Otherwise Question-time was chiefly remarkable for the loud and continued burst of cheering from the Coalition benches which greeted Mr. WILL THORNE'S suggestion (_a propos_ of LENIN'S industrial conscription) that "it would be a very good thing to make all the idlers in this country work." Mr. THORNE seemed quite embarrassed by the popularity of his proposal, which did not, however, appear to arouse the same enthusiasm among his colleagues of the Labour Party. It was four o'clock when Mr. CHAMBERLAIN rose to "open the Budget" (he clings to that old-fashioned phrase), and just after six when he completed a speech which Mr. ASQUITH (himself an ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer) justly praised for its lucidity and comprehensiveness. Mr. CHAMBERLAIN could not on this occasion congratulate himself (as his predecessors were wont to do) on the accuracy of his forecasts. He had two shots last year, in Spring and Autumn, but both times was many millions out in his calculations. Fortunately all the mistakes were on the right side, and he came out with a surplus of one hundred and sixty-four millions (about as much as the whole revenue of the country when first he went to the Exchequer) to devote to the redemption of debt. But that did not content him. For an hour by the clock he piled up the burdens on the taxpayer. His arguments were not always consistent. It is not quite easy to see why, because ladies have taken to smoking cigarettes, an extra heavy duty should be imposed on imported cigars; or how the appearance of "a new class of champagne-drinkers" justifies a further tax upon the humble consumer of "dinner-claret." Nor is it easy to follow the process of reasoning by which the CHANCELLOR convinced himself that the Excess Profits Tax, which last year he described as a great deterrent to enterprise and industry, only, justifiable as "a temporary measure," should now be not merely continued but increased by fifty per cent. [Illustration: _Mr. CHAMBERLAIN._ "I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYBODY SAYS ABOUT THIS BLOOMING TREE (I USE THE EPITHET IN ITS LITERAL SENSE); I SHALL LET IT KEEP ON FOR ANOTHER YEAR."] This proposal seemed to excite more hostility than any other. But the single taxers were annoyed by the final disappearance of the Land Values Duties (the only original feature of Mr. LLOYD GEORGE'S epoch-making first Budget). Mr. RAFFAN pictured their author being dragged at the Tory chariot-wheels, and Dr. MURRAY observed that the land-taxes were evidently not allowed "on the other side of the Rubicon." The general view was that the Government had shown courage in imposing fresh taxation, but would have saved themselves and the country a great deal of trouble if they had been equally bold in reducing expenditure.