THE TABLET.

A Weekly Newspaper a n d Review .

BUM VOBIS GRATULAMUX, ANIMOS ETI AM ADDIMUS OT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.

From the IIt i e f o j H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4. 1870.

Vol. 89. No. 2976.

L o n d o n , IVIa y 2 2 , 1897»

prick 5#., by post

[Registered a t the General Post Office as a N ewspaper.

C hrontci.f of the W kkk ! Page

Imperial Parliament : Workmen’s Compensation Bill — The Home Secretary’s Reply— The Resumption of the Debate— The Conservative Party and Social Legislation — British Supremacy in South Africa— Italy and Abyssinia — The End o f the War — Lord Salisbury on the Conditions of Peace — Heroic Conduct in the Snaefell Mine— British Trade in Greece — Ministerial Crisis in Prussia— Action in the Imperial D i e t ................................................797

I E A D E R S Î

The Russian Church and Catholic

Theology . . . . • • • • 801 The Royal Academy . . .. 802

CONTENTS.

The Bull “ Apostolica; Curas” N o t e s The True and the False

dotalism”

Pace .. 803 .. 807 Sacer-

. . 8o3

Reviews :

Private Letters of Edward Gibbon 8c8 L a y Sermons.. .. . . . . 809 A Posthumous Novel . . . . 810 A Prince of Tyrone .. . . 810 Catholic School Victory at N e lson .. 811

Correspondence :

Rome :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . . . — — 813 News from Ireland _ — 814 News from France . . . . 816 Letters to the Editor :

The Ceremonies of Holy W e ek . . 817

Letters to the E ditor (Con­

tinued : The Anglican _Doctrine o f the

Page

Holy Eucharist . . . . . . 817 Literary Coincidences . . . . 8 1 8 Propagation of the Faith . . 818 “ Handbook to Christian and

Ecclesiastical Rome ” . . . . 818 Doctrinal Authority in the Church

of England . . .. .. 818 “ Old English Catholic Missions ” 818 The Breaking Down o f Injustice S i3 The Bishop o f Clifton at Cirencester 818 In Memory of O ’Connell . . . . 8x9 The Church in the Transvaal . . 822 Books of the W e e k ......................... 822 Obituary ...................... ... 823 Social and Political .. .. 824

S U P P L E M E N T . N ews from the Schools:

Page

The Evening Schools Code . . 829 Sir Henry Fowler Brought to

Book _ .......................................830 The Bible in Board Schools . . 830 Religious Instruction in Schools 830 Blunders ............................ . . 83a N ews from the D ioceses : Westminster . . . . _ 83»

Southwark

831

Leeds ....................................... 831 Nottingham ....................................... 831 P l y m o u t h ....................................... 832 Shrewsbury....................................... 832 Man’s Response to God’s Affection 830 The Archbishops’ Reply to the Pope 834 Intolerance in Bumbledom . . 834

Reiected MS. cannot be returned unless accompanied with address

and postage.____________________

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

w o r k m e n ’s COMPENSATION BILL. M

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT :

ONDAY’S sitting in the

House of Commons was principally devoted to a businesslike discussion on the Second

Reading of the Workmen’s Compensation for Accidents Bill, which was moved without comment by the Home Secretary. The motion was met with an amendment from Mr. Diage declaring that no Bill dealing with accidents to workmen would be satisfactory to the House which did not provide for the prevention of accidents as well as for compensation in case of injury. His two main objections tu the Government measure were that it did not provide for the prevention of accidents as well as for the compensation o f injured workmen, and that its scope of application was so limited. He was suie it would endanger the existence of Friendly Societies and other institutions of self-help which bad been established with so much care and pains. The Bill should have made some provision for the liability c f sub-contractors ; it should have included some arrangements for the better regulation ol dangerous and unhealthy trades, and for the protection of the poorer and weaker ones. He was also of opinion that it would foster malingering, as a similar system had already done in Germany. Mr. Bainbridge, who is a large employer of labour, also opposed the measure. He was afraid that, besides being a death blow to the Friendly Societies, it would also lead to the discharge of workmen at the age of fifty or sixty, and so throw an increased burden on the rates. He pointed out that the Geiman system, to which reference had been so frequently made, was very different to what would take effect in this country under the Bill before the House. In Germany, for the first thirteen weeks after an accident, the workman was supported by a fund to which he had himself contributed one-half. Under the present condition of things, if a man was off work through any accident, he was constantly watched by his fellow-workmen, who had to pay part of the cost, to see whether he was really incapacitated; but under this Bill there would be no such inducement on the part of the workmen. The whole burden would thus fall upon the employer. He next complained of the way in which the Bill would affect the coal trade. Twopence a ton

N e w S e r i e s , Vol, LVII., No. 2,285.

would be added to the cost of working, and this would fall on the colliery proprietors. Sir Charles Dilke, however, did not think that the Bill would have any damaging effect upon Friendly Societies. Fie thought, too, that the question of safety provisions was raised in the Bill which he welcomed as an experiment in the right direction. It must be remembered that it was unlike anything in any other country ; it was a pure experiment, and therefore references to the German system were quite outside the discussion. Mr. Broadhurst viewed the Bill with considerable favour, and expressed great hopes for -'ts future. He thought that the building trades should have been included. Mr. Strauss, in a maiden speech, said that the measure would be appreciated by the miners of Cornwall, and that the mining industry would Dot suffer from the additional cost placed upon it. Mr. Pickersgill, whilst sympathizing with the principle, pointed out the crudeness of its draughting, and hoped that its inconsistencies would be set right in Committee. Mr. Birrell, as the representative of a mining constituency, was sure that the Bill would be very favourably received by them, and that it deserved their very careful and friendly consideration. The doctrine of common employment, now almost universally condemned— of which it might be said that Lord Abinger had planted it, Baron Alderson watered it, and the Devil had given it increase, was allowed to remain a part of the law of the country, together with the miserable and unjust doctrine of contributory negligence, and that remnant of barbaric Latinity,. Volenti non f it in juria.

Sir Matthew White Ridley, in dealing

h o m e S e c r e t a r y ’s w i t h thue. various criticisms and sugges-

r e f l y .

tions which had been made durmg the debate, said that the Government had no

reason to complain of the reception which had been given to the Bill. The principal objection against it had been that more trades had not been included in it, so it could not be so bad after all. Prevention in dangerous trades would be encouraged by it, whether employers were their own insurers or insured with companies. I f the employers provide their own insurance it is perfectly plain that they have every inducement to take care that there are no accidents, and if they are forced to insure, the insurance societies will take care that the premiums are the least onerous where the best precautions are taken. One of the two main objections urged against the Bill was that it did not abolish common employment for all workmen. It did however, practically, though indirectly, abolish it where it