ea patrol the other night was
made the excuse for an attack upon the Admiralty. Sir Eric Geddes came
down specially to assure the House that if it viewed things "in the
right perspective" it would realise that such isolated incidents were
unavoidable. Members generally were convinced, I think, by the sight
of the First Lord's bulldog jaw, even more than by his words, that the
Navy would not loose its grip on the enemy's throat.

If "darkness and composure" are, as we have been told, the best
antidotes to an air-raid, where would you be more likely to find
them than in a CAVE? The HOME SECRETARY'S explanation did not, of
course, satisfy "P.B."--initials now standing for "Pull Baker"--who,
in a voice of extra raucosity, caused by his _al-fresco_ oratory
in East Islington, demanded that protection should be afforded
to--ballot-boxes. But he and Mr. JOYNSON-HICKS and Mr. DILLON--whose
sudden solicitude for the inhabitants of London was gently chaffed
by Mr. CHAMBERLAIN--were deservedly trounced by Mr. BONAR LAW, who
declared that if their craven squealings were typical he should
despair of victory.

Who says that the removal of the grille has had no effect upon
politics? Exposed to the unimpeded gaze of the ladies in the Gallery
the House decided with great promptitude that the female voter should
not be called upon to state her exact age, but need only furnish a
statutory declaration that she was over thirty.

_Tuesday, October 23rd._--So far as I know, the duties of a Junior
Lord of the Treasury have never been exactly defined. Apparently
those of Mr. PRATT include the compilation of a "London Letter," to
be sent to certain favoured newspapers. In one of them he appears to
have stated that Mr. ASQUITH'S condition of health was so precarious
that there was little likelihood of his resuming an active part in
politics. It was pleasant, therefore, to see the ex-Premier in his
place again, and able to contribute to the Irish debate a speech
showing no conspicuous failure either of intellect or verbal felicity.

[Illustration: _Mr. Duke_. "HERE, I SAY--"

_Mr. Redmond_. "SURE AN' I'M SORRY, BUT THE GINTLEMAN BEHIND PUSHED
ME."]

Both Mr. REDMOND and Mr. DUKE had drawn a very gloomy picture of
present-day Ireland--the former, of course, attributing it entirely
to the ineptitudes of the "Castle," and being careful to say little
or nothing to hurt the feelings of the Sinn Feiners, while the latter
ascribed it to the rebell