Lord Haldane moved the second reading of the National Insurance
Bill in the Lords on Monday. In a speech which lasted for an hour and a-half and was marked throughout by a bland optimism, Lord Haldane maintained that the mind of the country was made up on the Bill. He regretted that it had reached the Lords so late, but the only alternative was to delay national insurance for a long period. Besides, he significantly added, they were influenced by the fact that the scheme could be used as a framework for further developments, the system now proposed being of a limited character. He declared that the financial scheme had been worked out with the utmost caution on actuarial information. Avoiding all mention of the hostility to the Bill, Lord Haldane concluded his benediction by urging that the sooner it came into opera- tion the better. Lord Lansdowne, who followed, disclaimed for the Opposition any hostility to the principle of the BilL If the positions of the two parties were reversed the Unionists would, he said, be found ready to deal with this great ques- tion. But the Bill as it stood was a stupendous measure of taxation. In twenty years the cost to the country would have risen to 26, or according to another estimate 40 millions—a sum which capitalized would represent an addition of 1,600 millions to the liabilities of the nation. They would begin with 18 millions of contributors, and the expanses of administra- tion would amount to 17 per cent.
