s,
or, if not, how far they will fall short in overtaking that reduction.

I do not suppose that any hon. gentleman is likely to change his
opinion on a question of such complexity at this late stage of the
debate, and therefore I shall only refer by name to these mitigations,
bearing in mind how important they are. There are those which depend
on the arrangements of employers, and those which depend on the
volition of the workers. With regard to the employers, there is
improved organisation by methods of haulage and winding, and other
means specified in the Report. There is the more extensive application
of coal-cutting machinery, and the sinking of new pits with modern
appliances, which is progressing in many parts of the country.

There is the system of double and multiple shifts. The extension of
the system will not be so difficult as has sometimes been supposed. At
the present moment, taking the statistics of 1906, a quarter only of
the workers below ground are employed in mines in which there is only
one coal-getting shift, and in all the mines in which there are two or
more coal-getting shifts the first shift preponderates in number
greatly over the second, and, therefore, in applying this system of
double or multiple shifts, in so far as it is necessary to apply it,
we shall not have to face the difficulty of a complete transformation
in the methods of working a great many of the mines, but it will be a
mere extension of the system which at present exists over a great
portion of the coal-getting area.

From the side of labour, the mitigations which may be expected as
off-sets to the original reduction are not less important. There is
the increased efficiency, of which we have instances actually on
record in this Report, which has followed from the reduction of hours.
There is the power of the worker, if he chooses, to increase his
earnings on a short day. There is "absenteeism," which has always been
affected by a reduction of hours, and which amounts to 6.6 per cent.
of the working time of the mines, and there is the margin of stoppages
through slack trade and other circumstances, which at present
aggregates 7 per cent. of the working time of the mines. Taking these
last two alone, they aggregate 13 per cent., or considerably more, as
a margin, than the reduction of working time which will be caused by
the operation of this Bill, even when the full operation is reached.

First of all then, let the House con