iberal Member for
Pembroke, returned to the House to-day as Unionist Member for Chester.
To signalise the capture of so gigantic a prize--he is 6ft. 6in. in his
stockinged feet--Lord EDMUND TALBOT and Sir G. YOUNGER, Unionist Whips,
conducted him to the Table; and as they are both of moderate height the
procession gave the effect of a _Mauretania_ going to her moorings in
charge of a couple of tugs.

When Dr. MACNAMARA moved a Supplementary Estimate of L10 for the Navy, I
was reminded of PRAED'S lines "On seeing the SPEAKER asleep in his
chair":--

"Hume, no doubt, will be taking the sense Of the House on a
saving of thirteen pence."

But there were differences. The L10 was not an ordinary "ten-pun' note"
but was a "token" representing something like four and a half millions
received by the Fleet for services rendered to Foreign Powers and
others; and Mr. WHITLEY, who was in the Chair, too so far from being
asleep, was intensely wide-awake. Members who sought to discuss Naval
policy generally were promptly pulled up, and the SECRETARY OF THE
ADMIRALTY, when in his third or fourth attempt to explain the Vote he
remarked hypothetically, "Suppose we were to sell a battleship----" was
himself called to order, Mr. WHITLEY evidently regarding such a
reduction of the Fleet as unpatriotic even in imagination.

A vote for L37,000 to extend the British Consulate buildings at Cairo
united both sides of the House in criticism. Mr. ASHLEY thought what was
good enough for Lord CROMER should be good enough for his successor. Mr.
HOGGE, by a somewhat obscure process of reasoning, now understood why
the Germans were so anxious to get to Egypt. In vain Mr. LEWIS HARCOURT,
usually so persuasive, explained that they were now buying for L3 10s. a
metre land for which the owner wanted L12 a metre not long ago. Sir F.
BANBURY, shaking his _pince-nez_ at the Treasury Bench, retorted that
he might ask L5 for this pair of glasses, for which he had paid
half-a-crown (more war economy), but he would not expect to get it.

A vote for L50,000, to complete the purchase of the estate of Colonel
HALL-WALKER, who has presented his racing stud to the Government, evoked
some opposition and much facetiousness. Mr. ACLAND, who proposed it, did
not help his case by remarking that personally he regarded racing as a
low form of sport. The fact that some of the horses have been leased by
the War Department to Lord LONSDALE for racing purposes "on s