If the cheers that greeted Mr. MACPHERSON were meant to console him for his
"Irishman's rise" in slipping down from the Chief Secretaryship to the
Ministry of Pensions, they were assuredly superfluous. The supposed victim
was obviously delighted to be rid of the responsibility for a policy which
seems to grow more tangled every day. Only on Tuesday Mr. BONAR LAW was
assuring the House that the Mountjoy hunger-strikers must be left to commit
suicide if they chose; the Government could not release men suspected of
grave crimes. This afternoon he announced that sixty-six of them had in
fact been liberated on parole.
The new Minister of Labour (late of the Admiralty) came on board again,
looking none the worse for his strenuous exertions at Camberwell. He had a
hearty welcome from all quarters of the House, which would hardly know
itself without its "Dr. MAC."
It is one thing to gain a seat in the House, but quite another thing to
keep it, as Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS has just discovered. Returning from a
prolonged tour in foreign parts he found that his favourite corner-seat had
been annexed by another Member. Determined to reclaim it, he visited the
House at 8 A.M. and inserted his card; but on coming back to the House for
prayers found that the usurper had substituted her own. Mr. T.P. O'CONNOR,
with old-world chivalry, considered that the only lady-Member should be
allowed to sit where she pleased; but the SPEAKER upheld the principle
"first come, first served."
On a Vote of twenty-seven millions for the expenses of the Ministry of
Munitions Mr. HOPE told a flattering tale. The Department might be spending
a lot of money, but it was making a great deal more; and he anticipated
that the Disposals Board would hand over to the Exchequer this year
something like a hundred millions, if not more. The Slough Depôt, he
maintained, had been run at a profit and sold at a profit. The Ministry
might have made some mistakes, but it represented a prodigious national
effort, of which the historian would speak with amazement and praise.
Unimpressed by this panegyric Sir DONALD MACLEAN intimated that he came to
bury the Ministry and not to praise it. In his view its administration had
been grossly extravagant. He demanded the full details of the Slough
transaction and suggested that the Vote should be withdrawn until they were
forthcoming. To this proposal Mr. HOPE, with more humility than I should
have expected after the optimism of his earlier speech, ultimately agreed.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Our Animal Artist._ "THOSE CHICKENS I BOUGHT OFF YOU ARE NO
GOOD TO ME."
_Farmer._ "NO GOOD, SIR? WHAT'S WRONG WI' 'EM?"
_Our Animal Artist._ "THEY'VE GOT NO EXPRESSION."]
* * * * *