Lords Sitting of 12 December 1893

THE OUTRAGE IN THE FRENCH CHAMBER.
OBSERVATIONS.
THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (The Earl of KIMBERLEY): My Lords, before the House proceeds to Business, I think I may say that it is our unanimous wish to join with the other House in expressing our sympathy with the French Chamber on the occasion of the atrocious outrage perpetrated there. Therefore, if the House approves, a communication will be made from this House to the French Chamber and to its President expressing our sympathy with them in what has occurred, and our horror at the atrocious crime which has been perpetrated.
THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY: I am sure the proposal of the noble Lord will meet with the universal adhesion of the House, as did a similar proposal in the other House. I think the Government has taken a most suitable and graceful course in expressing sympathy with the French Chamber, which has been exposed to a danger from which we in common with all other Legislative Assemblies are not free. There is something very special in these outbreaks of bloodthirsty disorder. It is not like the assassination of past times. It was bad enough 300 years ago, when assassination took its rank among political weapons; but those men murdered people whose disappearance was of real importance to the politics of the day. The murder of Henry IV. and of William the Silent seriously affected the political aspects of the time, and the blowing up of this House of Parliament, if it could have been effected, would have done much to further the object of the Jesuits of that day. But the peculiarity of these murderous outrages in Barcelona and Paris is that they are absolutely without object. They merely represent a love of blood and a desire to create suffering among others. I am very glad the Government have given this expression
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to their deep horror, which we all share. I will only add that I hope this expression of horror will not be without effect, and may be regarded as giving a pledge that if any international means can be devised by which this evil can be abated we shall not be backward in taking our share in them.

EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY BILL.—(No. 288.)
REPORT OF AMENDMENTS.
Amendments reported (according to Order).
THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNproposed a verbal Amendment on page 2, line 17, to insert the words "on the part of the employer or his authorised representative," as he had received communications on the point. He was not sure that they were absolutely necessary.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (Lord HERSCHELL): I do not think these words are necessary, and, being unnecessary, I should certainly prefer their not going in. I think the misconception has arisen from not observing the full force of the word "other" in the last line of the clause. It does not give a new substantive right of action as distinct in cases of negligence, but it says that in such cases there shall be a right of action as in other cases arising from negligence. Therefore, clearly negligence must be proved, and it must be negligence of the employer or of some person for whom he is responsible. Of course, he could not be found liable if he has used reasonable precautions.
THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNwould not press the Amendment, as after that expression of opinion of the noble and learned Lord a Court of Law could not construe the clause in any other way, though the words he had proposed would have made it quite clear.
THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY: I have discussed the matter a good deal with Lord Halsbury, and his view was very much that of the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack, that we should not improve the clause by adding those words.
Amendment (by leave of the House) withdrawn.
Verbal amendment.
EARL WEMYSSwished to give notice of an Amendment which he had been un-able to give sooner, having received a

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communication to-day on the part of 110,000 men, including those employed on the North Western Railway, who were members of insurance funds. They wished an alteration made in Clause 4, substituting the Registrars of Friendly Societies for the Board of Trade as the authorities to be charged with the regulation of insurances. He was also intrusted with another Amendment in Sub-section 3, that the contributions should be in equal parts: that whatever the men paid an equal sum should also be paid by their employers; but as he had only just been asked to move these Amendments, he should not do so on the present occasion, but would wait until the Third Reading, when he hoped they would receive favourable consideration from their Lordships.
Report of Amendments agreed to.
Bill to be read 3a on Thursday next.

THE UNEMPLOYED.

  QUESTION. OBSERVATIONS.
  LORD TEYNHAMcalled attention to the exceptional distress now existing in the Metropolis; and asked Her Majesty's Government what steps they were taking to cope with it? He said that last week, and again to-night, a subject of great importance had been discussed by their Lordships, who had shown their great sympathy with the working classes of this country, but the increasingly large number of persons unemployed was a matter of infinitely greater moment, and on that subject he had no doubt their Lordships would be equally sympathetic. These were not persons who had to consider the effect of a particular course in their employment, but their great trouble was how they were to get employment at all. While in some places the distress was not greater than usual, in many others the contrary was the case. One authority stated that in parts of South and East London it was difficult to find families that were not in some sort of trouble owing to want of work. A worker among the poor in the East End had said that for 27 years there had been nothing comparable to the present distress, and clergymen had made corroborative statements in letters to an evening paper which had started a fund for their relief. The Rector of Whitechapel also
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  had writted to him, saying that the distress was certainly abnormal. Their Lordships would admit that parish priests were, from their position, well able to judge in matters of this kind. Then, the Pauperism Returns were very significant. The figures published in a Parliamentary Paper issued last mouth showed that the number of paupers relieved in the Metropolis in the quarter ending in September was exceptionally large, the increase having been 9½ per cent. On the last day of the quarter it appeared that 8,500 more persons were relieved than in the preceding year. The October figures were still worse. The current number of the The Labour Gazette stated that the total number of persons relieved on a given day was 97,700, as compared with 90,400 relieved on the corresponding day last year. In the district of West Ham the number of paupers had increased 30 per cent. Then as to trade, the figures showed the same condition of things. Out of 32 reports of Trade Societies to the Board of Trade no less than 24 declared that the state of the labour market was very bad. As to the number of unemployed, Mr. Fowler recently stated in reply to a question in another place that their number was impossible to compute; and one among the so-called labour leaders had affirmed that 200,000 persons were idle through no fault of their own. Even taking it at one-fourth, if the real figures were no more than 50,000 it would still be appalling. He therefore made no apology for bringing the matter before their Lordships, and it was not too much to say that the question of the unemployed was the question of the hour, transcending in interest both the Parish Councils Bill and the Employers' Liability Bill. It was not his intention to put forward any plan for dealing with it. It was for the Government to devise a scheme for improving the position of the unemployed. It did not take much to prove that schemes for establishing State workshops were economically unsound, and that they would aggravate the evil they were expected to cure; but surely something could be done to provide work for the workless which would not disorganise the labour market. The Government seemed to have recognised this by their Circular to Vestries and Local

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  Boards urging them to expedite the making of roads or any public works they might be contemplating in order to afford as much employment as possible. But, unfortuately, last year in eight districts of London, some of the poorest, such as St. Giles and St. George's-in-the-East being among them, no notice was taken of the Circulars of the Local Government suggesting relief works. In other cases the only notice taken of the Circulars was that a few men were put on to clean the streets in dirty weather. It would appear, therefore, that something more was wanted than a mere Circular from the Local Government Board to rouse the Local Authorities to action. The London County Council had introduced a Bill sanctioning the construction of a new approach to the Tower Bridge, the rebuilding of Vauxhall Bridge, and other improvements. These works were very necessary, and at a meeting of South London merchants and wharfingers held recently the declaration was made that unless the new approach to the Tower Bridge was begun and completed, the bridge itself, which would now be finished very soon, would be useless, as it would not be available for the traffic it was intended to accommodate. Then the rebuilding of Vauxhall Bridge was almost equally necessary, because it was considered unsafe. The cost of these improvements would be nearly £1,000,000, and if they were undertaken, employment would be given, directly and indirectly, to a large number of persons, and yet the County Council had practically withdrawn this Bill, not because these works had ceased to be necessary or desirable, but simply because Parliament had declined to sanction an entirely new financial policy without further inquiry. It was nothing less than a public scandal that at a time of great distress the chief Municipal Authority should decline to proceed with necessary public works which would give employment, and therefore relief, to a great number of persons. He asked Her Majesty's Government whether they endorsed this brutal policy of inaction, and urged them to use their influence to induce the County Council to proceed with the London Improvements Bill, leaving the question of the principle of betterment for future consideration. They
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  would thus dispel the notion in the public mind that their whole aim was to pass such measures as the Parish Councils, Bill to the exclusion of this pressing question of the unemployed.
  THE EARL OF STAMFORDsaid, in view of his noble Friend's question, he had taken the best means he possibly could to ascertain the precise state of affairs in this matter, as affecting the Metropolitan area. A fortnight ago this matter came before the Society for the Relief of Distress, which had on its committee such representative Members of each side of the House as Lord Salisbury and the Governor General of Canada; and 11 skilled almoners of the Society, who knew the poor and had worked amongst them, were directed to make Returns as to the actual state of affairs in the districts in which they worked. He expected to hear a very woeful tale of distress, such as his noble Friend had disclosed, but was astonished to find that the general tenour of their answer was that at present there was only the usual type of winter distress, though perhaps a little more than usual. Again, the summary of evidence on which the Report of the Charity Organisation Society to the Mansion House Committee was based showed that most exhaustive inquiries had been made. That evidence tended to establish the same result as the inquiries made on behalf of the Society for the Relief of Distress. South of the river there appeared to be no unusual distress, and in Brixton the building trade was very active. North of the Thames there was nothing very striking or exceptional, and in St. George's-in-the-East, the poorest and most crowded parish in London, there was no unusual pressure upon the Charitable Agencies, and applications to the Guardians were fewer than in the corresponding period of last year. In other East End districts there appeared to be a little more distress than usual, which was most prevalent in the lower grades of the boot trade. Poplar was the district most distressed in the Metropolitan area, the shipping trade being decidedly affected. Elsewhere in the districts to which special inquiry was directed by the Mansion House Committee, there was nothing special to report, and very little unusual distress was observable. No doubt, however, facts existed to cause some alarm for the coming

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  winter. The coal strike had affected the earnings of many of the working classes, and the savings of large numbers of them had been exhausted by the levies for the coal miners, and there would be less to carry the poor through the winter. But the pinch of winter was not yet felt, though some sickness was prevalent, which might increase and add to the distress as time went on. As far as he could gather, therefore, from the latest information available, and the most careful inquiries into the actual state of affairs, there was nothing to cause immediate alarm—nothing with which the existing agencies if properly administered and supported could not deal. There was considerable danger in the Government taking steps to cope with distress. Last year's experience of the fate of the endeavours of the Vestries to act on Mr. Fowler's Circular and provide work for the unemployed was not encouraging. The object had failed of giving work to relieve
  "artisans and others who had hitherto avoided Poor Law relief and were temporarily out of employment,"
  and such work as had been provided was utterly inadequate to cope with the distress, for in many cases only two or three days' work was given to the same men during the winter. No selection of applicants was made, and it was stated that most of the men were loafers and regularly out of work during the winter. In some of the districts respectable working men held aloof from the employment given on account of the bad characters who came forward. Vestry work also competed with regular local trade. At Newington the local builders could not obtain labourers when Vestry work was going on, and in Shoreditch men could not be got to unload barges at 10d. an hour. A man actually declined to try for a place worth 27s. a week because he was afraid of losing his chance of three days' work for the Vestry. Worse than all, general expectations bad been aroused that work must and would be provided by the State. As one of the most earnest pioneer workers among the poor had said:—"People seem to think that the State is a mysterious and wealthy stranger, but, after all, it only turns out to be Brown, Jones, and Robinson just round the corner." The money, of course, did not come out of some Fortunatus's purse,
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  but out of the pockets of the rate and tax-payers, those just above the margin of destitution feeling the burden with the greatest severity. Very little hope lay in the direction of State employment. Vestry employment had been tried and failed. Good Poor Law work and the growth of Friendly Societies had much reduced able-bodied pauperism, and the best way of dealing with any difficulty of this kind was by increased care in the administration of the Poor Law and by encouraging the growth of self-support among the poor themselves. Those two agencies had within the century greatly raised the conditions of the poorer classes, and would continue to do so unless their salutary action was hindered by ill-advised interference. This provision of work by Public Bodies was a dangerous course to embark on. It might be supposed to be the object of Public Bodies to work as economically as possible with the ratepayers' money; but the doctrine now seemed to be that they should employ as many men as possible. In Shoreditch and Bethnal Green street-sweeping machines had been taken off and men put on at double expense, and a special 2d. rate in the £1 for relief work in Bethnal Green was the result; and not only so, but great complaints were made throughout the district that the roads were injured by the careless sweeping of these men and the frost getting in. The conclusion seemed to be that it was the Poor Law and not the Vestries which should meet these difficulties. Genuine artisans, genuine workmen, could best be helped by careful charity. These modern methods kept in weakness and expectation of aid just those men who should be raised in the social scale. What was wanted—and he spoke with some knowledge of the East End of London—was a more careful administration of the Poor Law and a more intense devotion to personal effort.
  LORD MONKSWELLsaid, the noble Lord who had just sat down had so completely answered the speech of the noble Lord who put the question that it was hardly necessary for him to say anything. The truth probably lay between the two aspects of the case which had been presented. From the information at hand, it could hardly be denied that there was exceptional distress in London.

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  Later Returns than those given by the noble Lord showed that the distress in London, as regarded pauperism at all events, was just about the same as it was at the end of 1888, and not so severe as at the end of 1887; and he should think it probable, from other information he had received, that that was just about the state of the case. Now, this exceptional distress was by no means confined to the Metropolis. It was spread all over the country, and undoubtedly in a great measure it was due to the disastrous warfare that had been raging for so long between coal-owners and the miners. As their Lordships all knew, that shocking state of things had been lately terminated by the intervention of the Foreign Secretary, and he thought Her Majesty's Government in general, and the Foreign Secretary in particular, were entitled to some credit for having done a vast deal for the cause of labour and of the unemployed in putting an end to a terrible and devastating industrial war. The policy of the Government in reference to this question had recently been enunciated by the Prime Minister as the exact opposite of that formulated by the noble Lord. The noble Lord said it was the duty of the Government to interfere and concoct some scheme or other for the relief of the distress. The noble Lord had not done anything in the way of giving the Government a lead in the matter. All he did was to say that in his opinion farm colonies and municipal workshops were financially unsound, and ought not to be recommended. In formulating that opinion the noble Lord was in entire accord with one of the great champions of the cause of labour, Mr. Burt, that those remedies would be worse than useless to cope with the question of the unemployed. He was much afraid he could not give the House much more information on the subject with reference to the intentions of Her Majesty's Government than noble Lords had already been able to gather from the public Press. In the House of Commons the Prime Minister, as he had said, had enunciated a policy exactly opposite to that stated by the noble Lord, that he thought it was primarily the duty of the Local Authorities to interfere, and that they were able to do so probably more wisely than Parliament could. The Prime Minister stated that the Report of
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  the Labour Commission would deal with this question of the unemployed. In accordance with the views of the Prime Minister, and following the precedent set in 1886, and by Mr. Ritchie in 1887, the Local Government Board Circular of November, 1892, and another of September last, which had been referred to, were sent to all the Sanitary Authorities in the country. Out of 600 Sanitary Authorities answers had been received from only 104, and those answers, he was sorry to say, threw very little light on the question of what ought to be done. He did not say one ought to be surprised at that, because the matter was one of the greatest difficulty. The noble Lord said that those Circulars ought to have been followed up by what he called a sharp reminder to the Local Bodies as to what they ought to do. The Local Government Board had no power to enforce a suggestion of that kind by a sharp reminder or any other reminder on the Local Authorities. All they could do was to suggest the class of work to be done, and the class of men to be employed upon it. The noble Lord had been particularly eloquent with regard to the policy of the London County Council, and had used the words "public scandal" and "brutal policy" in reference to their refusal to go on with improvements until the incidence of taxation was laid on the right shoulders. But, with reference to the particular case which he cited, the construction of the southern approach to the Tower Bridge would do no good at all by way of giving work to the unemployed. One of the first things to be done in making that approach would be pull down a big factory, and therefore the immediate result would be to turn an equal or greater number of persons out of employment than could be engaged upon this public work. The noble Lord knew that a great contest was raging about this principle of betterment, and might have thought twice before he accused the great majority of the representatives of London of pursuing "a brutal policy amounting to a public scandal." During the last election to the County Council there was no more popular platform than that which insisted that no great public improvements should be executed until the incidence of taxation was altered. They would be acting contrary to the wishes of the

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  representatives of London if they pursued any other policy than that which they were pursuing, and which was the policy best calculated to carry the wishes of the ratepayers into effect. This question of finding work for the unemployed was beset on all sides with great difficulty and danger. One false move might have serious consequences. All that Her Majesty's Government could promise to do in the matter was to watch the course of events very closely, and from time to time to make such suggestions to the Local Authorities and take such other steps as they might think to be clearly expedient in the matter.

PAUPER IMMIGRATION.

  QUESTION. OBSERVATION.
  LORD TEYNHAMasked Her Majesty's, Government whether it was true, as stated in a recent telegram from Odessa, that the exodus of pauper Jews had recommenced in South Russia, and that 357 families had lately emigrated to England; and whether any measures were contemplated with a view to checking the continued flow of pauper aliens to this country?
  THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (The Earl of KIMBERLEY): My Lords, the attention of the Board of Trade is frequently called to telegrams of the kind described by the noble Lord, and the recent telegram he refers to is apparently not the only one on the subject. There has not, however, been any large increase lately in alien immigration, as the noble Lord will observe from the monthly published Returns; and specially there has been no increase in the immigration into England from Odessa. In these circumstances, no immediate action is proposed in the matter of alien immigration, but full consideration is being given to it, and any increase in the immigration of pauper aliens will be carefully watched.

A SCHOOL AT UWCHYGARREG.

  QUESTION. OBSERVATION.
  THE BISHOP OF BANGORasked the Lord President of the Council whether an iron and wood building at Uwchygarreg, in the County of Montgomery, which had been recognised by the Education Department for 20 years as a suitable building for an outlying school,
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  had now been condemned, notwithstanding the fact that it was in excellent repair and in all respects a suitable building; and whether any Petition from the ratepayers of the district had been received on the subject?
  THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (The Earl of KIMBERLEY): The rev. Prelate is, I daresay, aware the Rule of the Department has always been, I am informed, to recognise iron and wood buildings only temporarily to meet an emergency, and I presume that some mistake must have been made in recognising this building. It certainly appears that for reasons with which I am not acquainted, this building has been allowed to occupy the position of a recognised school for a very long period—as the rev. Prelate states, for nearly 20 years. The attention of the Department having been called to the nature of the building in June last, in the Report of a new Inspector who had visited the school, the Department considered it was not proper that they should continue to sanction the use of this building for a permanent school entirely contrary, as I said before, to the universal rule observed in these matters. The consequence was, that the managers were communicated with on the subject, the result being an offer by the Department not to recognise the school until April 30, 1895.
  THE BISHOP OF BANGOR: 1894?
  THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY: Yes; I am inclined to think that is a mistake for 1894. That offer was made, if the managers would undertake (1) to build a permanent school; (2) to improve (a) the ventilation of the existing school and (b) the offices. This offer was not accepted, and the rector of the parish, who is one of the managers, writing on behalf of the Vestry of the ratepayers, has very recently suggested that the school is in fact unnecessary for the supply of the district, and Her Majesty's Inspector will now visit the district to confer with the managers on this point, and see whether the school is really required or not. That is all I have to say upon the subject.
  THE BISHOP OF BANGORthanked the noble Lord for the information which he had given, but thought a mistake must have been made with regard to the

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  rector. He asked whether, if the Report of the Inspector were unfavourable to the school, the Department would consider the question of extending the time for building until 1895? The school was situate in a remote valley towards Plinlimmon, and the population, which was very small—only some 20 to 23— was rapidly diminishing. It was likely that if it continued to diminish at the present rate no school would be required in that district. He thought, under the circumstances, the Department having recognised the school for 20 years, might continue to recognise it for a short time longer.
  THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY: I cannot give any promise that if the school is not required it will continue to be recognised. I can only say the Report of the Inspector will be waited for; and the question of the time within which a new school, if necessary, is to be re-built will be carefully considered.
  THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY: I only want to take notice of a phrase of the noble Earl's in which he defended the action of the Education Department on the ground that it was in conformity with their universal rule. It is one of the defects of the Department that they are for ever saying to themselves—"We are the Medes and Persians, and our Rules must not be departed from." The greatest sinner in the Department—I do not know his name, and, therefore, speak With absolute impartiality—is the architect, who is, I believe, one of the most serious injuries to the cause of education in this country, because he is always providing for requirements which are entirely in excess of the necessities of the case, and which have no support except the eternal muttering of that one formula, "It is in accordance with our invariable rule." This want of elasticity opposes a very great obstacle to the spread of education, and the erection of useful schools. I will call the attention of the noble Lord to this circumstance: that it takes no notice of the progress of science. Iron buildings are very different from what they were when this rule was made 30 or 40 years ago, and such buildings are now used by Nonconformists and by all religions denominations for the holding of divine worship. Therefore, this prejudice against iron and wood, if it is
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  not to be attributed to the ordinary prepossessions of the architect, is, I think, a very belated rule, and one which the noble Earl would do well to consider for. himself.
  EARL WEMYSSsaid, he could speak with some experience upon this matter, as in his county, Haddingtonshire, there had been a great contest with reference to building an hospital. The first estimate for a building to contain 16 beds was £4,000. He had an idea that a wooden structure with an iron roof would be cheaper and more sanitary for hospital purposes than a stone building. Plans and estimates were obtained, and in the result it was almost unanimously agreed to put up a building of that description costing £2,000 instead of £4,000. In this county, where stone and brick are; abundant, wooden buildings were little heard of; but that was not the case abroad. In Switzerland wooden buildings dating from the 16th and 17th centuries were still existing in excellent condition. In Ireland, the same thing was to be seen at Cork, where there were some wooden buildings erected for the reception of French prisoners during the Napoleonic wars, and certainly about 80 years old. Barrack accommodation being required, those buildings were tested and found to be perfectly sound; they were tarred over and built on a stone or brick foundation. The sergeants and their families who lodge there were delighted with them, while those in the stone huts were complaining and wanted to go into the wooden ones. The cells in the prison were also as dry and warm as possible after 80 years. As the noble Marquess had stated, many improvements had been made in these structures. In the case of the hospital building he had mentioned, the space between the two linings of wood—inner and outer—was filled with some material which was water, air, and rat-proof, and in some way the roof had been constructed to give no sound. In these days of high rates, which were annually increasing, it was very desirable to get for half the price a building which was really better than a stone one. This hospital had been passed by the Board of Supervision which was responsible in all matters under the Poor Law and of Public Health.
  LORD KNUTSFORDsaid, that having had the honour of holding the

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  office of Vice President of the Education Department, he might perhaps observe that he could not assent to the rule as laid down by the noble Earl opposite. He had laid it down too broadly. It was true that the Department would not give a permanent character to a building put up temporarily in a district where a more substantial building would be required. But that rule would not apply to a case like the present, where the district was in a remote valley, and where the population was very small, and, if he understood the right rev. Prelate aright, was diminishing. The conditions of the place would be recognised by the Department, and a building which would be temporary in one state of things might, if substantial and fitted to the place, be permanent in another state of things. This building had, in fact, been sanctioned and recognised by the Department for 20 years, and it was, he might almost say, monstrous for the Department now to come down and order the erection of a stone or brick building. The case should be re-considered.
  THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY: I am not, of course, responsible for what has been done; but there is, I am told, no record in the Department to show that they ever intended to recognise, or ever did recognise, this as a permanent building. How it arose I am unable to explain; but the Department are informed that this school is, in fact, a building of wood and iron.
  LORD KNUTSFORD: Which was recognised as permanent.
  THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY: My noble Friend opposite says after the Department had sanctioned it; but they never sanctioned it as such. It seems to me very strange they should have been so long unaware of the nature of this structure. Perhaps I used rather too strong a term in saying the rule was universal. My object was to show that there was no exceptional treatment in this case, and the rule is not to recognise buildings of that kind as permanent school buildings.
  EARL WEMYSSsaid, the same thing had been done in the County of Peebles, and, he was told, in Roxburgh also.
  THE BISHOP OF BANGORsaid, as to this building being intended to be permanent, it was very substantial, and far more permanent than many
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  stone buildings in the district. And as to it having been sanctioned, it had been passed for 20 years, which was much the same thing.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGES OF WALES.

  QUESTION. OBSERVATION.
  THE BISHOP OF BANGORasked the Lord President of the Council whether he had any objection to procure a Return of the number of students at each of the University Colleges of Wales for the last three years—1891, 1892, and 1893; the amount of fees paid by each student; the place of residence, and the cost per head of each student?
  THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (The Earl of KIMBERLEY)stated that the Government had no objection to grant the Return.

  THE SHOP HOURS ACT (1892) AMENDMENT (No. 2) BILL.
  CONSIDERATION.
  LORD PLAYFAIR LORD PLAYFAIR moved that their Lordships agree with the Commons Amendments to this Bill.
  Motion agreed to.

  SEA FISHERIES REGULATION (SCOTLAND) BILL.
  Reported from the Standing Committee with further Amendments: The Report of the Amendments made in Committee of the Whole House, and by the Standing Committee, to be received on Thursday next; and the Bill to be printed as amended. (No. 289.)
  House adjourned at half-past Five o'clock, to Thursday next, a quarter past Four o'clock.