Punch or the London Charivari, Volume 158, March 24, 1920.Various
General
Punch or the London Charivari, Volume 158, March 24, 1920.
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
Mr. BONAR LAW read a telegram from Lord KILMARNOCK regarding the
situation in Berlin. As it was already a day old, was admittedly based
on a _communique_ from _Wolff's Bureau_, "censored" by Mr. TREBITSCH
LINCOLN (late Liberal Member for Darlington), and had in the meantime
been officially contradicted by the old Government, it did not add
much to our knowledge.
Time was when it was usual to move to reduce a Vote by a hundred
pounds if you wanted to defeat the Government. But such paltry figures
are no good in these spacious days. Sir DONALD MACLEANS'S proposed
reduction in the Vote on Account for the Civil Services was the
much more mouth-filling morsel of one hundred million pounds. Mr.
CHAMBERLAIN considered it very handsome of the Opposition, on the
eve, he understood, of coming into office, thus to cut off its own
supplies. Nevertheless he declined to accept the generous offer. Our
finances would be all right if the House would back the Government by
practising economy as well as preaching it. As it was, he thought the
worst was over, for--strange and agreeable phenomenon--the floating
debt was sinking.
After this it was, perhaps, not very complimentary'of Mr. J.W. WILSON
to urge the Government to put forth their best speakers. The PRIME
MINISTER was still coy, but Sir ROBERT HORNE, in virtue of his new
office as President of the Board of Trade, stepped nimbly into the
breach, and made a speech so cheerful both in substance and delivery
as to justify the hope that in him the Government have found the HORNE
of Plenty.
_Wednesday, March 17th_.--Seventeen years ago Lord BALFOUR OF
BURLEIGH, as a hard-shell Free Trader, sacrificed office sooner than
bow the knee to the new gods of Birmingham. This afternoon he brought
in a Bill (to safeguard "key industries" and counteract "dumping")
which would have gladdened the heart of Mr. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. Some
of the other Free Trade Peers were still unrepentant. Lord BEAUCHAMP,
for example, declaring that shipping was our real "quay-industry" and
needed no protection, announced his intention of moving the rejection
of the Bill; and Lord CREWE, although one of the authors of the Paris
resolutions, on which the measure was ostensibly based, thought that
it went far beyond present necessities. The only dumps with which
Germany was likely to be associated for some time to come were
doleful, not aggressive.
The Report of the Supplementary Estimates furnished the Commons with
abundant points for criticism. In protesting against an increase in
the remuneration of the Law Officers, Mr. HOGGE revealed a hitherto
unsuspected admiration for the PRIME MINISTER, whose services, he
considered, were most inadequately rewarded with five thousand pounds
a year and no pension. If anyone deserved an increase of salary it was
he.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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