Sir Walter Runciman in a speech at South Shields on
Thursday week said that the Miners (Eight Hours) Act "bad dislocated trade, thrown thousands out of work, and, should a great strike not be averted, it would be the most terrible blow that had ever been struck at our staple industry." He thought it would be unjust to throw the blame upon Lord Gladstone, for the consumers were to blame more than any- body. Sir Walter declared finally that "both political parties were culpably responsible for allowing themselves to be bullied and cajoled into the adoption of so sinister a policy." There speaks the true party man. He sighs as a patriot, and obeys as a loyal Liberal. We are old-fashioned enough to think that the man who fires the rifle and kills is the murderer. The Cabinet cannot escape responsibility by their friends saying that the other side would have behaved as badly. Why the consumers are to be blamed passes our comprehension. We are consumers, and we did our best by protest to prevent the passage of the Act as certain to lead to evil, and there were thousands of consumers who did the same. Why, then, should they be blamed and the Cabinet absolved
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