CHAPTER XXXV 



POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND LITERARY (1902) 



(Age 66) 



Lord Avebury was very busy in the early part 

 of the year in efforts to pass the Early Closing 

 Bill, but suffered several disappointments. In 

 February he wrote : 



HiGu Elms, Farnbohough, R.S.O., 

 Kent, 10//i February 1902. 



Dear Lord Salisbury — ^We are, of course, dis- 

 appointed that the Government have not brought in 

 an Early Closing Bill, but under the circumstances I 

 have done so, and hope we shall have your support. 



I have submitted it in the form the Shopkeepers 

 desire, but have not forgotten the additions you sug- 

 gested, — and which I feel bound to accept if you desire 

 it. I was not sure how you would word it, or what 

 arrangement as regards expense you had in your mind. 



The modifications affect the framework of the Bill, 

 and I suppose might be effected by a proviso that the 

 decision of the Local Authority should not come into 

 effect until it had the sanction of Parliament — as 

 signified by a Provisional Order. — I am, yours very 

 sincerely, Avebury. 



Lord Lister's attitude of surprise at the 

 opposition to the Bill, expressed in the following 

 letter, was that of most of those who thought 

 with Lord Avebury on the subject : 



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