§ MR. HUSSEY VIVIANasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether it was the intention of the Government to refer the Employers' Liability Bill to a Select Committee after it had passed the second reading; and, if so, whether the question of insurance would be included in the Order of Reference.
MR. GLADSTONE,in reply, said, the course which his right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary would take would be this. It was proposed to pro- 1085 ceed with the second reading that night, and by the second reading the Government hardly understood the House to pledge itself to more than this—that the present state of the law was not satis-factoiw, and that further protection against accidents was required in the case of workmen. That step having been taken, the Government would be desirous of availing themselves of whatever additional knowledge they might derive from the representations which might be made to them, or which they might gather from the debate, to be allowed to pass the Bill through Committee pro formâ, and to replace it on the Table of the House in the form which might be deemed best to secure its acceptance. It would then be open to his hon. Friend to raise the question that it should be referred to a Select Committee. At present he would express no opinion adverse to that proposal; but neither did he wish to be understood as committing himself to an approval of it. It would be open to his hon. Friend, and those with whom he acted, to consider the matter without prejudice, and to raise the question in the House, should Her Majesty's Government be compelled to differ from him.