Yesterday week the resolution in favour of opening the British
Museums and other such places of quiet recreation on Sundays was discussed in the House of Commons, and rejected by 208 against 83 (majority, 125). Mr. Broadhurst opposed the Bill on behalf of the working-classes, and we do not doubt that,—so great is the dread of a general habit of employing labour on Sun- days,—the working-classes, if polled, would at present reject the boon. None the less, we believe that nothing has really con- duced more to the happiness and the true recreation of the work- ing-classes than Sunday trains, which take them into the country, to Kew and Hampton Court, for instance, on Sundays. Nor can any one deny that, carefully guarded, what is permitted at Kew might be permitted at the British Museum and the National Gallery. The working-classes are very jealous of the day of rest ; but seeing that they allow railway guards and railway porters to work for them on Sundays, the true question is, how to secure the maximum of rational refreshment to the many, consistently with the minimum of work for the few.
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