As the Member of this House who presided over the Committee which considered the subject under discussion a year or two ago, it is fitting that I should take a small part in this Debate. My sympathies are entirely with the Motion. There is no question that it is time that the law relating to workmen's compensation should be reviewed. It is an interesting fact that when the subject was first introduced into this House in 1897, it was entirely novel. To-day, workmen's com- ponsation is part of the statute law of every civilised State. An advanced system of workmen's compensation was established in Russia in 1913. To-day the law relating to compensation is more in favour of the workman in nearly every other country than it is in England. Why is it that as the law has been accepted in other countries provision has been made for the greater advantage of the workman? It is because it has been recognised that it is not only due to the workman that ho should be generously treated in the event of injury and that his family should be generously treated in event of his death by accident, but that it is of advantage to the State that this generosity should take place. The workman, in common with every one of us, is practically useless to the State or to industry if he is not producing. If he is injured so that he cannot produce it is to his advantage, to the advantage of his employers, to the advantage of industry and to the advantage of the State that he should be cured as quickly and effectively as possible. All that is reasonable that shall bring that about is one of the most important things upon which a State can enter.

It has been suggested by several hon. Members who have addressed the House that the benefits should be more generous than they are at the present moment. That subject was considered very carefully by the Committee over which I had the honour to preside. We did suggest additional benefits to the injured workman. I hope that all employers will carefully read the Report of my Committee. I am convinced that if they do they will come to the conclusion that the majority of the Committee were right when they suggested the additional payments. The Committee also had before them the position of the total dependants in the case where the workman is unhappily killed. They found many anomalies. One fact stood out above all others. In cases where the workman is killed the widow suffers severely, but the prospects of the children are often hampered and crippled, and in many cases altogether ruined. In these circumstances the Committee endeavoured to work out a scheme which would provide compensation for the widow and, as we thought, would provide effective allowances for the children. It was not an expensive scheme. It was one which certainly ought to be con- sidered, and passed, I think, without any difficulty.

From information conveyed to me I know that many employers think that the provisions suggested in the Report will prove too expensive to industry. There must, however, be some misapprehension in the minds of the employers. It is admitted that the employers themselves will not pay. The provision for assurance against workmen's compensation is part of their establishment charges. It adds to the cost of production. The person who eventually pays is the consumer. The costs of the Amendments proposed in the Report will not add to any material extent to the cost of production of any particular article. Arrangements were made at the time the Report was pie-pared with the insurance companies by which they were ready to reduce their working expenses, and the benefits that they reaped from the premiums charged; and the members of the Committee were satisfied that in no trade except the most expensive—the coal industry—would the cost of workmen's compensation amount to a penny, and in most cases it would be a fraction of a penny, in the £ on the cost of production of any article manufactured to-day in England. Thus the cost of workmen's compensation should not in any way affect the sale of an article, and could hardly affect the pockets of persons who buy it in the retail shop at a later date.

I hope that, this subject will soon be considered by the House. Before, however, it is considered, I trust that hon. and right hon. Members will do the Committee the honour of reading and considering their Report. If they do so they will, I think, come to the conclusion that there is a way in which workmen can be benefited to a much greater extent than they are at the present moment. They will come to the conclusion, I think, that, if workmen are benefited in that way it will be for the good of the State and to the benefit of industry in general. Everybody to-day agrees that what is wanted in this country is confidence between masters and workmen. What better basis for this can there be than the subject we now have before us? I cannot help thinking that in this, as in other matters, if the subject were really seriously considered by the employer and —if I may say so—if employers were properly approached by the workmen, that there would be a consensus of opinion that the workman is entitled, if injured in industry, to be made well at the expense of the industry, and that the widow and children of a man killed are likewise entitled to fair compensation.

If that conclusion be agreed upon, I cannot help thinking that employers and workmen would also come to the conclusion that the Committee over whom I had the honour of presiding arrived at a very fair compromise between the different parties in the recommendations set out in the Report. I hope that the Government, acting through the Home Secretary, will see their way this Session to introduce a Bill to give effect to the recommendations contained in the Report. If there is any idea that the Members of this House will be hostile to those recommendations, or that some hon. Members will be hostile to them, I believe that after discussion there will be no opposition. In that belief I urge the Home Secretary to take steps to introduce a Bill without delay.