I beg to move, That, in view of the unsatisfactory state of the law relating to Workmen's Compensation, and of the fact that the War Addition Acts expire at the end of this year, this House is of opinion that a Government Bill to amend the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, should be introduced and passed during the course of this Session. I hope that if, in moving this Resolution, I curtail my observations, it will not be taken as an indication that we do not attach the greatest importance to this subject. Rather do we desire that the fullest opportunity should be given to discuss the question, and for that reason I shall be as brief as possible in introducing it. I can only hope that the reply of the Minister will be of a satisfactory nature, because there is no doubt in our minds that the matter is one of the greatest importance, and one upon which legislation is long overdue. This question is most urgent, and for more than one reason. During the period of the War, a special provision was made in regard to this matter, to meet what was known and understood to be a war-time condition; and I think it will be recognised and admitted that that war-time condition, so far as regards prices and cost of living and the difficulties of life generally, has not passed away, nor will it pass away in any permanent degree, so far as one can judge. The legislation that was passed to meet the difficulty does automatically lapse at the end of this year, and that makes it imperative that something should be done in order that the unfortunate people who suffer from these accidents shall not be driven back to the pre-War position. I can scarcely imagine, in the case of the industrial worker who is unfortunate enough to have met with an accident, whether it be fatal or otherwise, that any Member of this House would desire either to see that worker's dependants left exactly in the same position as in pre-War times or, if the accident be not fatal, to see the worker himself left exactly as he was before the war-time legislation was introduced. I cannot conceive that any Member of this House would suggest for a moment that a maximum amount of £300 as compensation for the loss of a husband is adequate. It fails entirely to meet the needs of the case, and it is quite evident, in times of industrial disaster, that there is generally expressed in the minds and the actions of the people great sympathy with those who are its victims; and yet we have to realise that, unless something is done in the way of legislation, all that a widow will have to look forward to, as compensation for the loss of her husband, is a maximum amount of £300. I think it will be admitted that the claim we are making for some legislation is absolutely justified from that point of view.

There is another reason why we have a right to urge upon the Government the necessity of introducing legislation upon this question. It is that the Government itself has recognised the need for such legislation. Some time ago the Government set up a Departmental Committee to investigate and inquire into this matter, and that Committee conducted a very extensive investigation. They examined the question in all its aspects, and it is now some time since they submitted their Report. It is true that that Report was not a unanimous Report, for there was a dissentient minority who were in favour of more extensive recommendations; but, as regards the main body of the Report, it was unanimous as representing something to which all the Committee would subscribe. The minority merely dissented because they wished for something more. In the Majority Report there was a recommendation in favour of many extensions being made in the benefits and advantages accruing to those who, unfortunately, were injured in industry, or to those who might be left because their bread-winner had been taken from them. Therefore, on a question of this description, first bearing in mind the fact that the war-time legislation will lapse automatically at the end of this year, and, secondly, having regard to the fact that the Departmental Committee, after considering the question fully, recommended extensions of the amount that can be claimed and paid to persons who are injured, we claim that we are justified in coming to the House with this Resolution and in asking for support for it. I sincerely hope that that support will be accorded to us, and also that the reply of the Minister will be satisfactory.

I should like to say that we would wish that there were less need for our making this claim. We wish it were possible to say that the number of accidents occurring was diminishing, and that the need for putting forward claims on behalf of workpeople and their dependants was becoming less and less. Unfortunately, however, the opposite is the case. The tendency is for accidents to increase rather than decrease, although one would have to admit that last year the figures were in the opposite direction. I believe, however, that the last returns available are explained by the fact that such large numbers were unemployed, and that the reduced figures were not due to a smaller proportion of accidents on the average of persons engaged in industry. I should like to draw the attention of the House to the far-reaching character of this question, when viewed from the standpoint of the number of people affected by it. Every year 500,000 accidents occur. That is an enormous figure. Half a million people are either killed or injured in this country every year, and it is quite obvious that, where the accidents are fatal, the dependants must be left in a very precarious position in our present circumstances, and having regard to the fact that it is something for which the individual cannot be held responsible, I do hope that the seriousness of the situation will have full weight with the Government. Of the number I have mentioned, 430,000 are compensated, and sometimes, when industrial questions are under consideration, we are told how much the country suffers, and how great is the loss to industry because of the loss of working days and the reduced productivity of the country on account of the absence of men from their work. And yet my calculations lead me to this point, that the time lost through men being injured represents no less a figure than 14,000,000 days each year. That is an enormous figure, and while it may be argued that if the law is amended in order to give greater compensation it cannot affect that figure, at least some of us have reason to believe that if the liability is greater upon industry there may be a greater tendency to introduce safeguards whereby the accidents may be reduced to a minimum, and we emphasise that point because we feel that it has an important bearing on the question.

It is difficult to introduce questions affecting the working classes in this House without meeting with some objection. We are always being told that we are seeking to place greater and greater burdens upon industry. The last speaker who was addressing the House on another subject referred to us on the Labour Benches as always putting forward suggestions and ideas which would increase the burdens on industry rather than lighten them, and it may be that even upon this side we shall be told that if that which we are seeking is conceded it will result in a greater burden being placed upon industry. But I should like to ask in anticipation of that form of criticism, upon whose shoulders should this burden rest? Someone has to bear it. It is not a thing which can be avoided. It is a burden which someone has to carry and either it has to be the industry with which the injured person is associated or it has to be the injured person himself. On the other hand there is another source from which it can be met in the event of a person becoming destitute, and that is that the board of guardians may have to come to a decision. If there are only three sources from which the money can be found, either the industry, the individual himself, or a public authority, I ask, which in the name of justice and common sense is it right that we should put the burden upon unless it is the industry itself? We had a case recently which illustrates vividly the dangers to which working people are exposed, namely, the explosion in Staffordshire where little girls were engaged in emptying cartridges. That may be an extreme case, but it illustrates the form of danger to which workpeople are subjected. It may be that in some instances, through the power of their trade unions, they are able to compel a recognition of the right form of safeguards which ought to be provided, but in many instances, through the lack of organisation, through the lack of a power which they would be only too anxious to use if they possessed it, they are left open to the dangers which produce most unfortunate results from that point of view.

Therefore, having regard to these facts, we feel that we are bringing forward a matter which is urgent in the extreme, which is of the gravest importance and upon which we hope the Government is going to meet us in a very material fashion. I hope the Home Secretary will be able to tell us that it may be possible to carry these improvements in the law even to those who are already drawing compensation for accidents which have occurred in the past. The difficulties that beset the workman's life under circumstances like these are very great and having regard to the fact that he is carrying out what is after all a public service in working in the various industries which lead to the production of wealth, if disaster overtakes him he will have a perfect right to be protected to the fullest possible extent. I should like to ask whether it is not possible in dealing with this matter for the Government to consider whether or not it is possible to take over the whole question of insurance. This is not a new idea. It has been done in the Colonies. I believe the Government of Queensland have taken this step and by the economies effected, and by merely using the money for the purpose of paying the benefit which the law provides for and reducing the working ex- penses which are attached to the ordinary insurance methods, to say nothing of the huge profits which are made out of this form of business, they have been able to develop a system which has been helpful not only to the people concerned but to the public and they have been able to use funds which have been left over for other purposes. This is a question which we should like to see discussed as fully possible from all sides. We believe it is a matter upon which a great deal of support is forthcoming for the idea that we are putting forward and in order that it may be given the fullest amount of expression, without further comment I beg to move: