illustration that the LORD CHANCELLOR, who is fond of
Classical "tags," was heard to murmur, _"Omnium consensu capax imperil
nisi imperasset."_

A Second Reading was given to the Re-election of Ministers Bill, on
the plea of the LORD CHANCELLOR that until it is passed several of his
Ministerial colleagues will be _nantes in gurgite vasto_--or, in other
words, all at sea.

Rumours that a new Department of Public Information was to be set up
excited much curiosity in the Commons, but only negative replies were
received. The Department, if, and when, it comes into existence, is
not to advertise the virtues of the Coalition, nor is it to publish a
newspaper of its own; though, to judge by the leaflets, circulars and
_communiques_ issued by the existing Ministries in the course of the
week, such an organ would certainly not perish for lack of copy.

The so-called Ten Minutes' Rule was originally intended for the
introduction of comparatively unimportant Bills. This after-noon Mr.
SHORTT employed it for the purpose of explaining the provisions of
one of the most revolutionary and comprehensive measures ever brought
forward in any country. Briefly it is to put under the control of a
single Minister of Ways and Communications our railways, our canals,
our roads, and also our supply of electricity, hitherto in the hands
of hundreds of public companies and local authorities. Only on one
point did the Bill meet with opposition. I do not know whether Mr.
JOYNSON HICKS claims any connection with Hicks's Hall, which stands in
the old road-books as the starting-point of the great highway to
the North, but he became almost lyrical in his denunciation of the
proposal to put all the roads in the country in charge of a railwayman
like Sir ERIC GEDDES. They ought, in his opinion, to be under the
care of someone "born on roads" and "trained on roads"--a sort of
super-tramp, I suppose.

_Thursday, February 27th._--To an appeal for an increase in the
pensions of Crimea and Mutiny veterans, to meet the rise in the cost
of living, response was made that such an increase would be granted
in the case of those not over seventy years of age. It is not
thought that the concession will cause a heavy drain on the national
resources, few of the veterans having joined up before entering their
'teens.

As a retort, "Yah! German!" is, I am told, already considered _vieux
jeu_ by the wits of the pavement. But Ulstermen and Nationalists still
think