At Wednesday's sitting the third reading of the Half- Timers
Bill—described by Mr. Maddison as the most impor- tant Bill of the Session—was agreed to amid general cheers. Two Lancashire Members, Messrs. Seton Karr and Whiteley, fought vigorously to the last, but Mr. Harwood did well to remind the House that the Bill, so far from being forced upon a reluctant Lancashire, had been generated there, and but for the fortune of the ballot, would have been introduced by a Lancashire Member. He cordially recognised, however, the conspicuous skill and public spirit shown by Mr. Robson in his conduct of the measure, and Sir John Gorst and Sir William Harcourt handsomely endorsed this tribute. From first to last, Mr. Robson refused to treat the matter as a party ques- tion, and has fully deserved the congratulations bestowed on him from both sides of the House. At the same sitting the Service Franchise Bill, which re-enfranchises the occupants of cubicles who lost the vote by a legal technicality, came under further consideration. In Committee last week the condition providing that the employer of a person claiming the service franchise must not reside under the same roof was struck out by a snap vote. Sir J. Blundell Maple, who is in charge of the measure, now proposed to reinsert the condition ; and after a lively protest from Mr. Healy and the application of the closure, the amendment was carried by the small majority of 171 to 154. We have already given our reasons for concurring in the extension of the franchise secured by last week's vote, but the Bill as it stands, though it does not go as far as it safely might, is distinctly a just and desirable measure.
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