_Tuesday, February 11th_.--The KING's Speech outlined a programme
of legislation which would in the ordinary way occupy two or three
Sessions. But the Parliamentary machinery is to be ruthlessly speeded
up and "a short cut to the Millennium" is to be discovered by way
of the Committee-rooms. Precisians observed with regret that the
customary reference in the Speech to "economy" had by some oversight
been omitted; and the prospective creation of several additional
Departments led Lord CREWE to express apprehension lest the country
should be "doped" with new Ministries, to the detriment of the
national health.
[Illustration: THE OPPOSITION FREAK.