Mr. Chamberlain nearly carried on Wednesday a very im- portant
Bill. He believes that the working voters often cannot vote till evening without losing a day's wages, and proposed that the hours of polling should be extended from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.. The second reading was resisted by the Tories, ostensibly on the ground that the late hour would increase the facilities for rioting—though this risk has been encountered in the only dangerous place, the Metropolis—but really because they do not wish to increase the working vote. They say the men can vote at dinner-time, though they should know that the masters, with a little cleverness, can make that nearly impossible. The Government remained silent, not wishing to have the odium of opposing the Bill, yet unwilling to remove the restriction, and the Bill was thrown out by 190 to 165. Only eight Tories, how- ever, voted for it, a fact which should be remembered by the workmen, when, at the coming election, they surrender their dinners to vote this Government down.
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