that every blind person who has attained the age of 50 shall be entitled to such pension as, under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908-19, he would be entitled to receive if he had attained the age of 70. In the case of the health insurance scheme, the National Health In- surance Act, 1919, increased from 160 to 250 per annum the rate of remuneration for the purpose of exemption from insurance ; and the National Health Insurance Act, 1920, amended the scales of weekly contributions and benefits.
Workmen's Compensation. Reference may also be made to the Acts dealing with compensation to workpeople in the event of accidents which occur notwithstanding the preventive meas- ures required by the Factory and Workshops Acts, Coal Mines Regulation Acts, Railway Employment (Prevention of Acci- dents) Act, Merchant Shipping Acts and kindred legislation.
Originally, under the common law of England, all workmen suffer- ing injury, as the result of the negligence or wilful act or omission of an employer, might sue for damages. Lord Campbell's Act of 1846 introduced an improvement whereby, if the injury resulted in death, relatives of a specified relationship might bring an action ; previously the right to bring an action had been deemed to die with the injured person. The Employers' Liability Act of 1880 introduced further changes, as also did the Workmen's Compensation Acts of 1897 and 1900, which were repealed by the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1906 under which any injured workman (or his relatives in case of death) can recover compensation from the employer, if the accident arises out of and in the course of his employment. The employer cannot protect himself by proving either contributory negligence or common employment. The amount of compensation is limited to 300 in case of death and l per week in case of injury.
Amendments in details were made by Acts of 1918, and as a result of the fall in the value of money brought about by the war, the Work- men's Compensation (War Addition) Act, 1917, increased the com- pensation payable in the event of total incapacity by 25 % and the Workmen's Compensation (War Addition) Amendment Act, 1919, again increased it by 50%, making the maximum allowance 353.
Another step necessitated by the war was the Disabled Men (Facilities for Employment) Act, 1919, which enables arrangements to be made to relieve or indemnify an employer in respect of the whole or part of any increase of expenditure arising from his liability to pay compensation in respect of accidents or industrial disease, where such increase is attributable to the employment of men dis- abled in the war. It may further be noted that a committee ap- pointed by the Home Secretary presented a report in July 1920, recommending various modifications of the present system and a considerable widening of the scope of the 1906 Act.
Trade Unions. Recent years have witnessed in the United Kingdom a remarkable growth in the trade-union movement, and also some changes in the legal status of trade unions. Thus, following on the Trade Disputes Act of 1906, the Trade Union Act, 1913, made provisions relative to the application of trade union funds for political purposes, and the Trade Union Amal- gamation Act, 1917, amended the Act of 1876 in respect to the amalgamation of trade unions. The growth of the unions has been followed by legislation to meet emergencies in strikes.
The Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875, contained a provision whereby a person employed in a gas or water undertaking was liable to penalties if he " wilfully and maliciously breaks a con- tract of service . . . knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the consequence of his so doing, either alone or in combination with others, will be to deprive the inhabitants of that city, borough, town, place or part, wholly or to a great extent, of their supply of gas or water." A similar prpvision was contained in the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919, in respect of electrical undertakings. Attention should be called in this connexion also to the Police Act, 1919, which, while it does not directly prohibit strikes in the police forces, adopts an indirect method by forbidding members of the police forces from becoming members of " any Trade Union or of any Association having for its objects, or one of its objects, to control or influence the pay, pensions, or conditions of service of any Police Force." In the autumn of 1920 the Emergency Powers Act was passed, en- abtjng His Majesty, in the event of action being taken or threatened which would be likely to interfere with the supply or distribution of food, water, fuel or light, or with the means of locomotion, or to deprive the community or any substantial proportion of the com- munity, of the essentials of life, by proclamation to declare the existence of a state of emergency; where such a proclamation has been made it shall be lawful for the Government to make regulations for the preservation of the peace and for securing and regulating the supply of the public necessities.
War Measures. Reference has been made to some of the special measures necessitated by the World War; these include legislation directly for war purposes, such as the Munitions of War Acts, designed to increase the output of munitions; Defence
of the Realm Regulations, such as those concerning incitement to strike; employment of women under the two-shift system, and the closing hours of shops. The war also indirectly neces- sitated, through the change in the value of money, amendments to the Insurance Acts, Old Age Pensions Act, and Workmen's Compensation Acts.
A war measure to which attention may specially be called is the Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act, 1919. In connexion with the steps taken at the beginning of 1915 to increase the output of munitions, the Government held conferences with representatives of a large number of trade unions and came to an understanding known as the " Treasury Agreement," whereby the unions agreed to relax such trade practices as tended to restrict output of munitions or equipment, on condition that their position in regard to such practices after the war should not be prejudiced by relaxation during the war. Certain provisions in this respect were embodied in the Munitions of War Act, 1915. The Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act, passed in Aug. 1919 (which applied only to establishments in which munitions work was carried on during the war, and to other establishments in which a departure from practice was made in consequence of the Treasury Agreement or in pursuance of some other agreement in writing), provided that the owner of the establishment should be under obligation from Oct. 1919 to restore the trade practice previously obtaining, and to maintain the practice for 12 months. Failure to comply with the obligation rendered him liable to prosecution before a munitions tribunal. In nearly every case the practices were restored where the workpeople so desired.
Miscellaneous. Among other miscellaneous labour legislation, attention may be called to the following Acts: The Factory and Workshop (Cotton Cloth Factories) Act, 1911, enabled the Secretary of State to make any regulations which he deemed necessary for the purpose of giving effect to the recommendations contained in the second report, dated Jan. 1911, of a committee appointed in 1907 to inquire into the question of humidity and ventilation in cotton- cloth factories. The Checkweighing in Various Industries Act, 1919, provides for " checking the weight or measurement of materials pro- duced, handled or gotten by workmen paid by weight or measure in certain industries," including the production or manufacture of iron or steel, the loading or unloading of goods into or from vessels, the getting of chalk or limestone from quarries, and the manufacture of cement and lime. Provision is made for the inclusion of other materials by regulation.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Eight-hour Day. The movement for reduced hours of labour which set in after the signing of the Armistice was world-wide, and, either by way of legislation or by agreement between the representatives of employers and workpeople, the length of the working day formerly in operation has been curtailed in many countries.
In France the Labour Code was amended by a general 8-hour-day law passed in April 1919, and in June the existing legislation as to the length of the working day in the mining industry was amended by extending the 8-hour day to all classes of workpeople, whether em- ployed underground or on the surface. Previously, under a law of Dec. 1913, the limit of 8 hours per day had applied only to work- people employed underground. In Aug. 1919, a similar limit was enacted for all persons employed in French vessels.
In Germany one of the first enactments of the Provisional Govern- ment was a law fixing an 8-hour day for all industrial workers, special arrangements being made to meet the case of transport workers and of those employed in establishments in continuous operation. In Jan. 1919, the German Government issued a new code in respect of agricultural labour, fixing a limit for the hours of labour of agricul- tural workers in four months of the year the average hours not to exceed 8 per diem, in four months 10, and in four months II.
From Nov. 1918 onwards, laws or decrees have also been passed fixing 8 hours per day (or alternatively 48 hours per week) as the normal working time in Switzerland, Holland (45-hour week, i.e. 8-hour day for five days of the week and a half-holiday on Saturday), Denmark (in respect of establishments with continuous working as from the commencement of Jan. 1920), Norway, Sweden, Spain, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, etc. It may, however, be noted that it has been deemed necessary to grant temporary exemptions from the strict statutory application of the 8-hour day in France, Austria and the Netherlands; and in all cases certain exceptions are per- mitted in respect of national emergency, such as war, accident and unforeseen circumstances, subsidiary and complementary processes requiring to be done before the main work can begin or after it has. ceased, adjustment of shifts, seasonal trades, and emergencies, as.
