31 OCTOBER 1908, Page 3

Mr. .Asquith defended the Government hotly against the charge of

being themselves responsible for the degree and intensity of unemployment. Government expenditure from Imperial sources would amount to 2800,000. Whatever might be the cause, the Cabinet recognised that there was a state of unemployment exceptional in range and intensity. They did not think they ought to be "too austerely judicial" in dealing with it ; but in spite of what Mr. Balfour had said, they intended to maintain clearly the dividing line between unemployment and pauperism. After Mr. Keir Hardie's amendment had been rejected, the Resolution in favour of the Government was carried by 196 votes to 35.