When the House is asked to contemplate gloomy pictures of what will follow on this Bill, let them recur to the example of Parliaments gone by.  When the Ten Hours Bill was introduced in 1847, a Bill which affected the hours of adult males inferentially, the same lugubrious prophecies were indulged in from both sides of the House.  Distinguished economists came forward to prove that the whole profit of the textile industry was reaped after the eleventh hour.  Famous statesmen on both sides spoke strongly against the measure.  The Parliament, in 1847, was in the same sort of position as we are to-day in this respect, but how differently circumstanced in other respects.  That Parliament did not enjoy the wide and accurate statistical information in every branch of labour which enables us to-day to move forward with discretion and prudence.  They were not able to look to the general evidences of commercial security and expansion on which modern politicians can rely.  They could not show, as we can show, overwhelming examples of owlish prophets dazzlingly disproved; they could not point, as we can point, to scores of cases where not only increased efficiency, but a positive increase in output has followed the reduction of the hours of labour.  The principle was new, the future was vague.  But the Parliament of those days did not quail.  They trusted to broad, generous instincts of common sense; they drew a good, bold line; and we to-day enjoy in a more gentle, more humane, more skilful, more sober, and more civilised population the blessings which have followed their acts.  Now it is our turn.  Let us vote for the Second Reading of this Bill, and in so doing establish a claim upon the respect of Parliaments to come, such as we ourselves owe to Parliaments of the past.[12]

FOOTNOTES: 

[10] Mr. J.F.  Mason.

[11] Mr. Bonar Law.

[12] This concluded the debate, and the Second Reading was carried by 390 to 120.

UNEMPLOYMENT

KINNAIRD HALL, DUNDEE, October 10, 1908

(From The Times, by permission.)

What is the political situation which unfolds itself to our reflections to-night?  I present it to you without misgivings or reserve.  For nearly three years a Liberal Administration, more democratic in its character, more widely selected in its personnel, more Radical in the general complexion of its policy, than any that has previously been known to British history, has occupied the place of power.  During the whole of that period no single serious administrative mistake, either at home or abroad, has embarrassed or discredited the conduct of public affairs.  Three Parliamentary Sessions, fruitful beyond precedent in important legislation, have been surmounted with dignity and dispatch.  The authority and influence of Great Britain among foreign Powers have been prudently