29 NOVEMBER 1919, Page 2

The International Labour Conference at Washington, which is the first

visible outcome of the Peace Treaty, agreed at the end of last week on the principle of an eight-hours day and a forty- eight-hours week. The regular working day was not to exceed nine hours, if some days of the working week were short and others long. The question of overtime was left to be solved for each country, but it was• decided that the overtime pay should be " time and a quarter." Of course the decisions of the Con- ference represent for many of the countries concerned a somewhat remote ideal. It is none the less remarkable that the principle of the eight-hours day should have been adopted by so many States that lag far behind Great Britain in their labour laws.