In the Commons yesterday week Mr. T. Davies moved the
second reading of the Sunday Closing Bill, which sought to reduce the hours of sale of intoxicants to four in London and three outside, to increase the minimum distance for the bowl- fide traveller from three to six miles, and to invest the Licensing Justices with new discretionary powers. Mr. A. Henderson, who seconded in a lukewarm speech, was careful to explain that he did so only on his individual responsibility, and because he thought that, though unsatisfactory in some respects, the Bill at least reduced the excessively long hours which barmaids, barmen, and others were obliged to work. Incidentally, he observed that he did not know whether the publicans or the moneylenders had been lobbying the harder to defeat the Bill during the past few days.
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