We are glad to note that on Wednesday the Home
Secretary announced the Government's intention of omit- ting from the Coal Mines Regulation Bill the clause that forbids the employment of women at the pit brow. This provision was added to the Bill during the Committee stage at the instance of the Miners' Federation. The objections that are usually urged against the employment of pit-brow women are two—that the work is injurious to the health and to the morals of those employed. If either of these objections could be substantiated we should be among the strongest supporters of any proposal for putting an end to the abuse ; for we have always held that in such cases (e.g., the employment of women beneath the surface in mines) inter- ference by Parliament is justifiable. Nothing seems clearer however, than that the facts are the reverse. The occupation is an unusually healthy one, and the women work quite apart from the men; and the suggestions made have been unanimously and vehemently denied by the women them- selves.
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