Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, February 19, 1919 — John Shaqi
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, February 19, 1919Various
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, February 19, 1919
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
In accordance with ancient custom Sir COURTENAY ILBERT asserted the
right of the House to initiate legislation by calling out "Outlawries
Bill" in the middle of the SPEAKER's recital of the Sessional Orders.
Some of the new Members, I fancy, took the interruption seriously,
and thought that this was the outcome of the "Punish the KAISER."
movement.
The Mover and Seconder of the Address fully deserved the customary
compliments. Col. Sir RHYS WILLIAMS' quiet and effective style
explained his success as a picker-up of recruits; while Lt.-Commander
DEAN, V.C., though he faced the House with much more trepidation than
he did the batteries of Zeebrugge, got well home at the finish.
[Illustration: SOUTH HACKNEY'S CHAMPION.]
The lot of a Labour leader just now is not a happy one. Perhaps that
accounted for the querulous tone assumed by Mr. ADAMSON, who seemed
more concerned with the omissions in the KING's Speech than with its
contents. His best sayings were imported from America, but he would
have done better to content himself with LINCOLN and abjure BRYAN,
whose "cross-of-gold" fustian will not bear repetition.
After Sir DONALD MACLEAN had thoughtfully provided a welcome tea
interval the PRIME MINISTER rose to reply to his critics. The
accusation that he had forgotten some of his recent promises, such
as "No Conscription," "Punish the Kaiser," and "Germany must pay,"
did not trouble him much. If these election-eggs had hatched
out prematurely and the contents were coming home to roost at an
inconvenient moment he had no time to attend to them. What the country
most needs at the moment is a firm clear statement on the Labour
troubles, and that is what it got. So far as those troubles are due
to remediable causes they shall be remedied; so far as the demands of
Labour are based upon class-greed they shall be fought tooth and nail.
There were a few dissentient shouts from the Opposition Benches, but
the House as a whole was delighted when the PREMIER in ringing tones
declared that "no section, however powerful, will be allowed to hold
up the whole nation."
_Wednesday, February 12th_.--The Lords had a brisk little debate on
agriculture. Lord LINCOLNSHIRE paid many compliments to Lord ERNLE
for what he had accomplished as Mr. PROTHERO, but could not understand
why, having exchanged the green benches for the red, he should have
reversed his old policy, "scrapped" the agricultural committees and
begun to dispose of his tractors. Lord ERNLE, in the measured tones
so suitable to the Upper House, made a good defence of the change. The
chief thing wanted now was to "clean the land," where noxious weeds,
the Bolshevists of the soil, had been spreading with great rapidity.
As for the tractors, the Board thought it a good thing that the
farmers should possess their own, but would retain in its own hands
enough of them to help farmers who could not help themselves--not a
large class, I imagine, with produce at its present prices.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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