This Act creates local Agricultural Wage Committees which, with 'a neutral chairman, have the power to fix wages for the district, The Minister will have the power to suggest reconsideration of award with which he may not agree.
Conservatives successfully 0} the establishment of a Whitehall Central Board with wide powers of interference and the establishment of a minimum wage of 80/- demanded by Liberalism for purely Party OF smaller measures the Government has passed the County Courts Act, which establishes the County Court Officials as permanent Civil Servants, It has passed the Diseases of Animals Act, which devoted a large sum of money to compensate farmers whose animals had been slaughtered in connexion with the outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. It has passed the Prevention of Evictions Act, some what limiting the powers of landlords to secure possession of their own houses. The Labour Bill itself fon this theme proposed that anc lords should not be allowed to dis~ possess unemployed tenants, but the House declined to accept it, and the measure passed is really' sponsored by Mr. Ernest Simon, a Manchester Liberal Member." A small measure has been also carried regularizing the superannuation of school teachers, as well as one or two small Departmental Acts having no public significance.
The Bight-hour Day Bill.
In addition there have been two or three official bills brought into the House, of which the two chief are Mr. Henderson's Factories Bill, legalizing an industrial eight-hours day, and quietly making other drastic changes, and Mr, Wheatley's Buildings Materials (Charges. and Supply) Bill, which may later on be the cause of a good deal of trouble, There is no need to touch on the unofficial legislation procession, cause very little has been passed. Parties have made a point of objecting to each other's Bills good oF bad.
The Labour Party have not, I think, lost any weight in the country. They are very far yet from being found out. They have ale ready, it is true, scrapped nearly all their promises to the electors, but they are coming forward with a lot of nice ones. No one thinks that they will offer these to the electors before the Budget next year, and when this time arrives the various! Ministers will, whatever—happen: have made quite a useful little pile for themselves. You may not think this is a factor, but itis, since they are subject to the impulses of human nature very much as we, the com= moner herd, are also, Tue French aviator, M. Laporte, has broken the world altitude record with a hydroplane carrying a load of 500 kilogrammes, says a Renter Paris message. M. Laporte, who reached an altitude of 5,100 metres," will depart for China " shortly. og; flying instructor' at Makdén?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.