28 JULY 1917, Page 3

In the House of Commons on Monday the Government made

the division on the minimum wage clause in the Corn Production Bill a vote of confidence. Their course was perhaps unnecessarily heroic—we dislike talk of a Dissolution when it is not inevitable-- but they were gratified by a handsome majority of 199. They resisted the proposal that the wage of 25s. should be raised to 30s. Mr. Protherp in his very successful speech explained.that to create confidence-in the farmer was the whole aim of the Bill. To saddle the farmer with a charge he would believe he could not beer would defeat that aim. The farmer would lose heart, and the Bill would become a grass-producing instead of a corn.produeing Bill. We have written at length on the subject elsewhere.