19 APRIL 1913, Page 3

• A correspondent sends us the following extract from a

speech made by Mr. E. T. John, M.P., on the Chancellor of the Exchequer's honour. Speaking at Port Talbot, at a meeting of the League of Young Liberals, he said :—

" Before proceeding to the business of the evening, may I express on behalf and for myself our profound sympathy with the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the storm of obloquy with which he has recently been assailed, and our congratulations upon his triumphant vindication of his personal honour ? Absolutely the last charge that could justly be brought against Mr. Lloyd George is that of pecuniary self-seeking—his life has been one continuous negation of any such suggestion—and his recent escapade has only demonstrated that he is 'but a child in these matters '— artless, ingenuous, impulsive, and confiding."

Was there ever a more remarkable example of the dangers of the friendly bludgeon P If Mr. Lloyd George is really so artless and ingenuous, impulsive and confiding, does it not occur to Mr. John that he is hardly the man to have in his keeping the financial interests of this country P