Parliament, we greatly regret to see, may lose Mr. T.
Burt. The Member for Morpeth was originally a miner, and when, in 1874, he was elected a representative, the " Northumberland Miners' Mutual Confident Association," now numbering some 12,000 members, agreed to allow him £500 a year for the term of his service in Parliament. This arrangement has lasted nearly fourteen years, and Mr. Burt has become the most respected of Labour Members ; but his followers have recently been dis- contented, either with his conduct or with politics altogether. A poll was therefore demanded on the question whether the salary should be continued, and its result was fatal to Mr. Burt.
Of the 12,000 members, 8,100 voted ; and of these, only 3,300 were in favour of continuing the payment, and 4,800 against it. Mr. Bart must therefore resign. We have discussed the causes and consequences of this vote elsewhere, and need only express here our hope that Mr. Burt will speedily be adopted and paid by another constituency. He is a political opponent, but he is a credit to the working class, and adds perceptibly both to the instructiveness and the moderation of all debates affecting the interests of labour. His absence will not only be a loss to the House of. Commons,but will increase the capacity for evil of the many shallow and extreme men who, never having done a day's work in their lives, pose as protectors of the poor, if the poor have votes.
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