THE TABLET.
A W eekly New spaper a n d R ev iew .
DOM VOBIS GRATULAMUS, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANE AT.S.
From the Brief oj His Holiness Pius IX. to The Tablet, June 4, l i fo ,
Vol. 92. No. 3039. London, A ugust 6, I8q8.
P r ice sd.fbyP o s t 5&d.
[R e g i s t e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l P o s t O f f i c e a s a N ew spaper.
C hronicle of t h e W e e k
Page
Imperial Parliament: Dangerous Trades— A Further Discussion on Vaccination— British Interests in China— Criminal Evidence Bill— The Government Proposals on Secondary Education— Help for the West Indies— Death o f Prince Bismarck — The Conditions of Peace — The Cape Elections— More Hooley Revelations — A Crop of Denials — Major Esterhazy in a New Role—The Conference at Quebec— Alleged Plot Against the T s a r ......................... 197 L eaders :
The West Indies in the Balance 201 Manumission in Zanzibar.. . . 202 The First Lay Lord Chancellor.. 203 A View o f Catholic Education . . 205
CONTENTS .
Page
Beach Lectures at Hastings . . 207 N o t e s . . » . — 207 R e v iew s :
The Cheverels o f Cheverel Manor 209 A Dictionary of the Bible . . 210 The North Coast of Cornwall . . 210 The _Counsels of William de
Britaine . . . . . . . . 211 Gladly, Most Gladly . . . . 211 C orrespondence :
Rome :— (From Our Own Corre
spondent) . . . . — — 213 L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it or :
Catholics and Nonconformists . . 215 The Higher Education of Teachers 215 The Title “ Very Reverend ” . . 216 Washington . . . . . . . 216 Allocation of the Aid Grant^ by
Voluntary School Associations 216
N ews from t h e S chools (Con
tinued): A Catholic Greek Testament . . 216 Exclusion of Priests from Public
Page
Bodies . . . . . . . . 216 In Suspense.. . . . . 216 Catholic Young Men’s Societies . . 217 A Sunday in a French Village .. 221 Unnecessary Board Schools . . 221 Catholicism and Disestablishment 222 Nonconformist Marriages (Attend
ance of Registrars) Bill . . . . 222 The Dominican Fathers . . . . 222 N ew s from t h e D io ceses :
Westminster
. . . . 222
Southwark . . . . . . . . 223 Portsm outh......................... . . 224 Shrewsbury . . . . . . 224
N Ews F rom t h e D io ceses (Con- Page tinued) Newport . . ......................... 225 Glasgow . . . . . . 225 Social a n d P o l it i c a l . . . . 225
SU PPLEM EN T . Papal Letter to the Bishops of
Scotland .. .. .. .. 2cg N ew s from t h e S chools :
School Prize Days :
St. Augustine’s, Ramsgate . . 231 Prior Park College . . . . 2 3 1 St. Wilfrid’s College . . . . 2 3 2 St. Francis Xavier’s, College,
Bruges, Belgium . . . . 233 Ratcliffe College . . . . 234 Beaconfield College, Plymouth 234 St. Mary’s Convent School,
Berwick-on-Tweed . . 234 Teachers’ Superannuation Bill . . 235
% * Rejected MS, cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
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young persons, for such legislation would have the effect of throwing no fewer than 8,000 people out of work. Doubtless there had been concealment at Messrs. Bryant and May’s, but the insidious character of necrosis must also be taken into account. Nor could the use of yellow phosphorus be yet altogether forbidden. More stringent rules would, however, be enforced.
THE question of dangerous trades was raised again in u iu iuuw .. the Commons when the House went into Committee on the
Saturday afternoon’s sitting was entirely iTraFmJ Hr taken up with the discussion of' the Third v a c c in a t io n ! Reading of the Vaccination Bill. Mr. J.
Lowther moved its recommitial in respect of
Civil Service Estimates. Mr. H. Tennant opened the discussion by calling attention to the inadequate steps taken by the Home Office to deal with lead poisoning in the potteries and phossy jaw in the match manufactories. Sir Charles Dilke make' a strong speech, denouncing the way in which an attempt had been made to conceal the true state of things at Messrs. Bryant and May’s works. In regard to the potteries he pointed out that no fewer than 230 deaths had taken place amongst women from lead poisoning during the past year, and suggested that such risks to health ought to have been included in the Workman’s Compensation Act. Mr. Asquith, deprecating the lines on which the debate was moving, spoke up for the Home Office, and stated that in both the trades mentioned •they were on the eve of discoveries by which both would •most probably be rendered innocuous. At the same time, however, he was sure that the experience they had had during the last year proved conclusively the justice of the contention that the Opposition made in the course of the passage of the Compensation Bill, that they must bring injury to health, as well as injury to life and limb, within the scope of the measure, if they were going to do justice to the workers of the country, and provide employers with an adequate incentive to protect the health of their workpeople. There was a good deal to be said for the suggestion that they might differentiate in regard to the special rules between factories where a dangerous material was used and where it was not, or even in cases where the percentage of dangerous cases fell below a certain standard. There would, he thought, be something in having an elasticity of that kind, which would induce employers to adopt a less, instead of a more dangerous system. Sir Matthew White Ridley reminded the House of the way in which the action of the Home Office was limited, and warned the members against being led astray by the fuller information which was now available in the case of dangerous trades. He could not suddenly raise the age for the employment of
Clauses 2 and 3, and the new Clause providing for exemption from penalties. He complained that the House had never had an opportunity of discussing the Bill in Committee, and that as it now stood it was practically a new measure. The motion found a strenuous seconder in the person of Mr. V. Gibbs, who complained of the difficulty there was in understanding the attitude of the Government on the matter. If it was right that a person who had a conscientious objection was to be permitted to break the law because he did not agree with it, why was not that provision introduced into the Bill when it was originally brought in ? If this action of the Government was a tribute to the zeal and activity of a handful of men inside and outside the House, then he contended that the regular supporters of the Government had great cause to complain. Mr. Chaplin and Sir William Harcourt retorted that Mr. Gibbs should have moved earlier in the matter, instead of absenting himself from the House. Mr. T . P. O’Connor approved of the motion, because it would give the House an opportunity of expressing an opinion upon the abandonment of compulsory vaccination as distinct from the merits of the Bill as a whole. He approved of several of the provisions of the Bill, but objected to the abandonment of the principle'of compulsion. Vaccination had behind it the whole of the medical profession. He did not say that the whole profession, without exception, were in favour of vaccination. In the domain of law, religion, and the currency there was always an able crank opposed to orthodoxy ; in which remark, he declared amidst some laughter, that he was in no way alluding to the First Lord of the Treasury. Mr. Balfour, deprecating any general discussion on the merits of vaccination, explained that the Bill had never been a Bill for abolishing compulsory vaccination, which indeed had never been a part of the Statute Law. Its sole object was to promote vaccination by resorting to the method which would provoke least resistance. We were not a drillable nation, and what was true of the nation
N e w S e r i e s V ol. L X . , No. 2,348.
