he was out of order in
criticising the Indian Government for its conduct of the Mesopotamian
Expedition, and advised him to reserve his remarks for the Indian Budget
discussion--equivalent in these times to the Greek Kalends.

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN was surprised too, but, regardless of the ruling,
proceeded to make a carefully-prepared reply to the speech which the
Hon. and gallant Member had not been allowed to deliver. He frankly
admitted that there had been a lamentable breakdown of the hospital
arrangements, but steps had been taken to improve them, and a telegram
from General LAKE showed that the treatment of the men wounded in the
recent engagement was satisfactory.

Mr. PEMBERTON-BILLING essayed another and a longer flight to-day, but
had a good deal of engine trouble. His Parliamentary friends ought to
have warned him that the House does not care to listen to a man reading
extracts from his own leading articles, however prophetic they may have
been; that the constant reiteration of a phrase such as "I would like to
suggest, Mr. SPEAKER," soon becomes tiresome, and that to call somebody
else "the De Rougemont of the air" is to invite the _tu quoque_. Members
became more and more impatient as the orator became more and more
dogmatic; and when he rhetorically demanded the name of "one man to whom
we could turn to solve the problem" they derisively chorused, "BILLING!"
Mr. TENNANT, recognising the feeling of the House, did not spend much
time in refuting Mr. BILLING's wild assertions, but devoted most of his
speech to replying to Mr. JOYNSON-HICKS, who had pleaded that the
East-Coast towns should be more promptly warned of approaching
air-raids. He had personally investigated the arrangements and was
positively "staggered" at "the wonderful network that had been set up,"
and he invited Mr. JOYNSON-HICKS to come with him privately and share
his amazement. Mr. ELLIS GRIFFITH was not convinced. He thought that
there were still too many strands of red tape in the network, and
reiterated the hope that the DERBY Committee would soon develop into a
Ministry of the Air.

_Thursday, March 23rd._--A distressing report in the papers this
morning, that the _Galloper_ had been blown up by the Germans, made the
friends of Sir FREDERICK SMITH anxious. Had he, on one of his periodical
visits to the trenches to see Friend WINSTON, stumbled across an enemy
mine? Happily the report was grossly exaggerated. The _Galloper_ was
only a ligh