. In the House of Lords on Tuesday Lord Lytton
raised the question of the Washington Eight Hours Convention, and we are bound to say that he and the other Opposition 'speakers had the best of the argument :against the Government. • The Government's reason for not ratifying the Convention is that it does not conveniently fit, in with various British practices and that careful revision is needed before it can safely be applied to .this, country. To take only one example, the Convention as it stands is hardly reconcilable with . the terms agreed upon between the railway companies and their employees. There is, of course, no hanging .back in regard to tire working hours ; the eight hours day is almost universally accepted here Unfortunately, the Government have refused so far to say exactly what they desire in the way of revision. They will not ratify and they will not say what changes are necessary to induce them to ratify. Obviously, Great Britain has much to gain by general ratification, because some of our " unfair " competitors would erase to compete with us unfairly if they were bound by the Convention. At present the unfairness is tempered by Safeguarding, but a much better cure, and one of much wider appli- cation, would be to equalize the hours and conditions of labour all over the civilized world.
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