_Wednesday, June 21st._--What struck me most in the PRIME MINISTER'S tribute to Lord KITCHENER was his evident sense of personal loss in parting from one with whom he had been in daily association for two strenuous years. So with the other speeches delivered. Each was touched with genuine emotion and illustrated some one or other of Lord KITCHENER'S outstanding qualities, Mr. BONAR LAW spoke of the sure instinct which caused him to realise at the very outset the gigantic nature of the present War; Mr. WARDLE of the absolute straightness which won for him the confidence of the working-classes Sir IVOR HERBERT, a personal friend who had occasionally differed with him, of the unflinching courage with which he faced alike Dervishes in the desert or critics in Parliament; and Sir GEORGE REID of the equally conspicuous humanity which he displayed as an administrator in repairing the ravages of War. Through all these varied tributes rang the note of Duty Well Done. A singularly perverse fate obstructs the efforts of the Government to tax cocoa. As beer is notoriously the beverage which supports the pens of Tory leader-writers, so cocoa is supposed to be the appropriate stimulus of Liberal nibs. Until the War it got off remarkably cheaply, as compared with its rival, tea, being only taxed 1_d._ a pound. Mr. LLOYD GEORGE dared add no more than a halfpenny to the impost, but Mr. MCKENNA with sublime courage proposed to make the tax a round sixpence. But this was before he knew as much about cocoa as he does to-day. At sixpence a pound, it seems, the imbiber of cocoa would pay a fraction more to the Exchequer for every cup that he consumed than would the drinker of tea. Such a dreadful anomaly in our otherwise equitable fiscal system could not, of course, be tolerated. So the tax has now been fixed at 4-1/2_d._, and Messrs. CADBURY and ROWNTREE are grateful and comforted. Finding the CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER in this yielding mood, Mr. LOUGH thought he would try to get rid of the tax on sugar. But here Mr. MCKENNA was obdurate. We used far more sugar than any other European nation, and must be forced to reduce our consumption. Someone, remembering, perhaps, how a month ago Mr. MCKENNA had smiled approval while his colleague, Mr. CHAMBERLAIN, defended Prohibition against Tariffs as a means of lessening consumption, suggested that sugar-consumers should be rationed instead of being taxed. But Mr. MCKENNA, without turning a hair, maintained that in war-time to raise the price by taxation was the only way. Political economy, once relegated by Mr. GLADSTONE to Jupiter and Saturn, is now, it seems, a permanent dweller in Mars. * * * * * [Illustration: OUR VILLAGE STORE. _Aged Man (to customer wanting a sandwich)._ "I'M SORRY TO KEEP YOU, SIR, BUT IT'S VERY AWKWARD, MY SON BEING CALLED UP AND ME NEW TO IT ALL. 'AM! 'AM! NOW: WHERE _DID_ I SEE THE 'AM?"] * * * * *