The debate upon the Railway Commission Report was opened in
the House of Commons on Wednesday by Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, who moved a resolution censuring the directors of the companies for refusing to meet the men's representatives to discuss the report and asking the Govern- ment to bring both sides into conference without delay. Mr. MacDonald, in the course of his speech, admitted that there had been " a sort of understanding that when the Report was issued it should be a basis for a complete settlement," but argued that if the report was to be given a fair chance a dis- cussion of it between the two parties was essential. After the case for the directors had been put very moderately by Mr. Cave, Mr. Asquith announced the Government's position. They could not agree to any censure upon the conduct of the directors, who, on the contrary, had shown a patriotic spirit at the time of the settlement in August. Mr. Asquith proceeded to say that it would be monstrous to suggest that negotiations should be resumed unless it was clearly understood that the findings of the Report were accepted on both sides ; but, "now that the men have taken the Report as being in prin- ciple and in substance the basis for regulating future relations between them and their employers, the directors slight be well advised, under the chairmanship of the Board of Trade, to come into conference with the men as to the best way of carrying out the recommendations of the Commission."
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