20 OCTOBER 1906, Page 2

Mr. Asquith addressed his constituents at Ladybank last Saturday. Dealing

with the problem of South Africa, he claimed that the Government had done what they could to avoid the two great dangers which had strewn the history of that continent with blunders—hasty action and imperfect information—and expressed his satisfaction that, in spite of the attitude of the official Opposition leaders, all parties in the Transvaal had loyally accepted the new Constitution. As for the Trade Disputes Bill, he had never disguised his pre- ference for the method proposed in the Government Bill as originally introduced; but on so technical a question he was not ashamed to give way to the opinions of others, whose authority he recognised, always with the proviso—which was completely satisfied by the Bill in its present form—that no immunity should be conferred on combinations of men which was not fully and equally extended on the same terms to com- binations of employers,—a line of defence which can be met by observing that two wrongs do not make a right.