Lord Lansdowne, while owning to serious misgivings, and reserving the
right to press for amendments in Committee, admitted the special claims of miners, and announced his intention to vote for the second reading. Lord St. Aldwyn cordially supported the Bill on the grounds of humanity, while Lord Londonderry and Lord Durham vigorously opposed it, the latter going so far as to say that he considered it would prove not a boon but a curse to the miners. Lord Crewe, replying for the Government, claimed that the debate had proved that this was not a party question, and expressed his belief that the Bill would meet with almost general approval. Ultimately, after a debate in which the balance of argument was dead against the Bill, the second reading was carried by 121 votes to 44. The result was a triumph for the principles of Protection and a heavy blow to those of free exchange. On Thursday in Committee the Lords adopted an amendment
which the Government declared turned the Bill from an eight- hours into an eight-and-a-half-hours Bill, and another which makes the Bill come into operation on July 1st, 1910, instead of on July 1st, 1909. Both amendments were opposed by the Government. We have dealt elsewhere with the possibility of deciding the differences of opinion between the two Houses by adding a Referendum clause to the Bill.
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