xxii LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL 287 



discoveries and excavations which had been made 

 since Sir John's last visit. He records that " I 

 cannot hear of a single bronze sword " (though 

 there were many bronze ornaments) " having 

 ever been found in Rome. Stone implements 

 are also very rare, indeed almost entirely absent." 



They returned home on December 9, " after a 

 bad passage." 



On December 12 he received a message from 

 the Lord Mayor asking him to come to the 

 Mansion House to aid in settlement of a dispute 

 which had arisen between the Gas Companies 

 and their workmen. The matter was one of much 

 difficulty, but in the end a satisfactory arrange- 

 ment was arrived at. Cardinal Manning was 

 present, with his invaluable experience and 

 influence to aid the cause of peace. " Eventu- 

 ally," writes Sir John, " we settled all the points 

 amicably except one or two which both sides 

 referred to the Lord Mayor, the Governor of the 

 Bank, and me. The South Metropolitan Gas 

 struggle only remained. Mr. Livesey was present 

 and told me he had all the men he wanted. On 

 the other hand, the Secretary of the Union stated 

 positively that he would find it impossible to 

 get another ton of coal." 



The termination of that long fight will perhaps 

 be remembered — how the Company entirely beat 

 the men, and then dictated to them generous 

 terms which made the concern an object lesson 

 in the way of a successful experiment in profit- 

 sharing. 



The recurrence of those Labour disputes, 

 prejudicial not only to masters and men, but to 



