet the altered conditions when the State should decide to impose a time limit. As Lord Rosebery said in the House of Lords in 1904 :— ‘I do not care what your limit is, but Iam certain of this—that _the only way in which you will ever achieve a real temperance reform is by fixing a date, at the expiration, of which all interest in the licence shall be held to be exhausted, and the nation will then resume its claim, its absolute dominion, over interests which tad Mec created at the expense of the State and no other than the ate, (84) Wee LORDS AND THE LICENSING BILL. The amendment which settled the fate of the Licensing Bill was concocted at Lansdowne House and proposed in the House of Lords by Lord Lansdowne. It ran as follows ae ‘That this House, while ready to consider favourably any amendments which experience has shown to be necessary in the law regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors, declines to proceed further with a measure which, | without materially advancing the cause of temperance, would occasion grave inconvenience to many of His Majesty’s subjects, and violate every principle of equity in its dealings with the numerous classes whose interests will be affected by the Bill.’ * * + * % In effect the decision of the House of Lords was one | against the principle of a time-limit, and, as might have been expected, this was most nakedly set out by Lord Halsbury. He regarded the question merely as ‘one of the proper distribution of what was in a great measure one of the important foods of the people’:— ‘He protested against the notion that im securing the monopoly value the State was but resuming what it had parted with. The State had parted with no such thing. It was true the State exercised control over the public- houses in the interest of the public peace, convenience, and health, but he denied that that control gave the State any right to the property of the trade.’—(Aouse of — Lords, November 26th, 1908.) Here we have indeed a policy of confiscation—of — confiscation of the State’s interests by ‘the trade. It is ‘the trade,’ backed by the House of Lords, with Lord Halsbury as the ‘trade’ champion, | which has ‘robbed’ the State of something which the Government desired to get back by the considerate and equitable process of a time-limit. & % . % % * The final words in the debate came from the Lord Chancellor :— ‘We shall be overwhelmed, of course. But with all respect to the noble marquis who leads the Opposition (Lord Lansdowne)—and I feel a real respect for him—IL say it will not be to his honour, rt will not be to his credit, that this Bill is rejected, for it is the triumph of a trade over the community, it is the victory of wrong over right.’—(ouse of Lords, November 27th, 1908.) : | i | AY ne a 4 MONEY ‘SPENT TN DRINK AND EMPLOYMENT. A. Government return issued in 1891 present Lord Aldwyn) was President of the _ Board of Trade shows, how comparatively little the brewing trade pays in wages as compared. with other trades. Here are the figures :— Be Oe EEE aA Paid in __ Page | Wages out in Blue Occupation. of each Book. | |€£160 vaiue produced. hy |) Mining... ee a Gah 3 «624 |} Shipbuilding’ --.. Ee 37:0 fo 4) ~~) SC Docks and Harbours... | 34°7 $2 | Railways. os 30°0 | 26 | Cotton Manufacture... 29 °2 i ooo ereuiture ~~... a 29°0 ae oe Canals... oe Sot eee i aio) Waterworks 2. 25°7 17 22 | Tron and Steel Manv- | ge facture ui 23°3 ia 30 | Textile Industries | 22° |. _—s«:18-—- | Gas Manufacture | 20°0 P 43 | Brewing... a | 15 | his table shows the folly of think- | ing that the mere consumption of } intoxicants is somehow good for | trade, or that it puts a higher pro- portion of money into the pockets. |} of the wage-earners. io vs 6535), when Sir Michael Hicks-Beach (the © ( THE GOVERNMENT AND “POSTAL WORKERS. On Mr. Buxton’s motion (in 1906), a Parliamen- tary Committee was appointed to consider the question of the wages and conditions of service of the various classes of Post Office Servants. Under the recommendations of this Committee, which he has carried out, the pay of numerous Classes has been increased, and the con- ditions of service improved. The increase in the wage bill of the Post Office resulting from the ‘Hobhouse Revision’ is estimated to amount to more than £700,000. | “ The question of the employment of boys as telegraph messengers has received very careful consideration, in order that the services of — as many of them as possible may be retained by the Post Office, and that those for whom permanent work cannot be found may be helped to obtain situations outside. A Standing Committee has been appointed to consider the problem of Boy Labour. e The use of overtime and of auxiliary la- bour has been discouraged, and reduced where possible. ! : : Yelegraphists’ cramp has been scheduled as a dangerous disease. | ua At the Mount Pleasant and Holloway Factories the work and the staff have been as far as possible placed on a uniform basis, so as to minimise ups and downs, undue engagement of men at one time, with consequent discharges and short time at another. : ‘i A *Suggestion Scheme’ has been intro- . duced under which awards are made to workmen for suggestions tending to the improvement in machines, tools, apparatus, methods of manu- facture, prevention of accidents, &c. . In providing the additional staff required at Christmas preference is given to those who are out of work. Many of those men are obtained through Labour Exchanges. Their wages _ have been raised in London from 20s. to 245. a week. Postal labour on Sundays has been appreciably dirninished in England, Ireland, and Wales. Since the passing of the Shops Act a weekly half- holiday has been extended to a very large number of Sub-Postmasters. : 2 Sanne hah ROLE NB ELE ARIAL BOE Bea Blank et = a a . ae : tae i POST OFFICE REFORMS. A Post Office Inspector has been appointed, in order to enable the Postmaster-General to obtain’ information in reference to, and to exercise control over, the labour conditions under which contracts are carried out. The Postmaster-General has thus found that on certain contracts women were at times employed at ‘sweating’ wages He has therefore introduced a new minimum wage clause settling limits below which wages paid to women and girls are not to fall. This clause, with the addition of others inserted to _ assist in the better enforcement of the Fair Wage Clause (which, on a motion of Mr. Buxton’s, passed _by the House of Commons in March, 1909, has been much strengthened), has had a marked effect im improving the conditions under which Post Office clothing is now made. _ The Government have promised (1) that Govern- ment Contractors: must not require their employés not to belong to a Trade Union, (2) that names of firms obtaining Government Contracts shall be published, (3) that measures shall be adopted for the better enforcement of the Fair Wage Clause, and (4) that a Fair Wages Advisory Committee shall be appointed to secure greater uniformity of - administration in this matter. The conditions of service of Mail Cart Dri- vers in London and certain provincial towns have been dealt with, and a considerable improvement obtained. in the rates of wages and hours. Where it can conveniently be arranged, Post Office contract work is performed at times of year when the trade is generally slack. Associations of Postal Servants. The representative character of the various Associations of Postal Servants has been fully recognised. The right of appeal by individual officers to the Postmaster-General, where they con- sider they have a grievance, has been emphasised. Associations may now make representations on _ the conditions of service of individuals. Political Influence. Political considerations have been excluded in the appointment ofsub-postmasters and medical officers. SS ee a a. BETTER CONDITIONS FOR THE — MEN IN THE NAVY, Under the present Liberal Government, large and substan- tial improvements have been made in the ‘conditions of service for petty officers and men. : _ For the first time in the history of the Navy, promotion to commissioned rank has been thrown open to the lower deck at an early age, and eighteen young warrant officers and petty officers have been selected to pass for the new rank of of Acting Mate, After duly qualifying for their new — a duties, these officers will be appointed to ships, and will be available for all executive duties of Sub-Lieutenant, and ~ eligible for further promotion to the higher ranks, One officer, who had risen to Lieutenant’s rank from the lower deck, has already been promoted to the rank of Commander on the active list. It is intended to promote twenty-five warrant officers and petty officers a year to the new rank of Mate, up to a total of at least one hundred. ‘ i To compensate warrant officers of many years’ service who | are not eligible on account of age for the new rank of Mate, it has been decided to promote them to the rank of Com- missioned Warrant Officer after fifteen years’ service as Warrant’ Officer instead of after some twenty years, as has been the practice hitherto. Great changes have been made in the regulations regard- — ing discipline in the Navy, and particularly in the system _ of summary punishments. It has long been recognized that a need existed for a rational revision of certain methods of summary punishment known as ‘1o.A’ together with other summary punishments of a like character, have been abol- ished once and for all. Petty officers have also received the much-coveted privilege of an appeal to a court-martial before _ they can be disrated. : Further, the First Lord of the Admiralty, speaking in the House of Commons on the 22nd July, 1912, announced © that definite proposals for increasing the pay of the lower deck would be brought forward at an early date. The First Lord said: . ‘It is our duty to see that the'seamen and stokers and others, on’ - whose courage and conduct in peace and war the whole fortunes of the State depend, are not left behind or overlooked or neglected.’ : _Among other substantial reforms which have been intro- duced since the present Liberal Government came intopower are :— (x) Warrant rank has been given to Armourers, Ship’s Stewards, Ship’s Police, Ship’s Cooks, and Electricians. _ _ @) The pay of Chief Stokers and of the new rating of Mechan- ician has been increased, and the rank of Warrant Mechanician established. ° (3) The cookery arrangements of the fleet have been placed on. a better footing, and the food for the ship’s company is now pre- pared and cooked by qualified Cook ratings. | (4) New victualling and canteen arrangements have come into operation, and the new system is everywhere resulting in economy to the men. , jee In various other ways, too numerous to mention in detail, the Liberal Government has proved its determination to consider the comfort and contentment of the lower deck. Oe. 4 (91) THE DOCKYARDS UNDER - LIBERAL ADMINISTRATION. The members of the Board of Admiralty have made a practice of hearing petitions of the em- _ ployés at the Dockyards, and thus have come Into direct contact with the Dockyard hands. The various trades employed in the yards have been allowed to select as one of their representa- _ tives on these occasions a person not employed in the Dockyard service, and in this way officials of trade unions have been invited to speak on their behalf. : _ Many improvements have been made in the conditions of Dockyard employés, in addition to several increases in their rates of wages. The total value of the increases of wages granted in and since 1906 amounts to about £140,500 per canntim: rar _A working arrangement has been come to for the investigation of alleged breaches of the Fair Wages Clause in Admiralty contracts, whereby _ any trade union which wishes to make a com- _ plaint against a contractor communicates with E _ the Secretary of the Trade Union Congress _ Parliamentary Committee. The average 48-hour working week has been converted into a uniform 48-hour week, giving a moderate working day all the year round, viz., from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with 14 hours for dinner _ on four days and one hour on Fridays, and from 7 to 12 a.m. on Saturdays. DISCHARGES AND ENTRIES. _ The following figures show the number of discharges and entries in the Dockyards. January ist, 1906, to July 13th, 1912. Discharges ; , (1) On account of reductions ... 2,647 13,326 (2) From other causes ... 2 LO, Oe pe Entries : a ye Ale ais oe at 23,302 Net increase 10,036 (92) HOURS OF WORK. During the Session of 1907 much attention RAILWAY SERVANTS | | o? So RSI AYAN : 1 ‘was given to the question of the hours of work ~ se of railway servants, and the Board of Trade caused local investigations to be made by their Inspecting Officers into the circumstances on certain lines on which—owing largely to a con- gestion of traffic—the hours worked were In many cases excessive. The Board called for Weekly Returns from certain centres where the ‘hours were known to have been bad. These Returns were discontinued after a time in view -of the improvement shown. 7 Since the beginning of 1907 it has been the practice of the Board of Trade to require periodical Returns of the hours of certain classes of railway servants from all the Companies, under the Regulation of Railways Act, 1889, for certain specified months (at first four in each year and latterly two).. The Returns of the larger Companies have been published as Parhamentary Papers, and they show a prac- tically continuous reduction in the number of cases in which the men were on duty for exces- - sive hours. Some reductions in the standard hours on particular railways have also been effected under the Conciliation Agreement of 1907. The following shows the improvement secured in the number of days exceeding twelve hours by one hour or more worked by various grades employed by the larger Companies :— April, 1907. May, rort. Passenger guards andbrakesmen 2,811 ... 1,930 Passenger enginemen ... a e220. ue eye Goods guards and brakesmen... 5,178 «.- 1,087 Goods enginemen ne wos 2A IOR ope Gee Signalmen ne Le wie Ty SAAS dae Examiners. Pee ae ap BOA Gres 450. pois (93) WHAT THE | LIBERAL GOVERNMENT HAS DONE FOR THE MINERS. 1. Passed (in 1906) the Workmen’s Compensa- | tion Act (see page 65). . _ @. Added to the Schedule of the Workmen’s Com- pensation Act the following injuries and diseases specially affecting miners:—Beat Hand, Beat Knee, Beat Elbow, Strained Wrist, and Nystagmus (eye disease), (in addition to Miner’s Worm). Compensation can now be claimed by miners suffering from any of these, as though they were injuries due to accident. : _8. Passed (in 1906) the Trade Disputes Act (see page 64). | 4. Repealed the Coal Duty, which checked the export of coal and therefore lessened employ- ment for Miners. S. Passed (in 1908) a Government Bill to estab- lish the legal Eight Hours Day in Mines (see page 69). 6. Passed (in 1910) Mines Accidents (Rescue and Aid) Act, enabling the Secretary of State to make an order requiring provision to be made in the mines for appliances for rescue work and ambu- lance appliances, and for training in rescue and ambulance work. , 7. Passed (in 1911) Coal Mines Act, securing greater safety for miners, by providing for the most stringent inspection of the mines, the closest supervision of their working, for the taking of precautions against inflammable gas and coal-dust, and for good ventila- tion. Provision is also made for the prevention of certain miners’ diseases and for baths for the miners, while the age of boys employed underground is raised to fourteen, and of boys and girls above ground to thirteen. ae | S. Passed (in 1912) the Coal Mines (Minimum Wage) Act, setting up machinery by which what shall be the minimum wage in the various mining districts shall be settled. This measure was brought. in by the Government in order to bring the great Coal Strike to an end, and it quickly and completely achieved this object. THE ‘SPOILS SYSTEM. on RAG m4 a a , ‘ } Mg ° a The great measures of Social Reform which the Govern- Pe. ment has passed have, of course, necessitated the appoint- ment of a large number of new officials, and because their duties were new, these had in some cases, equally of course, to be appointed without the competitive examination usual in the Civil Service. Because of this necessary and entirely innocent state of things, Mr. Bonar Law, at the Albert Hall on January 26th, 1912, thought fit to charge the Government with having created a ‘political | spoils system’ like that in the United States, where it is the custom, on a change of Government, for - many offices which have been filled by partisans of the out-_ going Government to be vacated, and filled by partisans of the in-going Government. This is, of course, so absurdly © remote from our practice that even Mr. Law himself could — not seriously maintain it. What he meant was that the Government had used these new appointments to reward political services by giving them to Liberals. No more abominable charge could be brought against any British Government. As against the Liberal Government, it is, of course, absolutely and utterly untrue. What are the facts in each case where legislation has required the appointment of new officials ? | : (x1) Old Age Pensions Act.—The few extra officials needed were appointed from among men who had already passed examinations for the Excise. bin (2) Labour Exchanges Act.—All the officials were ap- pointed by a Committee, appointed by Mr. Churchill for the purpose. Its Chairman was the Chairman of the Civil. Service Commission (a position he owed to the Tories), the second member was Mr. Shackleton (at that time a Labour M.P.), and the third a member of the Tariff Reform Com- mission—not one of them a Liberal. , ae (3) Finance Act, 1909-10.—All the appointments of new officials for the work of valuation were made by the Inland Revenue Officials, (4) Insurance Act.—The Government appointed only the Insurance Commissioners and their four secretaries, and issued a minute to the effect that candidates for posts of any kind who recommended themselves on political grounds would be disqualified. So much for Mr. Law’s charge. It only remains to add that his conduct after making it was on a level with the charge itself. On the opening day of the Session, Mr. Asquith challenged him to prosecute it and make it good in the House of Commons. Mr. Law declined the challenge. A few days later, when challenged again by Mr. Asquith, all Mr.-Law could say was that he was going to ask for a Return of all appointments made without competitive examination since the Government came into office in 1905. In a word, charge first, evidence (if any) after- wards! This Return was at once granted by the Govern- ment. But what is to be thought of a political leader who brings against his opponents the grossest charge in his power and then has to admit—as Mr. Law, of course, did by asking for the Return—but without apology, that he has no evidence ? : ee a ae) THE GOCOA DUTY. For years it has been the favourite taunt of Tarift Reformers against the Government that they, a Free Trade Government, maintained the Cocoa Duty, in which there was, admittedly, an element—a very small _one—of Protection. The occasion for the taunt no longer exists. For, to the great satisfaction of all Free _ Traders, Mr. Lloyd George, in the Budget of 1911, so altered the duty as to get rid of this Protectionist element, with the result that cocoa is now on exactly the same _ Free Trade footing as any other industry in the country. _ The loss to the revenue involved is £45,000. AS (Pariie Protectionists, and as duty should be Pro- tectiy use its existence as, they thought, an effective means of scoring off the | Government. The loss of this favourite weapon made them very angry. They suddenly discovered that the Protective element was a help to the small manufacturers ae {to whom they had never before given a thought), and | they opposed its removal in the House of Commons. WAS a fact, they had gone far beyond merely using the duty as a means of taunting the Government with ‘Inconsistency. For the Tariff Reform League issued a _ poster, headed ‘Exposed,’ in which two. suggestions » of the grossest kind were made. The suggestions Auewere :— _ (1) That the Government had put on the duty for the _ first time in the Budgets of 1909 and 19103; and (2) That they had done this ‘for the benefit’ of _ certain large manufacturers who are Liberals and Free ned Draders. The answer to the first is that the duty was first put Mon in 1853, and had remained the same ever since, the Government having only maintained it as every Govern- _ment—Liberal and Tory alike—had done since then. i This being so, the second suggestion completely falls _ to the ground. But it was not only utterly untrue, it _ was also particularly silly, in view of the fact that the A large manufacturers had publicly asked for the removal of the Protective element, which they regarded as not only not helping them, but as actually handicapping _ them in comparison with their foreign competitors. (96) oe 3 — THE OSBORNE JUDGMENT. — The Osborne Judgment, delivered in 1910, decided two most important points in regard to the legal powers ot Trade Unions: (1) That a Trade Union cannot devote ; its funds to political purposes or make levies for such — purposes; and (2) that the sphere of activities of Trade Unions must, according to the Trade Union Acts, be confined to industrial purposes, and must not in the slightest degree overlap political purposes. This ne- me cessarily placed the Trade Unions in a position of the 2 | | 2 utmost difficulty. Not only did it make it impossible oe a ie for them to pay Labour Members as they had done and were doing, but it closed to them most, ifnotall, ofthe wide field of political activities, both Parliamentary and ee Municipal, in which they had engaged, without doubt or question as to their perfect right to do so, for many years. Such a state of things was plainly intolerable, and the - Government announced their intention of dealing with it. First, they promised to-bring about Payment of Mem- ; bers, which would meet the immediate financial difficulty. This they carried out in August, I9II. Second, they promised to bring in 4 measure to repair the breach made by the Judgment in the general position and practice.of > the Trade Unions in regard to political work, end 8 accordingly the Trade Unions Bill was introduced in — ” the same year. It was read a second time (May 30thy = by 219 to 18 (majority, 201), the. minority being entirely composed of Tories. It was impossible to proceed — further with the Bill in 1911, but it was again introduced : in 1912, whem it was read a second time and sent to a Standing Committee, after a Tory amendment for its rejection had been defeated by 232 to 134 (majority 98). What the Bill Proposes. The Bill proposes to give the Trade Unions power (1) to include in their objects and organization the provision of a fund for Parliamentary and Municipal action and representation, and for similar objects ; and (2) to combine for these purposes. The power to do. these things, is, however, subject to two conditions—(1) - The opinion of a Union as to its exercise of this power must first be effectively ascertained ; and (2) No member of a Union is to be compelled to contribute to the fund. The Bill will thus secure to the Trade — | Unions ail reasonable freedom of political activity. 5. = (97) WHAT A TORY VICTORY THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION WOULD MEAN. 1. It would mean Tariff Reform with Tariff’ Reform Food Taxes. Tariff Reform is the Tory ‘first constructive’ work. Mr. Balfour at the last General Election promised. that before Tariff Reform was put into operation it. would have to be carried ina Special Referendum, . but no one is quite certain whether this pledge still holds good. Mr. Austen Chamberlain, for instance, Says that it does not. So also says, Mr. oS Smith. It MIGHT mean Conscription. All the leading advocates of Universal Military Service (as to which see next page) are Tories, many- of them leading and influential Tories. It would mean the repeal of the Parlia-. ment Act. Full powers are to be restored, either to the present. House of Lords or to some new Second Chamber in. which, if it is like any Second Chamber as yet. proposed by the Tory Party, there would be a. permanent Tory majority. ae 4. It would mean the ‘drastic’ amendment. of the Insurance Act. The adjective is Mr. Bonar Law’s. He uses it but: he will not explain it—he says he cannot. ft would mean tampering with the. Budget of 1909 in the interests of the landlords. | Here again we are told no details, but it is not diffi- cult to imagine the way in wh would go to work. y ’ ich a Tory Government: (98) TEN REASONS AGAINST ‘GOMPULSORY NATIONAL SERVICE. o a 1. Because it is compulsory service, and com-— pulsory service is simply Conscription. _ 2. Because Conscription imposes a heavy | burden on the manhood and the industrial ay} liberty of those countries that adopt it. 3. Because Conscription is alien to the omy ae and methods of our people. 4. Because as an Island Power, relying on an i) overwhelmingly powerful Navy, we do not need || Conscription. 5. Because if our Navy were destroyed, we _ could be starved into submission, and Coe oe scription could not help us. 6. Because while our Navy exists we cannot be invaded by a force of more than about 70,000, and our 300,000 ‘erritorials are sufficient to deal with such a, raid. . Because Conscription would Gestioy | QUE |: Aceciceial Force. 8. Because the ‘Territorial Force has been carefully planned to meet our needs, and is sutticient for them. | 9. Because the Territorial Force, which has - been in existence only four and a half your, should be given a fair trial. 1o. Because the Conscription scheme of the 2 National Service League would cost us at least : | 48,000,000 more than we are already paying for National Defence. es cae 3A ee eS ae “Wan © WHY DOES BREAD SOMETIMES _ Is it the fault of the Liberals? NO. _Is it because bread is taxed (as the ries want it to be)? NO. Why is it then? © ee _ Here is the simple truth of the matter, : as told by Tories. The TIMES (Financial and Commercial ‘Supplement, April 16th, 1909) said :— __- The controlling factors are found in the shrinkage of ‘prospective supplies for the remainder of the season, and the remarkable situation in America.’ The ‘remarkable situation’ in America was a ‘corner’ in wheat—an operation by which normous quantities of wheat are withheld from he market in order to force the price up, and which is made possible by the Protectionist ‘system there. : __ When the price rose in 1907-8, and many Tory speakers said it was the fault of the Liberal Government, the truth was frankly stated by other Tories. __ MR. CHAPLIN (Tory member for Wimble- don) said :— i : __ ‘Of course, the Radical Party can’t be blamed for the recent rise in the price of bread.... I at least have no intention of | imputing to them broken pledges because the price of bread, which we can none of us con- trol, has risen in the last few days.’—(Letfer in Westminster Gazette, May 31st, 1907.) __ SIR GEORGE DOUGHTY (Unionist member for Grimsby) said :— _ ‘If the Conservative Party had been in office and the same conditions had obtained that _ obtained this year, the bread would have been “just as dear under a Unionist Government as. under a Radical Government.’ —( Bridgwater, January 8th, 1908.) __ The real point is that the Untaxed _ Loaf is the Cheapest Loaf. , (100) 1906, | Education Bill eae ee Plural Voting Bill ... oo ee Tween ath Scotch Small Landholders’ Bill 7 Scotch Land Valuers’ Bill ... eee 1908. : Scotch Small Landholders’ Bur Be ko | Scotch Land Valuers’ Bill . Bo eee Licensing Bill ne Ae Oke 1Q0O. ga London Elections BHI 3.725 9) oa Finance Bill We a ee ro1i (After the Parliament Act). HOUSE OF ‘COMMONS TIME WASTED on Liberal Govern- — ment Bills which never reached _ the Statute Book owing to the | action of the HOUSE OF LORDS. : SITTINGS” MR LES ¢ he ot i i, me iis BAA HE 44 rai Naval Prize Bill oie ae a aide 5 . ee The average number of cite Wiese wee — F 170 @ of Commons Session for the nine years See 1. 1908) is aia * These ave not in every case whole Sittings; — but, on the other hand, nothing is added on © account of the numerous late, or all-night, th Sittings, nor is the time included which was © spent in Standing Committee on ahcarpee © of : the Bills. «on / ear a f ; 3 orp ITE Ot * + x a nT ee # : . _ Employment and Drink, Money spent in ,,, _.,,, 85 INDEX. [N.B.—Ft has not been practicable to include the | Fiscal Question in this Booklet. | : ae : PAG Agricultural Holdings Act, GOGO ts oe en ve: mimy, The... bes Seta es Fane NAS he », Expenditure _ Asquith, Mr., on the Preamble of the Parliament Wet > 163 Birrell’s, Mr., Education Bill of 1906 oa sige aS Bread, Why, sometimes gets Dearer. ‘aly e300 _ Budget of 1909, Cardinal Principles ca oes 5 : es Kealised Surpluses... ste a 6 aS) _ Three years’ experience ... ane 5 » . Tory tampering with be ome we, go Yield of New Taxes Imposed 6 Butter and Margarine Act, 1907 rs Pec ev Children Act, 1908... fas ee Ua a 65 har [32.. Employment of <... be ste ees PR _. Chinese Labour, Some home truths about ... WoL os Choice of Employment Act, 1910... Ai as ae _ Coal Mines Act we ve ie ve fone QO ae (Minimum Wage) Act ... Ai reek: eS Sy Regulation Act, 1908 ae oe 69, 93 Coal Tax, Abolition of —... ies iy me ROSEN Cocoa Duty, The ... yey Oa, Sauer on w+ QS Conscription ... Serna tect Se GRE NU ge 97, 98 Copyright Act, 1911 ... a re ee Tee ee Cost of Criminal Cases Act, 1908 .., ui Ress 4 Criminal Appeals Act, 1907 ... a ly ay Death Duties ... ote be A. ae fa 6 peut, National. *~.... ee th eae vs sce 4 Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, - 1909 on ia PB Ie Gon a ae epee Sa Disestablishment and Disendowment, Welsh - 40, 41, 42 Dockyards, under Liberal Administration ... BRATS: Dogs Act, 1906 © Sheela ts, ies ue eae Drink and Employment, Money spent in .., BET i * Earned’ Incomes, Income Tax on ay eas 7 Education Act, Scotch, 1908... a aoe iar sO Education Bill of 1906. Mr. Birrell’s as Fee aes Fos, ~ Bills of 1908 i Pepi has a ed >, Meals for Underfed. School Children... 59 * Medical Inspection of School Children... 58 x» Public Elementary School Accommoda- | Hons oc oC uh an ii aS 9» ° Question, The Liberal Party and Ey 9» secondary Schools and Teachers’ Pen- | SIONS.’ ;.. we co Rd Mier 5 Training Colleges... va ae, hes) eo Eight Hours’ Day for Miners ee ak! ar VOOM DS Electoral Reform, Franchise and Registration San of) Guar uF wre Adee 5 ye . London ae ot Sh PRBS Elementary School, Public, Accommodation ERE Employers’ Liability (Insurance Companies) Act, 1907 ‘e woe rea ANDEX continued Paplevinent of Chitdrens: The of Women Act, 1907 . Established Church (Wales) Bill, 1912 Expenditure, Army and wees iy «4 National a Factory and Workshop Acts.. A 3 Coe ea Farmer, the, The Liberal Government and TAG a, _Fatal Accidents (Damages) Act, 1908 — ae ene Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act... vee Ly ae Franchise and Registration Bill, 1912 - ... 43, 44, 45 General Election, Next, What a mee victory bhaene. ae mean mor ce nts George, Mr. Lloyd, Budget ae 1909 - on Land Valuation © Ground Game Amendment Act, 1906 Health Insurance, National . LAT ah RA Be 26, 27 Home Rule Bill, Irish 32, 33. 34; 355 36 27, 38, cea Hours of Work, ’ Railway Servants 7.0 ie oe Raa House of Commons, Time Wasted by foie ve 100 ee House of Lords and the Licensing Bill 44 bie ae By ‘ Parliament Act lisesi ee ss vs Reform cei MeO sk Hace and Town Pere ae 1909 Income: Tax... i On ‘earned’ incomes . Increment Value dea ; India ... es Rae gia Indian Councils Act ... sas Insurance, National ... +24, 25, Oe 27, 28) 29, 303 Act, The ‘Drastic’ amendment of syd he: Peres ang oy, ‘ >, Lory Lies and Criticisms .. »5 Lory Record i $9 5) eM ployment: ies el 4] “Trish Home Rule OM See 38 33> 34 Bs iy at the last General Election need 33 ae 1y Home Rule Bill | Seas 35; 36, 37 <3 iy Imperial Aspect. . . os 4 Three Home Rule ‘ Ni oes” a si Ulster and.. Ape Irish Land Act, 1909.. My Universities Act, 1908 .. Labour Exchanges Act, 1909 | ‘| “is si Choice of Employment A ‘Act, 1910 »3-. Measures, Some’: .., se Land Act, Irish ce EON ET Vea wae) May a8 «8 ie Valuation, Mr. Lloyd George | on Value Duties | : Estimated yield, ‘IQ! 2-1 eo we Values Bill, Scotch Law, Mr. Bonar, on the Government ‘arid the ‘ Spoils System ’ ee Ap se Legal Reforms, Some Liberal Administration, The Dodane nee ny Government, , The, and the Farmer.., INDEX continued. Liberal Government and Miners... | and the Navy... : and Postal Workers ... ua and the ‘Spoils System,’ Tas Mr. Bonar Law on a _» , Party, The, and the Education Question ... Licensing Bill, 1908... Sy enane se Sai ty i The Lords and ~ London Electoral Reform ... aoe McKenna’s, Mr., Education Bill of 1908 - Meals for Underfed School Children ~ Medical Inspection of School Children Merchant Shipping Act, 1906 _ Military Service, Compulsory Mineral Rights Duty ... a Miners, Eight Hours’ Day for bet _.»; The Liberal Government and... Mines Accidents (Rescue and Aid) Act, I9IO National Debt... bee : tee » fees, . Health Insurance .... ~~. >. oe See ss $3 mone Benehtse) on. he up ms Contributors and Con- . tributions .. a ES e The Persons Insured .... 25. Insurance Act, 1911 24,25, 26, 27, 28, 20, 30, 31 PRCREIVR so, ie or ne steak ge Revenue and Expenditure 16 fy ys 9. Service, Compulsory, fe Navy, the, Better Conditions for Men in. oe MESDCHAIL TE! ie ese ga The Liberal Government and OS Some Facts about Notice of Accidents Act, 1906 Officers’ Training Corps ue ose Old Age Pensions Act, The... ... we “ee Bits ss: J) », What the Peers said about ee Aes Story of ... a ris ‘ioaae >> he Tories and nyt ote Osborne Judgment, The ... ey ae Pe etiament Act, Torr... sy 60, 61, 62, Boe gs », Lory Repeal Patents and Designs Act, 1906 Peace, The Maintenance of ... Pensions, Teachers’ ... Pensioners, Political ... Peerjury Act, ort... .., ey ‘Plural Voting, The Case against Political Pensioners... oa pp 4 43> 44) 49 INDEX. ontineed ee Army, THe: Revenue, National Reversion Duty | | : Road Improvement, Development and, Funds Act. : 1909. Runciman’s, Mr., Education Bill of 1908 School Children, Medical Inspection of EE sae Underfed, Meals for », _ Public Elementary, Baie ae» Schools, Secondary Ce Scotch Education Act, 1908... ca fo NOGA CE) LS 5, Land Values Bills, 1907 and 1908 Secondary Schools — ... ie Shops Act, 1911 f yc uduicds Small Holdings Act, 1910 ive and yelpaimi Act, "1907... ee a Progress ye ne Records h South Africa, A United © i. a. | ‘ Spoils System,’ the, the Government and, Mr. a Bonar Law on ... coe. ai a ve Super-Tax, The re cae _ Sugar Convention, the, Withdrawal from ... 3s bax, Reduction off 2. nies ae Sweating, The Trade Boards Act... Taxation Put on and Taken off, 1896-1905 » +IgO06-1912 OS ee eee eee ee 94 265 the nation which as had saved. re) sae «6 Te man 1 should fate it ae of his lion to § see ee ceee: is. well ae sus ILLISM PENN. “The - at in fee. “country. ie in the” cottage; and unless the light of your constitution can- shine there, unless the’ beauty of your. legislation. and the excellence of your statesmanship are Impressed there on the. feelings and condition of the people, rely upon it you have yet to. dear the duties: oe