The Glamorgan Gazette

SOUTH WALES POWER CO. ¡ BILL DEPOSITED. SALE OF THE GENERATING STATIONS. A Bill "to make further provision with regard to the undertaking oif the- South: ^Vauta Electrical Power Distribution Company" has been deposited for introduction into Parlia- ment next Session. The preamble recites in detail the financial position of the Ctompa-ny. On the Ut it of August, 1907, there wero heavy debts duo from the Company amounting (in addition to certain debts to the Crown which have since boen discharged) to £ 8*1,000, or thereabouts. Tina revenue, of the Company is, it is asscrtc-d, insufficient to defray the expenses payable thereout," and in consequence of the heavy claims of creditors and others' against the Company of their inability to raise Idcli- tional capital the Company are unable to continue the supply of energy from their works unless furthur provision is mado w ith regard to their undertaking. Clauses 3, 4 and 5 are "to prevent the dis- continuance of the supply of -energy." The proposal is that the Treforest Electrical Con- sumers' Company (Limited), which w u> regis- tered in July, 1907, shall enter into -an arrangement with the Coaipany to work, maintain, and manage- the Treforest station at Treforest, ami the area, in Glamorgan- shire "as lies on the <e aster IT side of a line drawn to follow the western, boundary line of the western watershed1 of the River Tuff, and so much of the county of Monmouth us lies to. the west of a •similar line of the easternl watershed of the River Rhymney, and an area, having a radius of eight miles in a northerly, southerly westerly, direc- tion only from the generating station of the Company at. Treforest." During the continuance of the working arrangement the Treforest Company are to work an -area hi the interest of the deben- tnra stockholders, any surplus profit remaining ''shall either be carrtied to the reserve fiiiil of the Comnany or be applied in payment of dividends on the Cojnpany's shares, provided that no portion' or Iny revenue earned prior to the 1st daj" of January, 1910. shall be applied in payment j of dividends without the consent of the debenture a.<rent." The powers conferred und'er this Bill upon the debenture agent are to cease a rd his office is to be vacated upon the termination of the working arrangement with the Treforest Company. BKIDCEND AXD XEATH STATIONS. By Clauses 6, 7, 8, and 9 Parliament is asked to confirm an agreement, for the sale of the Company's Neath station: to the Neath Rural District Council for the sum of £ 7,000. The agreement proposed to be made is fully set out in the second schedule attached to the Bill, and the date of com- pletion is there fixed for the 29th of Septem- ber next. The Neath Cbuncil are to be authorised to sunoly engery in bu'lk to 'adjoining local authorities, and1 the Company undertake not to supply electrical energy within the district of the council, the borough of Neath. the urban, district of Briton Kerry, or the parish of LLansamJet. Clauses 10, 11 and 1 also ask for the con- firmation of all agreement, dated the 24th of September, 1907, for the sale of the Bridgend station to the Bridgend Urban District Coiuin- cil foT the sum of £ 5,000. Power is also ii given to this Council to effect agreemento with the Glamorgan-shire County Council for the supply of energy to that Council for the j purposes of their lunatic asylums at Pare 1 G'.vyilt and Angel ton. ] AGREEMENTS ANNULLED. fit proposed to repeal the whole of the Gamia.rthenishire Eleonrie Power Com- pany Act, 1903, under whidh that company was incorporate-el to construct and provide generating stations to supply energy within the county of Carmarthen. powers transferred to the. South Wales Electri- cal Power Distribution Company in, 1903. but the Company have not commenced any of the works for caryying out these powers. Parliament is asked to annul the •agree- ments entered into between the Company and the Urban District Councils of Rhomida, t Llanelly, Mountain Ash, Caerphilly, Aber- earn and Brit.on Ferry, 'and two e tits with the Corporation- of Neath. It is also proposed to annul the agreement between the Carmarthen shire Electrical Power Com- pany and the Llanelly and District Electric Lighting and Traction Company (liinviteid). FINANCE. Clauses 15 to 17 authorise the Company to issue to creditors in satisfaction of their claims "fully-paid preference shares at the rato of fifteen shares of ClO each for every £100 due from the company" and owing on the 9th of August, 1907, and which have not yet been satisfieel. Clause 18 authorises the Company to issue and dispose of any debentures or shares at a price below the nominal amount, "and ;ill such manner as the directors of the company think aelvantageous." Clause 19 proposers to postpone the payment of interest on the debenture stock tintil, 1910.

Failing to Report Sheep Scab. At Swansea County Police-court on Satur- day David Lewis, timber merchant, of Llan- geirruech, and his farm bailiff, Henry Wit- liams, were summoned for not reporting an outbreak of sheep scab with all, practicable speed. Mr. Leyshou defended. The sum- mons against Williams was taken first. Ser- geant German said 29 out of 73 sheep were affected, and that defendant d.aicl he had no- ticed the outbreak some time before his visit. Defendant said he noticed the sheep scratch- ing, and reported the fact to his master. He was not sure it was scab till some time after- wards. Directly he was satisfied what the disease was his master reported it. A fine of 40s. inclusive was imposed. On the case against- David Lewis being pro- ceeded with, Mr. Leyshon submitted defen- dant bad not been proved to be in possession of the sheep. The Bench, however, consi- dered defendant was in possession. Mr. Lewis Said it was not till December 16th he suspected the sheep had scab. and he gave notice to the police on the 18th. the earliest liossible moment he could go to the police. Defendant was fined £5 inclusive.

Up-to-Date Appliances for turning out every class of work at competitive prices, at the "Glmorgan Gazette" Printing Works. I

MR. ANBREW FLETCHER'S CAR. HOW A MOTOR WAS BOUGHT TWICE. A CHAUFFEUR'S ELOPEMENT. The case in which John Reliry Farratt (24), engineer, living at Arundul-square, is chairgoo on a warrant with having between- the 28th of November and the 5th of December la&t fraudulently converted' ,a motor-sar, belong- ing to Mr. Andrew Fletcher, heir to the Mar- gam Estates, to his own use, again came be- fore Mr. Mead at Marlborough-street Police- court oil-, January 9th. M'r. R. D. Muir, barrister, prosecuted, and Mr. Sydney, solicitor, defended. Mr. Muir said that the defendant was temporarily employed by a Mr. Rendell to take out a 40-h.p. Napier motor-car for the purpose of showing it to intending pur- chasers. The car belonged to Mr. Andrew Fie-teher, of Saltoun, who had only under- taken- this prosecution out of a sense of public duty. ir. Mead An historic name. Mr. Muir proceeded that Mr. FlciOtM-r had no knowledge of any of the circumstances connected with the prisoner's flight from Erigitaii,d or of the person with whom he went awav. Ho made no charge at all, and no onie ■could make one, against the young woman 'who accompanied the prisoner out of this country. In June, 1907, Mr. Fletcher desired to dispose of the car, and for that purpose placed it in the hands of Mr. Rendeil (of the firm of solicitors, Mes-srs. Sutton and Rendelt), who placed it at the garage ocoupied by the Lanchaster Motor Company, Oxford-street, and the prisonler was from time to time to show it to purchasers. He had no other sort of authority over the car. In November it was at the garage of Mr. Otto. who had the pnr- chase of it in view. He did not do so, how- ever, and the prisoner- was sent to take the car to Lanchester's again. He then told Mr. Rendel'l that he knew a porter at Paddington who might buy the car. and Mr. Rendelt gave him authority to .show it to him, but said it was to be bevus^! at Lan- cheter s. aiud he was under thn imi>ro&.sion for several days that that was- the case. It was not till the 3rd of December that; 11;(\ dis- covered that the car was NOT AT THE GARAGE. Ho found that the car had been sold to a Mr. Cripps, who had given a cheque for £ 250 and a. house-boat for it. The cheque was given to tho prisoner, it being a crossed cheque; but, on the introduction of Mr. Grippy, prisoner opened an account at his bank, and so converted the- cheque into money within a very few days. He then went Iilto the country, apparently with this young woman, and eventually we-nt. to America. with her. Mr. Cripps was entirely blame/less in this matter, lie having beeii told by the prisoner that he purcha&od the cat- from Mr. Fletcher in June, 1907, and that he had given £ 650 for it. Prisoner was a man of some education. He (counsel) did not know what bad become of the house-boat. Whet; Mr. Cripps found out the' fact, he bought the car again from its first owner, lUr. Fletcher, who was thus no loser, whilst Mr. Cripps had bought it twice over. Prisoner, lie submitted, was guilty of larceny of the bailee, anct' he was also guilty under the Larceny ^ct, 1901, in. that, being a. trustee of property, 110 had converted it to his ()"I"li liise. Mr. Rendell received a. letter from the .prison'er, dated December 31st, en board tho Majestic, in1 which he said :— E do not quite understand- your action, after my letter of the 2nd, explaining exactly what I was doing. Well, yon will be the loser in. the long run. I will settle on the 12th of Januarv. as I arranged. I should have sold the house-bout for £ 300 by this time, and you would have, had zC450, but my being arrested set. arrangements. If you withdraw the chairge you will have £ 250 by the 12th, otherwise I shall fight it to the end. He was found in possession' of a. sovereign (explained counsel), and he told the detective that he had lost the rest of the money play- ing bridge with card sharpers on the way out. The prisoner's letter from the Tombs Prisoner, New York, to Mr. Cripps, dated the 16th of December, was of quite. a diffeiv/ifc character to that when he wrote to )1r. Rerir- dell He sa.id Dear Mr. Cripps, I wired you yesterday as regards the car. Now, will you be kind enough to send it back to Mr. Great Winchester-stret, City, ard with- dliaw from it. I shall be in Lou- don by the 21st, and wiil arrange to you. I have got into a hole-, and it is worse than all that could hapnen. I was over on business, and shonlcl have miadto some money by now and been right again, but hick has run out. Now please do this, and help me. 'I will ivork for you as n- gineer. By that time I shall be more sen- sible than during the last few years. I am mamie-d now, tand my wife, who is eigh- teen years and a half, mieht act as gover- ness to your children. She is well up in everything, and in the ootiist, of a. year or two will have some money, and we might be able to repay you for your kindness. If you knew the exact state o-f affairs, I think you would not think so badly of me. The oaso was furthex adjourn eel.

Wenvoe Castle Estate Rent Audit. At the half-yearly rent and it of the Wen- voo Castle Estate, Mrs. Jcun'cr. the landlady, again made an ahat-e-men t of 10 ptM- cent, to all the tenants.

Barry Railwaymen's Grievances. The grievances of Barry railwaymen still continue. A meeting of menibers of the local branches of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, attended by about 500 men was held at Barry on Sunday, when) a. resolu- tion) was unanimously adopted to approach the board of di recto re of the company -with the view of laying before them the case. of the men in regard to the suspensions and reduc- tions which have been made in the locomotive department of the company's service, the mooting being of opimion: that the directors were not aware of the circumstance's which, in their opiuion) had' now become quite intolerable. Representatives were appointed to attend the forthcoming national conference.

COALOWNERS' DEPUTATION TO HOME I OFFICE. I' OBJECTIONS TO THE BANK TO BANK PROPOSAL. AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN FAVOURED IN SOUTH WALES. 'The Home Secretary last week re- ceived a deputation from the Mining Associa- tion of Great Britain in reference to the Eight Hours' Bill for Miners. The deputa- tion was introduced- by Sir Clifford Cory, -P., and among those present were. Messrs. Fred L. Davis, president of the owners' side I of the South Wales Conciliation Board-; S. L. G-regor, L1. lirans, T. H. Deakin, W. Stewart, L. Llewellyn, J. Fox Tallis, J. P. Gibboj*, D. Hannah, H. E. Gray, Fred Cleeves, W. W. Hood (chairman, or the South Wales and Monmouthshire Ooalownars' Asso- eiation), W. H. Routledge, E. M. Hann, W. D. Wight, B. Nicholas, and H. R. Jenkins., land C. Kens-hole (solicitor), and W. Gas-coyne DaJziel (secretary of the South. Wales Coal owners' Association). Sir Clifford Oosry, M.P., in introducing the deputation, said the association had boJTi es- tablished fifty years. Their output in 190G was 251 million tons, and they re- presented was two hundred millions sterling. MINING ASSOCIATION POINTS. Mr. T. Radeliffe Ellis, tho law clerk and secretary of the association, dealt with the general effect which the Eight Hours Biti was l'ikely to have. He pointed: out the Mininc Association of Great Britain has ahvavs op- posed the Miners' Federation Bill, conteaid- ing that it is undesirable that Parliament should interfere with the hours of adult labour in mines, unless there was evidence. which they contended thi.h e was not that the hours now worked are prejudicial, either to the safety or to the health of the minera; that the Bill if passed into law would be dis- tinctly prejudicial to safety; that it would work most unfairly as between districts and as between, collieries within the same district ■and bo a great hardship upon tho older and weaker men and that the limitation of the hours of 'labour as proposed by the Bill would result in such, a reduction of the output or coal and a, permanent increase in tho cos't, as would' be disastrous to many of the industries of the oountry dependent for their existence upon cheap fudl. Tho promoters of the Bil'l had characterised these objections as imagin- ary, .and endeavoured to push forward their Bill regardless of consequences -and1 further, declined' to give any assistance in the Depart- mental inquiry into the probable effect of a, eight honra bank-to-bank day, and refused to put forward any evidence. The representa- tives of the Federation had been ready enough to offer flat contradiction to the state- m tilts made by the -coal owners as to the pro- bable effect of the Bill; but when the time and the opportunity ami veer for testing 'before an ^Independent tribunal vita grounds upon which they denied their assertions, they de- clined' to ojlce advantage of it. Anticipat- ing doubtless wha.t might be the report of the Committee, and before -it became available, they endeavoured to force through the House o^ComniopB their t'ight hours bank-to-bank Liil. Ag.iin. the industry a:tvd'the commun- ity were. deeply indebted' to the Home Secre- tary for resisting, under considerable dimcnl- tic (. that attempt, until the House of Com- mons was in possession of tho report of the Departmental Committee. When that rev peTt was available the Government brought in a Bill in"-accordance with their promise. The .report bnre out what had always been said1 by the Mining Association—that there was no evidence that the health, of the miner suffered as the result of the hours at present worked, or that it would be improved bv the limitation of tmhours of work as proposicd. The report also abundantly confirmed the contention, that. the effect of such' a limitation of the hours of work in mines as proposed by the Mines Eight Hours Bill would of neces- sity decrease tho output. Indeed, they held the opillioll" rightly or wrongly, that one ob- ject, if not the main object, of the Federation Bill was to effect that purpose. The wages of the coai'miner an-cl other uneleraround labour Werle regulated to a considerable ex- tent by the seilling price of ooal; and a re- stricted output woukT mean a higher price. REDUCTION OF OUTPUT. Taking the figures adopted by the Com- mittee tho aggregate boons underground wou'kl be reduced per week -as -fellows'- —- All Classes underground, 10.27 per cent. hewers 6.20; underground other thJ 111 he'Wers UL 72. The Committee on this basis of 10.27 p,(,r ii,t. tor aM classes uuclei'g.-ounel Tsti-mated the 1:0: of production, would be 25,783,000 tons calcu- lated on the output of 1906. If, however, tjl, 10i'i index to t' effect- upon- produetii,n would be (as the coalowners a>nrt pd» the time lost, not by all underground workers', but by the underground' wc/rkers other than hewe»rs, tlle Unction iShould be calculated at lo./2 per cent, instead of 10.27 per cent, a id upon, the output of 1906 thüjoftS. of produc- tion wou'kl be 34,444,170 tons ner annum. Whatever reduction in output followed as the result of the Bill, it would be la.rge.lv peimnn- ent. As to suggested means of mitigating the dinnuiiished evutput he pointed out that improvements in haulage ways, sinking new Va«'S' introduction; of macliinery, ei-cu •rr eilective, would' increase the cost of produc- K]11 aud Hxnild not be -commercially profit- able. Tho Committee's conclusion that for some collieries the double! shift would be a 1,pcessitv w-as air admission that it was a necessity to prevent such collieries bem^ shut dw-iv altogether. Whilst too 11111CII must not be placed upon the possibility of these mitigating circumstances which were to depend upon the coalowners, whatever valine they miglit have, it would take many- yea rs to bring them into effective operation even where they oouId be applled. The miti- gating canses suggested' by the Cornrr-ttee wtucli are to depend upon the men were still likely to have any immediately effective ie suit. They depended iipon Play days, and the putting forth of greater exertion, during the working hours. CASE FOR SOUTH WALES. Mr. Fred L. Davis, for tho South Waks coaiOwners, sand those he represented agreed with what Mr. Raddiff Ellis had said. The Government notwrn for 1906 showed tf¡P)\(\ were 615 collie'ries in the South Wales coal- field, producing a total output of coal of 46.9.35,000 tons, and employing 148,000 men uiiderground and 26,000 on the surface, a total of 174,000. It may be*. pointed out I that the Royal Commission lues been ap- pointed by his Majesty whose chief object. to endeavour to devise meamiS for obtnir/-r.rr increased safety in tho working of the The South Wales owners are stroneriy ,(}f opinion that- the efforts of the Royal' Commis- sion Ht t.1t.llt direction would bo largely, if not wholly, nullified by a shortening of the hours cf work, for a reduction of hours I cert.Mn!r i-ndi'-ce n. greater tendency on the part of the men to devote their time to "1.ge.- C'fl.MLjjifj T ? ir:n a&tn, -f lvr* o.^A-i-.r ,%r "'AJOJ' ,Q..i.'C L" ..11 their working olaoes. (Hear, hear.) Ti-e ^ontii Yv ales collieries could not ma-fee a profit wjih thf ^-orkir-g hours fixed! at- a single shift or eight hours, and it would necessitate the introduction of a double shift. This ehinge of system would unuoubtedly involve a serious I<?tion betwe>e>:i the. employers and w orkmen as. one^ef the obiects of the South Waleu Miners Fecle/ration-, ais defined in their ruleis-. is" -1^ endeavour tb .secure by Te.?islation the re duct'on of the hours of labour in mines to eneat 'ours from bank to bank, and to on- pose "In of double shift, except wheiiie ahsolut-e!v' 1vppe.5sa.ry for the purpose of r li- tilatio". Home Office Departmental Conun'ttr in its conclusion state.d that e. tor the institution, of an eight hours day, a c'.OLermmed effort would be made bv the coal- owners to extend the double .shift system. epecialTy probable in South Wales, but that the principal. amO perhaps at present insur- niou n fje e olxst-aele to aji immediate adon- tlon.r'V!0 ^Itiple shift system, was tbe im- pe-bilitv of securing the. necessary labour. 'H At 200 of the collieries in .outn Vyales from -which returns were ob- tained, it appeH.reo that 134 work two short ■days ench work, aicl 66 only one short d'av, No collieries wm-k six full days. The 134 collieries have four days 10 hours and two of seven hours. The arrangement was inmi- tuted and had been continued by the special desire of the men. The average working day in South Wales being longer than in the other districts, obviously the reduction of hours wouMJ more seriously affect South Wales than the. other districts. It was also probable that friction would arise with the workmen when the employers made the neces- sary change or fengtiiemng the hours on the •Jload'ays and Siutnrdays, which were the short clays. The average hours worked: bv each person at present did not .amount to I more tliaiij about 43 per week, exclusive of overtime. Undec the provisions of the Bill the effective working time would be reduced to 38 hours, per week in a full week of -six ■days. A week consisted of 168 hours, and it seemed; an extravagant proposal that onlv about 22 per cent, of the time should be de- voted to effective production. Judging by piesert 'experience, the actual would not ex- 30 per This would be equivalent to only four days' work of the hours worked by men in other general industries. There was no real cans's for anv shortening cf hours With regard to Sub-section 7 of the Clause 1 in the Bill, dealing with the exemptioll of certain oils sees from the operations of the Bill, the South Wales' owners wished to add to these exemptions the men- engaged on- the mechanical haulage— (hear, hear)—othe-rwise these appliances would be rendered useless for the whole period occupied by their going in a.nd coming out. and, tnerefore, the time al- lowed for actual use of the main reads would only be about 7 hours. The practice hitherto has been that these men go in a little earlier or come out t so ac, to clear out of the way jou-rneys of trams which would other- wise be left in the way of repairing work necessary in the following shift. All -this time would be lost for the sake of shortening tho hours of a small section of the men. MUST ALTER THE WAGE BASIS. An agreement has boon entered into with the workmen for the regulation of wages fcr a period of four years expiring on the 31st December,. 1909. This .agreement was based upon existing conditions as to ho-n-rs of work- ing (among&t.other conditions) and the in- troduction, by legislation, of reduced bonis of working would be an interfere nee with that contract which -affected seven-eights of the 174,000 workmen engaged in. the South I rl Wales collieries. This alteration of one of the main conditions of employment would necessitate the employers seeking a reduction in the basis of the general wage rate of the workmen with a probable result that a. dis- turbance of the friendly relations between the employers and workmen would follow. The. South Wales owners suggested that even if any alteration of uie hours was decided upon by Parliament it should not be made applic- able during the life t>f existing contracts with the workmen. A rise of Is. 6d. per ton in. the cost of pa-oduction represented in the wages scaie as nearly as possible 13 per cent., anu, therefore, to put the colliery owners in the same position as thev at present, the minimum wage rate of 30 per cent, above the standard which now corresponded to a selling price of lls. lOd. for large coal f.o.b. at the slapping ports would1 require to be made -co-relative to 13-s. 4d. selling I)rice, it is quite certain that the, workmen would look uponj this as a. very decided reduction, in wages, and there' was- no escsne from this result except by arguing that there would be no increase of cost. Mr. Davis supplemented his remarks by quoting from, speecaus1 of Mabon" and Mr. Tom Rioh.-a.rds, M.P. The former had said he did not su ppose they wor-e going to get all they askeel for, viz., eight hours from bank to bank. The- miners' exe- cutive members agreed upon 8, hours. Mr. Davis thought that shewed that the men were beginning to see; the eight hours proposal was unworkable, and he thought that strength- ened the arguments or the deDutation. h. Frank Brain, on behalf of the Forest of Dean, said- the foalownevs there' felt that- tire Bill wO-ukl jeopardise their very existence an.d the workmen took the sumo view, that- it was a matter of I-Ifw-j or death to the coalfield. Mr. Andrew McCosh, representing- Scot- land, Sir Lindsay Wood, Northumberland and Durham. also spoke. HOME SECRETARY'S REPLY. Mr. Gladstone, in reply, said there had been a shortcoming in the interest shown iji, the matter by consumers. the House of Commons was in favour of limitation; of. hours. Witli the exception of Sir Clifford. Cory—whom lie took the opportunity of con- gratulating on. his recent honour—(applause) —-and a. few others, there was no-one in the House of Commons to voice the views- of thosE" against. He frankly and freely acknow- ledged that the deputation, was tboroujrhlr representative of the coalowners of the wTiole country (hear, hear)—and he frankly admit- ted also_ that they were entitled to lay tho whole of their case in ail its details .and in. all its important bearings, not only before the Government, out before the country, as they had practically done that day, because they were concerned with a gigantic interest which occupied the labour or not far short of a million, of men. Fiurther, they were con- cerned with the production ot a commodity which was not only essential to the daily com- fort of 4tit persons in the country, to the very humblest, but which was a prune factor in the prosperity of the commerce- and indus- try of the whole country. He agreed, there- fore, that it was the duty of tli(, G(-,V"I,ilnlellt to consider this matter with the utmost anxiety, not only with regard to the in- terests of the coalowners, but also the in- terests of the consumers of coal generally. The speakers had fairly stated their case, and he did not attempt to claim that they had altered their views about the. question of 1imi- tation -of hours in minle-s, and that they were ittady to accept a certain bafiis which perhaps rmght besuggeste-d' uv the Bill cf the Govern- nwnt. He accepted from them that they did notlikü limitation at all. (Hear, hear.) But as practic-al men, if a limitation was to be imposed upon them they wished to make it as fai i- a i-(i reasonable as they could. (Hear, hear.) It must be-accepted th it Parliament, had practically come to the conclusion that there must he a limitation of hours. The Government had been- aware from the first of the very great practical difficulties which sur- rounded the question ana- became ■mover apparent the Oibser tlvey studied the question. It was because of this that they had pointed a committee to obtain- the rec-e-snry srtatistical information, and lie glad to find the work of (the committee had he^u ap- preciated.. The Miners' Federation 'iWi-o- ciuced their Bill List year, and the Govern- ment had been I,ez,,sod from 1:il .de'? to adopt that Bill as a b',¡,-> and to carry through the necessary amei'xlnient in grard committee, hut it was prach'raLly impossible to do so, ar/u- therefore the Governmeni took s oil the urude)rstanrl'inthat they would brina in their own. Bill. The Government. Ei-T which was; introeaicecl) .last year provided one. "winding time, and it cnl in fact institute an. 'average eight hours' day for all workers, it therefore fulfilled the general policy fored">:clawed- by the Government. Of it. did follow that. -limitation of the bonis of output- must have some effect in i-a.i;&ii,.g the price of coal. But he expressed no final view or even: opinion as to the extent of it. It was impossible at present to say what eclditiona' labour might be available in the future, and all anticipations respecting changes in habits- of miners were a matter of speculation.. He agreed generally that this question of in- oCeased price following on a limitation of hours was a matter of enormous inmortance which have to be respon.vibilv consi- dered in Parliament. Of course, thev all agreed that one of the first con-nler'a-tien^ was Ina of would, indeed, be deplorable if the-ratio of accidents were increased by auv legislation which led to -augmenting the speed of ill -of tinitier-- ing. He was <da,d to have the benefit of the; orin.ions that whatever the Bill mieht do it is-boii'ld come into operation' nil at once and not by stages. (Hear, boar.) He might be 'rather .SMi?;uiue,. but h? had ho ne" fo,, I p,,a. He did not claim the denutation's support for amy rait of this BUI. But on the asspmption that .l':miKt;on of hours hav. to come whether they liked it or not. +bpr„ v, P.r.acSiy ouly one mate rial point of difference between, them and the men—namely, whether there should' be one winding time allowed or two turns. He did not think the deputation! would expect him to sav -anything upon that point- at the present time. The coal trade had been distinguished fo'* manv vears by the broad eomnvon-sense winch had eh-aractori'secl' the relations between the masters1 and men. He was not without, liore. that the EM] mieht yet be found a basis of'agreement satisfactory to employers and emploved. that it would not; iiifl et. inju-rv on. the poorest consumers, and that it would net ¡:ld to any material acoiio- mic disturbance of the trade, commerce, and manufactures of the country. (Hear, hear.) The deputation thanked the right lion, gentleman, -a'-d wi+Wlrrew.

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