tituted a posy of
primroses for his usual picotee, and, quaintly enough, Mr. HOGGE, who
had not hitherto been suspected of Disraelian sympathies.

[Illustration:

"A primrose by a river's brim
A yellow primrose was to him
And it was nothing more."

"Mr. HOGGE had not hitherto been suspected of Disraelian
sympathies."]

For a Budget-day the attendance was smaller than usual. But it was large
enough to prevent Mr. BILLING from securing his usual seat. The SPEAKER,
however, did not smile upon his suggestion that he should occupy one of
the vacant places on the Front Opposition Bench, and curtly informed him
that there was plenty of room in the Gallery. Thither Mr. BILLING betook
himself, and thence he addressed a question which Mr. HOPE, the Minister
concerned, was unable to catch, his ears not being attuned to sounds
from that altitude.

Otherwise Question-time was chiefly remarkable for the loud and
continued burst of cheering from the Coalition benches which greeted Mr.
WILL THORNE'S suggestion (_a propos_ of LENIN'S industrial conscription)
that "it would be a very good thing to make all the idlers in this
country work." Mr. THORNE seemed quite embarrassed by the popularity of
his proposal, which did not, however, appear to arouse the same
enthusiasm among his colleagues of the Labour Party.

It was four o'clock when Mr. CHAMBERLAIN rose to "open the Budget" (he
clings to that old-fashioned phrase), and just after six when he
completed a speech which Mr. ASQUITH (himself an ex-Chancellor of the
Exchequer) justly praised for its lucidity and comprehensiveness.

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN could not on this occasion congratulate himself (as his
predecessors were wont to do) on the accuracy of his forecasts. He had
two shots last year, in Spring and Autumn, but both times was many
millions out in his calculations. Fortunately all the mistakes were on
the right side, and he came out with a surplus of one hundred and
sixty-four millions (about as much as the whole revenue of the country
when first he went to the Exchequer) to devote to the redemption of
debt.

But that did not content him. For an hour by the clock he piled up the
burdens on the taxpayer. His arguments were not always consistent. It is
not quite easy to see why, because ladies have taken to smoking
cigarettes, an extra heavy duty should be imposed on imported cigars; or
how the appearance of "a new class of champagne-drinkers"