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We pass now to the very important announcement which was

also made on Tuesday that the Government intend to introduce a permissive Bill allowing the miners to work eight hours a day for a certain period. The Seven Hours Act will remain on the Statute Book. The new Bill is' being described as a departure from the Report, but an examination of the Report shows that it is not really so. The Commissioners in discussing wages and hours expressed a strong preference for reduced wages over increased hours, but they did not by any means rule out the posSibility that the miners might prefer an increase of hours. When the Report appeared we .pointed out that the miners, like all other wage- earners, would probably regard a reduction of wages as a stab at the heart.

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