_Mr. Sheridan_, after replying vehemently to what he called a personal attack on himself on the part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer when dealing with unsound societies, disputed the need for the measure no less than the principle upon which it was founded. As the spokesman of Insurance Offices and Friendly Societies, Mr. Sheridan further contended that the Post Office would never be able to manage all the details of the business, and that, even if it did, the Government must eventually be losers. "They might shut their eyes for a time," said the member for Dudley, "but Government would ultimately have to come to that House with shame, and with something like humiliation, to confess that their experiment in commerce had failed, and that the result had been to saddle the shareholders with a loss--those shareholders being the already overburdened taxpayers of the country." _Lord Stanley_ avowed his approval of the principles of the bill. He thought it a great experiment, but an experiment which might very possibly result in a reduction of pauperism. He urged the fullest discussion; said it would do the bill no harm, but might on the contrary tend to perfect its provisions. The speech of Mr. Gladstone too, he thought, was a reason why the matter should not be hurried. Mr. Gladstone had made statements which, however true they might be--"and I am afraid that there is a good deal of truth in them--I wish I did not think so,"--might require to be answered, and to give an opportunity to answer them would only be fair play. After pointing out one or two defects in the provisions, Lord Stanley promised his valuable aid by saying, that he should be prepared to go into Committee on the bill with a very sincere hope that it would pass, and that they might find it, or make it, a workable scheme. _Mr. Hibbert_ and _Mr. Roebuck_ both warned the House against suffering a "Constitutional Government" to be converted into what was termed a "Paternal Government." In a characteristic speech, the latter gentleman held that whatever concerned the individual was best left to be done by the individual himself; that the Government was sure to fail, as it had failed before, in interfering in matters of this kind; and that the effect of such measures would be to make the people a set of helpless imbeciles totally incapable of attending to their own interests. _Mr. Newdegate_ and _Mr. W. E. Forster_ approved the measure, but urged full consideration of it. _Mr. Bovill_ spoke very strongly in favour. He believed, from the facts which had come within his own knowledge and had been elicited in courts of law, that Mr. Gladstone had rather understated than overstated the delinquencies of Friendly Societies and Insurances Companies. One of the effects of the Chancellor's speech, he thought, would be that a cloud of error and prejudice which had been raised against the bill would be dispelled. On the other hand, Sir Minto Farquhar, Mr. Ayrton, Mr. Urquhart, Mr. Henley, Mr.