LONDON LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 15140, 24 March 1913, Page 5

LONDON LETTER.

[By W. L. George.] February 8. The Home Rule Bill has been rejected by the House of Lords. As this was a foregone conclusion, I need not comment upon this development. I understand that the Bill will be reintroduced in the coming cession, passed, presumably rejected once more by the Upper House, and finally passed under Royal sanction, and in the face of the resistance of the House of Lords, in April or May, 1914. This, as you are aware, is the 'process to be followed under the provisions of the Parliament Act, which deprived tho House of Lords of powers other than those of delay. It does not now appear that the Government are exposed to perils other than those of which I have written from time to time. It can therefore be accepted that the Bill will pass, and that its reception in Ireland will, in the main, be satisfactory. The result of the Derry election last week certainly indicates that popular opinion in Ireland is less bitterly opposed to the Bill than is suggested by the Orangemen. In my letter of January 11 I gave the results of the last six elections at Derry City, and showed that the Unionists had held the town for 12 years. Now the Nationalist-Liberal group have captured the seat by a majority of 57. This is not large, but it is exceedingly significant that the Unionists should be beaten in their own country, Ulster, after two yeai'6 of incessant "agitation and warnings against the Home Rule demon. I do not, as a rule,* attach any value to by-election results, but in Derry the opposing forces have always been so delicately adjusted that the highest majority on record is 105 on a poll which always exceeds 5,000. The town can therefore be considered as the Irish barometer; under those circumstances, the win is significant. Nothing militates against the test, for the poll was amazing; 99 per cent, of the electors registered their vote, bed-ridden and sick men were carried .to the booths, while one enthusiast, foT whose arrest a warrant was out, dared to return to Derry, evade the police, and cast his vote. They take politics seriously in Ireland, and for that reason I esteem that the resistance of Ulster will prove, in this new state of things, the resistance of a minority. It is worth noting, by the way, that Ulster now returns 16 Unionists to 17 Home Rulers. The Orangemen have therefore lost the majority of seats in their stronghold. The result of the Flint election, fought on Welsh Disestablishment, has been less satisfactory to the Government, for the seat is held only by a majority of 211, a reduction of close bn 300. Still, as both Liberal and Unionist polls increased, it is fair to concludo that the result is due to the bringing up of Unionist reserves and not to a turnover of votes. A more generous policy with regard to Church, endowments would doubtless, have improved the result. Perhaps, during the 15 months which separate us from the final passage of the Bill, the Cabinet may see fit to extend mercy to the vanquished. . This would profit the merciful. The sensational event of the past fortnight has, however, been the suffrage crisis and the consequent dropping of the Franchise Bill. The first hint of trouble was received with stupor, and when it was announced, in a reply to Mr Bonar Law, that the Speaker would probably declare out of order any amendment calculated to enfranchise women, the wildest rumors found credence in the most reasonable quarters. It was generally stated that Sir Edward Grey and Mr Lloyd George would, at once resign if the Cabinet were not allowed to fulfil their pledge—namely, to permit the discussion and passage of a woman's suffrage amendment, which would then be part of the Government Bill; it was also stated that the development was a conspiracy to defeat the cause of the women, that it was engineered by Mr Asquith. Now, as regards the latter charge, it is imjjossible to say that the Premier has lent himself to" an antisuffrage manoeuvre. The facts are simple enough. The Speaker declared that the passage of woman's suffrage amendments "altered the character of the Bill," and based himself on historical precedents into which I will not go, as it is customary to accept the Speaker's ruling; it therefore became impossible to proceed with the Bill, for the Cabinet was pledged to allow a woman's suffrage amendment ; to drop the amendment would have been treachery ; Mr Asquith preferred to drop the Bill iUelf. I donbt whether the Premier can have done this willingly, for the Franohise Bill, establishing manhood suffrage and simplifying registration, would have benefited the Liberals in 1915 while the Plural Voting Bill, which will[ I understand, be taken up by the Government, does neither of these tilings, and does no more than begin electoral reform. Therefore Mr Asquith has been scrupulously, almost quixotically, fair to tho women ; he has said in substance: If your clauses fall our Bill shall fall with tliem. It may and is argued that the Government should have known that the Speaker would disallow the amendments, and thev are certainly to blame from that point of view, for it is the business of the Government, their numerous drafting specialists and law officers, to know whether they can keep the pledges they give. Otherwise they lay themselves open to the suspicion of treachery ; but there has been a serious blunder, and it is likely that Mr Asquith will in time suffer therefor at the hands of the. Women's Liberal Federation, whose patience seems to be at an end; it is not wonderfid, too, that militancy has resumed its sway, and that, to-day, windows are being broken and pillar-boxes fired in traditional style. The blunder has been so bad that Mr Asquith, anti-suffragist though he be, is doing his- utmost to fulfil his pledge in the only way possible under the circumstances. He has undertaken to allow a private member to introduce a special Bill in Government time in the coming session, probably in April. If this gains a second reading he will grant Government time for the following stages also the use of the closure. This is handsome reparation, though nothing can entirely compensate the suffragists for the loss of their chance of using the Parliament Act to pass their Bill in the face of the (probable) opposition of the House of Lords; under the new scheme, if the Bill passes this year, it must pass once more in 1914, and submit to chance after the next General Election. It is this uncertainty that dismays the suffragists. If thev could be assured that Mr Asquith would" return to power they would, with a wry face, accept the scheme, but thev' do not relish the prospect of "passing the_ Bill twice, and then having to bargain, perhaps in vain, with a new Government. Still, it can be taken that the new scheme will be accepted by the moderate section of the suffragists, while the militants attempt by systematic outrage to compel the Government to make the Bill a Government Bill. They will assuredly fail, for the 'Cabinet has absolutely no authority to take such a step, but their continued propaganda will have this useful result of keeping the movement alive and demonstrating that they will never surrender their cause. From one point of view suffragist chances are improved. If wo assume that the Speaker had allowed the amendment, that women had been included in the Bill, it might very well have happened that a number of Liberal and Nationalist anti-suffragists would have voted against it, perhaps overthrown the Government and the amendment with it, for I can hardly believe, in view of the importance the Unionists seem to attach to the main items of the Liberal programme, that more than a few would have supported a Bill they look upon as bad, even though it enfranchised women. It may, .in a *en«e, be advantageous to clear the iesue. so that the friends of woman _ can vote for her unfettered by p arty ties. Under these circumstances, it is to be hoped that the suffragists of all i colors will rally to the side of the Government if the Bill is passed, so that on its return to power it mav at length fulfil its ! pledge. A sidelight on suffrage is afforded by a debate at the general meeting of the Bar, where it was proposed that women should be admitted to practice as barristers. The proposal was ridiculed, and. naturally, lost. It does not redound to the credit of . the Bar that the motion should not be dis-

cussed seriously, for ■women barristers do practice in certain countries, notably in France, while no argument is to be found against female barristers now that we possess female doctors. I am glad to bo able to put on record that an effort is being made by the cleaner eection of American politicians to adjust the Panama Act to the common dictates of international honor. Senator Root has introduced a Bill in the Senate to amend the Panama Act and delete the clause under which American ships will ho able to use the canal free of dues. He very rightly qualifies the American attitude as "revolting hypocrisy," and in default of the acceptance of his Bill demands that the United States should go to arbitration. It seems now that this Bill will not go through, but that .America will accept arbitration in some torm. Meanwhile, so that the surrender may not appear too obyious, the American Government is drafting a reply to the British Note, which is not likelv at once to advance the solution of the difficulty. Bulking equally with the suffrage agitation is now the* long-deferred land campaign, which is-, to be led by Mr Lloyd George. The details are naturally not all in our hands, as several hours are said to be necessary for a full development of the Chancellor's plan. ' The latter emanates from the private- inquiry into the English land conditions, on which special investigators have been at work for a year. ' Mr Lloyd George outlined at the National Liberal Club the principal evils against which he proposes to war. He holds that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of persons in our rliral districts are living under conditions of housing and wages " which ought to make this great Empire hang its head with shame"; he wishes to arrest migration from the countryside into the slums," to increase the food supply and the labor supply. All these are evidently important points, and we are looking forward to a full exposition of the means by which rural conditions can be improved. According to the parliamentary correspondent of the 'DailyNews,' whose information is as a rule fairly authoritative, a minimum wage of £1 aweek is to be granted by statute to agricultural laborers; every laborer who requires a cottage or a plot of land shall have one, with or without the sanction of landlord or fanner; co-operation shall be extended; the rating system will be reformed. I understand that this represents with some accuracy the intentions of Mr Lloyd George, except that the minimum oi £1 a week will not be secured by statute, any more than the 5s a day of the miners. It is more likely that wages boards akin to these which are now attempting to cope with low wages in sweated industries will be established locally, and that laborers will be represented on them equally with farmers. This will allow of the settlement of peculiarly Knglish difficulties; it is not uncommon for a farmer to pay a laborer 15s a week and to let him for 2s a cottgae the economic rent of which is 4s or more; these bonuses will have to be considered, and for this reason a hard and fast wage is outside practical politics. The effect of these measures will be felt mainly in those districts where wages are very low, 12s and 13s a week, and where the housing conditions are notoriously bad. It is within my personel knowledge that the average wages of the English laborer is 18s a week, an amount which is not set off by housing advantages. Indeed. I have visited cottages, notably in Suffolk, where families of two adults "and four or live children of both sexes dispose of but two rooms, which makes privacy and common decency impossible; in certain parte of the country cottages have been discovered where" the whole family sleep and livo in one room. The housing question is therefore at least as important as the wages question ; it will be very difficult of solution, for cottages cannot easily be built for less than £250 a piece if they are to be suitable for large mixed families. As this involves a rental of 5s to 6s a week, which a laborer cannot pay on a minimum £l, it is evident that the State or the local authorities will have to be asked for money. This opens up great difficulties of application, for rural authorities are, as a rule, disinclined to lay out money for the poorer sections, and consider too often that the laborer should cultivate satisfaction in the state in which he is born.

If tho Chancellor's scheme is to succeed the local authorities will have to be coerced. In" view of tho inefficiency displayed in coercion by the Commissioners, who'are supposed to compel county councils to grant small holdings. I incline to regard the-plan with a suspicion which it would bo unfair to emphasise until the whole scheme is available, but which must be borne in mind. One thing, however, Mr Lloyd _ George can assuredly do, and that is to encourage co-operation for the purchase of seeds and tools, for tire sale of agricultural products, for the provision of capital. A very little public money spent m educating the villages bv lectures, in supplying agricultural banks with capital (which would eventually be repaid), would work a revolution amone small holders, if we are to trust the re°markable results achieved bv small private co-operating groups in Norfolk and Essex. There is no doubt that-the scheme will be hotly opposed by the Unionists, who fear that the attention of agriculturists will be diverted from Tariff Reform, and who are not, as a class, inclined to favor the development of character and independence in the villages. So far, however, they have not come out into the open, partly because the above outline is not official, partly because Mr Bonar Law's policy is still so nebulous that they are not disposed to discuss agricultural questions. Lines of cleavage will, however, soon appear, and it mav well be that the next election will be concentrated round the rival policies which are to be applied to the land. I hope to send you a little later a full criticism of the new plan; meanwhile, it is good to see that great energy is being displayed in the cause of what should, after all, be our principal national industry. While the Chancellor devotes paternal interest to the agriculturist, the industrial worker is said to be meditating a significant movement, the plan is for amalgamation, or co-ordi-nation of the trade uinon and co-operative movements, for the purposes of co-opera-tive production of goods—Socialism in petto. The size of the scheme can be gauged by the capital of the co-operative societies, share and 10an—£55.000,000—to which must be added £10.000.000 of trade union funds. It is proposed to add to co-operative commerce (£116,000,000) cooperative production, by the building of lactones for the production of goods, all of which would be destined for the 4,000,000 members. Such figures are staggering, and I do not suppose that this organisation can come about without difficulty or friction; but the fact that it should be mooted must not be forgotten when we consider whether Labor is classconscious. A financial movement of this magnitude is more important than manv a fiery conference resolution. These resolutions are, however, being passed, and should not be ignored. The women workers have now demanded that the Right to Work Bill (i.e., work for all, supplied bv local authorities) should be passed • thev require, also, equal wages for men and women, nationalisation of land, railways and mines, together with a large number ot reforms affecting education and the care of the child. This is a vigorous policy, and it is endorsed bv the Labor party, whose annual report "l have hist receded. It is a very bulky document, from which I extract the notable figure that tho trade union membership has risen from 1,501,000 in 1911 to 1,843,000 in 1912 When we consider that, in 1900, when the Labor party was formed, the membership was only 303,000, it will be realised that British politics are likely to become more rather than less class-conscious. The' ad vantages or disadvantages of this evolution arc apparent to all of us, according to our temperament. *