There was no serious attempt to answer Mr. Lloyd George's
criticism. The effort of Mr. Shinwell, the Minister of Mines, was particularly poor. Although all the Labour speakers were in favour of the Bill, the Government did not father it, because they knew, of course, that they had no mandate and could not possibly force it through. In the division 168 voted for the Bill and 264 against—a majority of ninety-six. The fact that this ill-conceived measure has been so easily dis- posed of will not, we hope, tempt Unionists to think that a real settlement of the mining problem can be, or ought to be, postponed. We are much attracted by Mr. McNair's proposal, which is that the State should buy the royalties and that State Commissioners should then lease the mines to approved private companies. This reconstruction would be accompanied by a full and regular publication of the financial figures. There would be a representative National Mining Board, and the miners would have a definite share in the management.
