Mr. E. Spencer's Bill for creating a'Labour Ministry was -on
Wednesday defeated on its second reading without a -division. It was opposed by both parties, Lord R. Churchill pointing out that it increased the number of Ministers, already much too large, and Mr. Asquith objecting that the work was al- ready well done by the different departments, and that a failure should be shown before such a proposal was made. He did not -desire, for instance, to give up the administration of the Factory Acts. The Government is perfectly right, for though there will be a Labour Department one day, its creation ought to be !preceded by a rearrangement of all Ministerial duties. At present the tendency is to create what we may call inferior -departments, and to increase the Cabinet until it becomes a sort of interior Parliament, incapable of acting as an Execu. -five body. What earthly business has a Postmaster-General in the Governing Council of the Empire, and why should not one man be responsible for both Army and Navy?
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