444 



The Review of Reviews. 



two years' time all ships entering British ports will 

 have to bear the PlimsoU mark showing the load- 

 line. They will also be subject to the British regu- 

 lations provided for preventing the shifting of grain, 

 for the prevention of overloading and overcrowding, 

 and for the provision of life-saving appliances. In 

 order to prevent disasters arising from the shipment 

 of foreign sailors, it is enacted that in future every 

 man engaged to navigate a British ship must know 

 the nautical words of command. As there are 39,000 

 foreigners and 42,000 Lascars on our ships, they 

 will have to rub up their English. In 1870 there 

 were 200,000 British sailors on our merchantmen 

 and only 18,000 foreigners. To-day there are 

 39,000 foreigners and only 176,000 Britons. The 



Britisher, like the Am.erican, is getting " too 



comfortable " on shore to care to go to sea. To 

 tempt him on to the forecastle Mr. Lloyd-George- 

 proposes to insist upon a much more liberal dietary. 

 and every ship must carry a certificated cook — not a 

 French c/ief. of course, but a sailorman who knows 

 how to boil and bake and stew. 



jhe After Mr. Lloyd-George came Mr. 



Campensation Herbert Gladstone with his Bill 

 for consolidating and extending the Act 



Accidents. Cqj. jj^g Compensation of Workmen 

 for Accidents. The Bill continues to exclude police- 

 men (who have their own arrangements), clerks, 

 out-workers, and domestic servants, but brings in 

 sailors, fishermen, postmen, men employed in work- 

 shops where there are more than five workmen, and 

 men engaged in transport service. It is further pro- 

 vided that poisoning by lead, mercury, phosphorus. 

 and arsenic, and a mysterious disease called ankvlos- 

 tomiasas shall rank as accidents. The minimum 

 period of disablement entitling to compensation is 

 reduced from a fortnight to a week. There are 

 various provisions intended to simplifv and cheapven 

 the operation of the Act. Mr. Gladstone fights shy 

 of compulsory insurance. But his Bill, which was 

 very well received, marks another stage towards that 

 inevitable goal. 



If only Ave had the procedure of 

 The Reform parliament radically reformed there 

 Procedure. would be less need for getting 

 round a bad Act by Home Office 

 circulars. But of such reform there is little pros- 

 pect. The Committee on Procedure has recom- 

 mended that the House should rise at 11.30 instead 

 of 12.0, that on Fridav night it should rise at 5.0 

 instead of 5.30, that the dinner hour should be 

 abolished — and that is practically all that is at pre- 

 sent proposed to be done. That is mere tinkering 

 with the question. The other day a practically 

 unanimous House — the majoritv was six to one — 

 spent four hours in saying it approved of the Scotch 

 Bill for taxing land values, and then wasted so much 

 time in divisions that it could not refer the Bill to 

 the Standing Committee on Law before the debate' 



Ttibu)u- ] 



June 1, 1906. 



Stood ad- 

 journed. 

 There must 

 be more 

 work done 

 in commit- 

 tee ; there 

 must be a 

 time limit 

 on speeches, 

 and there 

 ought to be 

 a prelimi- 

 nary thrash- 

 ing out of 

 measures in 

 what m a y 

 be called 

 first reading 

 committees. 

 The House 

 is eager u> 

 All Talk. work," but 



' Here, Miss P . more work and less there are 



Tub Dog : 



talk, please *' , ,. 



[.Mr Crooks, MP. speaking to a rrr7>fnj£- representa- lOO many 



tive, said that too much time in Parliament is spent in e a £ 6 r t O 



talk, and the 



discussion and not enough in action ] 



funnel of the hours of each sitting is much too 

 narrow for the flood of sjjeech. 



London, which ought to have 3000 

 London miles of electric tramway and has 



Improvements, only 300. is about to be supplied 

 with an immense number of motor 

 omnibuses, which promise to make London ere long 

 as smellv as the Volga, where great sheets of petro- 

 leum float on the surface of the river, and even the 

 fish have a petroleum taint. These great behemoths 

 are, however, very popular. They outpace the 

 buses, and, except when the wood pavement is 

 slimv. thev are well under control. The new electric 

 ti be underground railway has been opened, w'hich en- 

 ables anyone to travel frc>ra Waterloo to Baker Street 

 in fifteen minutes for twopence, an immense saving of 

 time and money. Under the stress of competition 

 above ground and below, there is at last hope that 

 the London cabmen will consent to a fare of 6d. per 

 mile, with a taximeter in each cab. They would do 

 twice the business they do to-day, but they dread 

 the loss of the chance of extortion, which keeps all 

 nervous and inexperienced people out of their 

 vehicles. The London County Council has at last 

 let the great space in Aldwvch which has remained 

 empty so long to a .s\ndicate which pays ;^55,ooo 

 per annum for ninetv-nine years' ground rent, and 

 undertakes to erect upon the site a theatre, a music- 

 hall, an art exhibition, and 176 shops, at a minimum 

 outlay of ^500,000. The question of setting back 



