Then on finance, I suggest that one of the first things a Liberal Government should do should be to appoint a commission to overhaul the whole of our Company Law.  This is not the occasion to enter in detail into a highly technical problem.  But I would call attention to the following points:  There is no compulsion on any joint-stock company to publish a balance sheet.  It is almost the universal practice to do so; but as it is not an obligation, the Company Law lays down no rules as to what published balance sheets must contain.  Again, the difference between private and public companies must be considered; a private company which employs a great mass of capital and large numbers of work-people—­a concern which may cover a whole town or district—­should in the public interest be subject to the same rules as a public company.  Thirdly, in view of the amalgamation of industry, the linking up of company with company, there must be reconsideration as regards publicity in the case of subsidiary companies.  Finally, I think we have been wrong in assuming that a law applicable to a company with a modest little capital is suitable to regulate the publicity of a great combine controlling tens of millions of capital.  Some attempt should therefore be made to differentiate between what must be told by the big and by the little concerns respectively.  I am well aware of the myriad difficulties that this demand for publicity will encounter.  But difficulties exist to be overcome.  And they must be overcome, for of this I feel certain:  that if the system of private enterprise dies, it will be because the canker of secrecy has eaten into its vitals.

A NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL

I have left very little time for dealing specifically with the question of industrial relations, though much that I have said has a bearing upon it.  There has been great disappointment with the results of the Whitley Council movement.  Many thought they were going to bring in a new era.  But they have not lived up to these hopes, firstly, because they came into being at a time of unexampled economic difficulty, and, secondly, because they were introduced into industries where there was no tradition of co-operative action—­being established mainly in industries lying between the entirely unorganised and the highly organised trades.  But we must persist in encouraging Whitley Councils, and still more in the associated objective of encouraging works committees.  The basis of industrial peace is in the individual works.  Co-operation cannot be created by Act of Parliament, but depends upon the development of opinion among employers and workmen.  Starting from Works Councils up through the Whitley Council, Trade Boards, or National Trade Union machinery for the negotiation of wages, we arrive at the National Industrial Council, which is the point at which the Government can most directly assist the movement towards more cordial relations.  The plan of this Council is ready.  It was proposed and developed in 1919, and I personally do not want to change that plan very much.