Mr. Keir Hardie, who assumes to be in a special
degree the Labour Member, on Tuesday moved an amendment to the Address, regretting that the Government had not referred in the Queen's Speech to the industrial depression, with a view to prompt legislation in the interests of the unemployed. He made a more moderate speech than was expected, but his only suggestions were shorter hours in dockyards, which would increase taxation; the limitation of Government contracts to the home market, which would instantly produce a " ring " of contractors ; and the establishment of industrial colonies at home, which would either compete with regular industry, or be a costly system of outdoor relief. Sir J. Gorst contended that Mr. Keir Hardie was partially right, and that the Govern- ment ought to make of industrial depression at least the second question of the Session; and Mr. Mundell& replied in the perfunctory and ineffectual speech described elsewhere. It contained no promise not already sketched out in the Queen's Speech, except an offer of an additional year for education,— a great addition to present expenditure on that object. The amendment was negatived by 276 to 109, the latter number consisting, we presume, not of Members who agreed with Mr. Keir Hardie—the House is too intelligent for that—but of those who think industrial depression more important, at least in its political aspect, than the Government do.
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