BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 903, 24 February 1908, Page 5

BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

SWEATED INDUSTRIES BILL,

Received February 23, 4.29 p.m LONDON. February 22.

The Sweated Industries Bill, based on Victorian legislation, was ■introduced into the House of Commons, and welcomed by £.ll sections of the House.

Mr Herbert Gladstone, Home Secretary, accepted the proposal to send the. Bill to a Select Committee after the second reading, but intimated that the Government would not be committed to tiie principle of a compulsory minimum wage. Messrs C. P. Allen (Libera! M.P. for Stroud), E. A. Villiers (Liberal M.P. for Brighton), and others eulogised the Australasian regulations.

The Bill passed the seennd reading, and was sent to the Select Committee on House Work.

Mr Gladstone said he thought the Victorian system would stand the test of time, but so far it had not been tested. Some of the machinery of the Victorian Act was necessary to make a practical measure. It would be extremely hard to provide a workable remedy for sweating, but experimental legislation was justifiable owing to the wretchedness of the workers.

SMALL HOLDINGS OF SCOT LAND BILL.

Received February 23, 4.29 p.m. LONDON, February 22

The second reading of the Small Holdings of Scotland Bill, which is based on the lines of the English Act of 1907, was opposed by the Secretary for Scotland (Right Hon. John Sinclair), and negatived by 184 to 44.