For the first time since the establishment of the International
Labour Organization the British Minister of Labour, together with his opposite numbers in France and Germany, has attended a meeting of the Governing Body. On Monday Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland stated fully the reasons why the Government oppose ratification of the Washington Hours Convention in its present form. Twelve States have already ratified, and it was generally assumed that our Government would be ready by this time to proceed, and so give effect to the French and German prOmises of ratification. The principles of. the eight-hour day and the forty-eight hour 'week' are net in dispute, but it is contended that the instrument, though forged originally by the combined efforts of employers' and workers' delegates, fails to give a satis- factory definition of the term " hours of "work," or to make it clear whether Sunday is included in the week. It is further said that it fails to differentiate between the conditions of agriculture, commerce and induStry.
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