inventors. Mr. Mundella’s assurance that working men are attached to the present law, and that inventors of the working class would either not be tempted to invent, or would be deprived of the reward of their industry, was, in truth, the only argument in its favour. But it was plainly insufficient. It would be necessary also to show that such inventions are overwhelmingly valuable, so as to compensate for all the injury a Patent-Law must do; but this was not, and we believe could not be, attempted. The special case of poor inventors might be met by an organised system of voting rewards to those whose inventions had been largely adopted and used; but we should not frame an entire law, which the public do not require, and which would work a deal of harm, in order to suit their peculiar circumstances. Such being the nature of the discussion, it is, of course, not worth while saying much on the particular defects of the present law. But there is hardly a single point where some alteration is not called for. In particular, the Courts for trying Patent cases could be very much improved; and additional obstacles might be interposed to frivolous or entrapping Patents. One of the main reasons for total abolition, nevertheless, must always be the impossibility of suggesting an amendment for some defect which is not itself open to equivalent objections. Nothing, for instance, seems so obvious at first sight than that the present law might be amended by compelling patentees to grant licences. Yet the Royal Commission which reported in 1865 was decidedly opposed to this suggestion, after hearing all that could be said for it. There is no means of saying beforehand what should be the maximum charge for licences, while the moment this principle is introduced the special use of a Patent as a stimulus to inventors is tampered with—the prospect of a complete monopoly of which they are to make as much as they can. Similar objections apply to any suggestion for cancelling Patents which are not used in a year or two to some material extent. The best inventions, requiring the greatest changes in manufacturing machinery, are often the slowest to come into operation. For the same reason, it would also be impracticable to compel patentees to grant licences at fixed maximum rates after their Patent had been two or three years old. It might be just as impossible then, as at first, to say what the licence fee should be. If we are to have a Patent-Law, then we can have no substantial improvement upon the present one; and it is so bad that it can hardly last. Perhaps there is at present a deficiency of evidence on the subject—the workmen not having been heard before the last Commission, and the information presented as to the Patent-Laws of other countries and their working being very deficient; but though this may be a good reason for having another inquiry, we anticipate that it will only confirm the verdict of impartial judges against the present system.