11 MAY 1912, Page 3

Sir Edward Grey was entertained to dinner by the Press

gallery on the evening of Friday, the 3rd inst., and, in responding to the toast of his health, made a genial speech. It was a formidable ordeal, he observed, to stand up before people who for years had been looking down upon you, and he would like to ask the members of the Press gallery a few questions instead of being asked them—for example, who, in their opinion, was the best speaker in the House of Commons, who was the speaker they liked best, who was the best- tempered man in the House, and who was the man with whom be should pair ? As for the Press, there was a great deal about it that was to him incredible, e.g., the speed and the precision with which speeches were reported.—We may remark parenthetically that this summary is taken front the excellent report of Sir Edward Grey's speech in last Saturday's Daily Telegraph.—Dealing with the more serious aspects of the connexion between the Press gallery and the House, he observed that it was in a sense the trustee of the reputation of the House of Commons. They had it enormously in their power to make or mar the reputation of the House of Commons as

a whole in the country, and he was sure that people who had been long in the Press gallery must come in time to share something of the corporate spirit of the House of Commons. When, therefore, there were lapses from the dignity of the House, they must never spare their censure.