GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



337 



accepted by the Lords as a measure of rough 

 justice in the form in which it left the Commons. 

 The bill for the regulation of railroad rates was 

 passed, with an amendment limiting the right 

 of traders to demand a revision to such rates as 

 had been fixed prior to 1892. The Labor repre- 

 sentatives were unexpectedly defeated by a ma- 

 jority of 5 on an amendment to the miners' eight- 

 hour bill, limiting the compulsory provisions 

 to counties in which a majority of the under- 

 ground workers accept the act, and the bill was 

 withdrawn, its promoters insisting on the prin- 

 ciple of compulsion, though the miners of the 

 north were generally in favor of local option. 

 The Government has introduced the eight-hour 

 day in the royal gun-factories at Woolwich and 

 in the royal dockyards. It is also in force in the 

 Government departments. The Government, in 

 pursuance of a resolution of the House of Com- 

 mons, require of Government contractors that 

 they shall pay the union rates of wages. Mr. 

 Labouchere found an opportunity to affront the 

 loyal sentiment of the adherents of royalty when 

 he" moved the discontinuance of the grant to the 

 Duke of Edinburgh, on the ground that he 

 was, as Duke of Coburg, a foreign sovereign 

 in possession of ample revenues, and as a Ger- 

 man prince might find himself at war with 

 England. 



The resolution of the House in favor of simul- 

 taneous examinations in England and in India 

 for members of the Indian civil service the In- 

 dian Secretary, Mr. Fowler, declined to act upon. 

 Lord Dunraven's bill, in the House of Lords, to 

 legalize marriage with a deceased wife's sister 

 met the fate of its 13 predecessors, being nega- 

 tived by a majority of 9, although containing a 

 provision that clergymen of the Church of Eng- 

 land might refuse to solemnize such marriages. 

 Sir Richard Webster carried through a bill for 

 the prevention of cruelty to children. The Gov- 

 ernment assisted the Irish party to obtain a dis- 

 cussion upon bills to repeal the crimes act and 

 amend the land laws. A bill to provide super- 

 annuation pensions for aged workmen, modeled 

 on the Danish measure, was introduced by Col. 

 Palmer. One of the labor bills of the Govern- 

 ment that was not proceeded with provided for 

 the conciliation of labor disputes by the inter- 

 vention of the Board of Trade, which, in cases 

 where a difference existed between an employer, 

 or any class of employers and their workmen, or 

 between different classes of workmen, would 

 have power to inquire into the causes and cir- 

 cumstances of the difference and to report upon 

 the matter, and also to invite the parties to the 

 difference, or their representatives, to meet to- 

 gether under a chairman mutually agreed upon, 

 or nominated by the Board of Trade or some 

 other person or body, with a view to an amicable 

 settlement. A bill to abolish -primogeniture and 

 make the same distribution of the real estate of 

 a man dying intestate as is made with personal 

 property was introduced by the Lord Chancellor 

 in the House of Lords, which voted it down by 

 63 votes against to 52 for the measure. A bill 

 for the better regulation of building societies was 

 passed in both houses, having been called for ia 

 consequence of the scandalous failure of the Lib- 

 erator Society. Another bill of the Lord Chan- 

 cellor's reduces the limitation of actions on con- 

 VOL. xxxiv. 22 A 



tracts from six years to three, and for debts under 

 5 to one year. His land transfer bill was re- 

 introduced and defeated again, owing to the op- 

 position of the solicitors and of the noblemen and 

 gentlemen who do not desire to see the convey- 

 ance of land made easy. After the assassination 

 of President Carnot the Marquis of Salisbury 

 introduced a bill in the House of Lords designed 

 to keep out anarchists, and also paupers, crim- 

 inals, insane persons, and persons infected with 

 contagious diseases. It was in part a copy of 

 the United States law for the restriction of im- 

 migration, and in part a revival of the alien act 

 of 1848. He repeated allegations made in France 

 that anarchist plots were hatched in London : 

 but Lord Rosebery denied this, and declared that 

 the powers of the Government were sufficient to 

 meet any danger. The police were especially 

 active in 1894, after the explosion of a bomb in 

 the hands of an anarchist passing through Green- 

 wich Park Feb. 24. Two other foreign anarchists, 

 who were caught with bombs in their possession, 

 were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment 

 under the explosives act. A hall where the an- 

 archist exiles in London were wont to hold meet- 

 ings was suppressed by the police. As Lord 

 Rosebery insisted that any legislation for the ex- 

 clusion either of pauper immigrants or dangerous 

 revolutionists should be prepared by the Govern- 

 ment, Lord Salisbury's bill was not sent to the 

 House of Commons. Parliament was prorogued 

 on Aug. 25. 



Trade Union Congress. The socialistic wing 

 of the trade unionists obtained a majority in the 

 annual congress of 1893. In 1894 the twenty- 

 seventh congress was held in Norwich in the be- 

 ginning of September. The advocates of social- 

 ism had a large majority, and the decisions of the 

 congress were stamped with the advanced theo- 

 ries of state interference and collectivism. One 

 of the socialist leaders indicated the spirit of the 

 new unionism by declaring that the funds of the 

 unions ought to be reserved for strikes, not for 

 the purposes to which they have hitherto been 

 mainly applied, of rendering assistance to mem- 

 bers when disabled by sickness or accident, be- 

 cause the whole burden of such assistance should 

 fall upon the state. A resolution that employ- 

 ers ought to be legally punished for bringing 

 workmen into any locality where the existing 

 supply of labor is sufficient to meet the needs of 

 the district was passed, by a good majority. A 

 resolution to nationalize all lands or minerals was 

 amended by a motion in favor of nationalizing 

 all means of production, distribution, and ex- 

 change of the output of the mines offered by 

 Keir Hardie, and carried by a majority of 219 to 

 61. The congress approved a legislative eight- 

 hour day for all trades. S. Woods, as the advo- 

 cate of a compulsory eight-hour day for miners, 

 'was elected parliamentary secretary over Mr. 

 Fenwick, who had given offense by his vote in 

 favor of local option for the miners on this ques- 

 tion, and over Tom Mann, a thoroughgoing col- 

 lectivist, who has founded an independent la- 

 bor party. A bill to give security of tenure* to 

 rural laborers holding allotments was called for. 

 It was also resolved that managers of public en- 

 terprises should be compelled by law to provide 

 suitable dwellings, with thorough sanitary ar- 

 rangements, for their workmen. 



