18 FEBRUARY 1905, Page 23

A very timely and useful " annual " is Dod's

Parliamentary Companion (Whittaker and Co., 4e. 6d.), now in its twenty-third year, this being the eighty-first issue, the meeting of a new Parliament having from time to time necessitated the publication of a new "Companion." Part I. contains an alphabetical list of the House of Lords ; Part II. an account of the constitution of the House as a Court, and various details of Parliamentary procedure, &c. ; Part III. the House of Commons, with polls, &c., of last election ; Part IV. biographical notices of the Members. The state of parties in the Commons is well known, but every one is not aware of the political constitution of the House of Lords. The Conservatives outnumber other sections more than twice over, and there are more Liberal Unionists than Liberals. The numbers may be approximately put at three hundred, seventy- five, and fifty. Bishops are not reckoned, nor, of course, minors; -while a few Peers of mature ago seem never to have made any pronouncement.