started; and when the report of the commission came up for discussion in the House of Commons on Nov. 22 the situation was still a very difficult one. A resolution was moved by Mr. Lloyd George asking the Government to bring about a further meeting between the representatives to the agreement of Aug. 19; but this was only carried after a contentious debate dis- playing obstinacy on both sides, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald in- sisting that the men had not agreed to accept the report and that " recognition " was indispensable, while the view of the companies was that the Government ought to hold the report as binding on both parties. It was not till Dec. n that, after a good deal of diplomacy on the part of the Board of Trade officials, a compromise was arrived at. Both parties agreed to accept the report of the commission as a basis for modifying the future working of the conciliation scheme, " recognition " being accepted to the extent of allowing the men to have their trade-union secretary as adviser. Various concessions as to wages and hours were also made by the companies.
As regards the strike itself, while in actual operation, the state of the railways during those two or three days was un- precedented. Some 220,000 men altogether, about a third of the workers, were out, and traffic was much restricted, the worst dislocation being in the N. of England, round Liverpool and Manchester. Troops were employed freely to guard the lines and give protection against violence, and in consequence there were only certain particularly disturbed districts where serious mischief occurred. On Aug. 19 an attack was made by rioters on a train at Llanelly, and the soldiers had to shoot, two men being killed, while an explosion due to the mob setting fire to some trucks containing gunpowder resulted in five more deaths; and at Liverpool, on the isth, two men were shot in a riot. The employment of the military was furiously denounced by the Labour agitators, but the intimidation practised against non-unionists and the danger of extended sabotage were such that, on the whole, the comparative peaceableness of the stop- page, which occurred in a summer of unexampled heat, was rather remarkable. To a great extent, and particularly on the lines nearer London, this was due to the fact that a large pro- portion of the union men who went out (a certain number remaining loyal to the companies) only did so because they dared not disobey the union orders. One outcome of the railway strike, and of the general unrest of which it was a symptom, was an addition made by the Government to the official machinery applicable at the Board of Trade to the working of the Concil- iation Act of 1906. In Oct. 1911 an Industrial Council, rep- resentative of employers and workmen, was instituted as a permanent body for considering and inquiring into matters re- ferred to them concerning trade disputes, and for taking suit- able action (but without any compulsory powers) on the same lines as the conciliation boards already adopted in particular industries. As chairman of this Industrial Council and " Chief Industrial Commissioner," the Government chose Sir George Askwith (b. 1861), head of the Labour Department of the Board of Trade, who had just been knighted in recognition of the valuable work he had done in recent industrial conflicts.
Meanwhile the National Insurance bill, introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Lloyd George on May 4 1911, had
brought new issues into the parliamentary con- aace Act?" mct - This elaborate measure covered two distinct
subjects, one being national health insurance, under newly constituted insurance commissioners for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland (with a joint committee, formed from among them, for adjusting common affairs), assisted in each case by an advisory committee, with county and county borough committees for local administration, and the other unemployment insurance, directly under the Board of Trade.
(l) Unemployment insurance, administered largely through the labour exchanges, was applied to certain trades building, construc- tion of works (railways, docks, etc.), shipbuilding, mechanical engi- neering, iron-founding, construction of vehicles and saw-milling with power for the Board of Trade to extend the scheme to others. Workmen in these trades (others than foremen, clerks, indentured apprentices, and persons under 16) would be entitled under various
restrictions to unemployment benefit (up to a standard of 73. a week for not more than 15 weeks a year, starting at the second week of unemployment), out of an unemployment fund formed by each workman compulsorily contributing 2|d. a week (paid by employer and deducted from wages), employers 2%d. a week per man, and the State adding an amount equal to a third of their total contribution. (2) For national health purposes, compulsory insurance was im- posed on all persons (between 16 and 70) under contracts of service, with certain exceptions (including those employed otherwise than in manual labour, and paid over 160 a year, or possessing 26 a year from property), provision being also made for certain classes of employed persons to come into the scheme as voluntary contributors. Under the compulsory insurance (except for certain lower rates) male contributors were to pay 4d. a week, female 3d. (employers making the payments and deducting them from wages), and em- ployers 3d. for each male or female employed (special stamps for each amount having to be affixed to cards for this purpose), the State adding to the National Health Insurance Fund an amount (two-ninths in the case of men, and one-fourth in the case of women, of the cost of benefits and administration) reckoned at 2d. a week per head. The benefits primarily secured were (i.) free medical treatment at home; (ii.) sanatorium treatment for tuberculosis and other diseases specified by the Local Government Board, the Govern- ment allocating 1,500,000 for the building of sanatoria; (iii.) payment during sickness of IDS. a week for men and 73. 6d. for women up to 26 weeks ; (iv.) subsequent payment during disabldtnent of 55. a week, and (v.) maternity bonus of gos. to women (including wives of insured persons) on confinement ; provisions being made for granting these benefits (medical attendance, sickness, and maternity benefits not till six months, disablement not till two years after payments started) or modifying and extending them as funds per- mitted. The agencies for administering the benefits were made (i.) " approved societies," i.e. the Friendly Societies, trade unions and such similar bodies as the insurance commissioners approved, the intention of the Government being to have as many as possible of the insured included as members of " approved societies "; (ii.) the post- offices, which would deal with those who would not join societies or whom societies would not admit, and who thus became " deposit contributors." The local health committees, among their other duties (including the administration of sanatorium benefit), were left to arrange for the service of medical practitioners for insured persons, preparing lists of doctors from among whom the patients were to have their own choice, payment to the doctors from the general fund being estimated for at the rate of 6s. (including cost of drugs) per head per annum. This feature of the bill, as explained by Mr. Lloyd George, quickly aroused the opposition of the doctors, who were organized under the British Medical Association to refuse their services unless a larger payment was made ; and as a body the doctors stood out for better terms. As medical " benefits " under the Act became due on Jan. 15 1913, it became a question for the Government whether, if no terms could be arranged, a regular State medical service would not have to be started. On Oct. 23 1912 Mr. Lloyd George announced the Government's "final" offer to increase the capitation fee to gs. (including drugs and extras) ; but on Nov. 19 the offer was rejected by an overwhelming majority of the profession at a representative meeting of the British Medical Association.
The second reading of the Insurance bill was carried without a division on May 29, and the committee stage went on in- termittently from July 5 to Aug. 4, when, with the discussion on the 1 7th clause finished, Mr. Lloyd George was still able to regard the Opposition as favourably disposed towards the bill. Its remaining stages were then left over for the autumn session, which began on Oct. 24. But in the interval opposition had been growing, and the political situation in other respects was such that genuine cooperation with anything proposed by the Govern- ment was hardly possible if party capital could be made for the Unionists by what was unpopular in its programme. Not only were the doctors in full revolt against the terms proposed for their remuneration, but the working classes themselves were found to dislike exceedingly being taxed for benefits they were not able to appreciate. Mr. Lloyd George, ever an ardent electioneer, exasperated the Unionist party by his description of the bill as giving the working classes " ninepence for four- pence." Among domestic servants the scheme was cordially disliked. Though the bill was planned so as to involve financial cooperation between the State and the Friendly Societies, there was considerable uncertainty, moreover, as to how far a great many of the latter, especially the smaller local societies, would reap advantage rather than loss. Public discussion concen- trated on the difficulties and objections. It was inevitable there- fore that, so far as the political aspects of the bill were con- cerned, the attitude of the Opposition should be affected by the discovery of its wide unpopularity.
