* * * * The Coal Bill and Co-operation It
is a good sign that the Government are frankly consulting with the Liberal Party about amendments to the Coal Bill.: This is the right course for a Minority Government. By co-operation the very defective original Bill may be turned into something really useful. We hope that the habit of co-operation will spread. As it is, the Coal Bill ought to pass through all its stages com- paratively soon, but even then the Government will be very much behindhand in their programme. •They are holding over till next session the Trade Disputes Bill, the Factories Bill, the School Age Bill, the Mining Royalties Bill (which is, of course, being kept separate from the Coal Bill) and the Bill to ratify the Hours Convention. When they complain, as they have been doing, that the' retardation of their programme is due to Liberal obstruction we really feel that it is necessary to defend the Liberal Party. Mr. Lloyd George has no doubt made fun of the Government—and they did not like that—but it is unfair to say that the Liberals have been guilty of deliberate obstruction on any single Bill. The Liberal criticism has been no more than was called for and it has been exceptionally compact.
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