The Bill for allowing linseeded malt to escape duty passed
its second reading on Wednesday, after a debate in which everybody cavilled at the Bill, and everybody voted for it. Most of the arguments used simply amounted to pleas for the reduction of the tax, and for the rest, the main point was this :—Can beer made from linseeded malt be made drinkable ? Mr. Bass had sent to the House of Commons a quantity of this stuff, and the members seem to have been divided in opinion. We fear Mr. .Gladstone's well-known taste in wine,—witness his fourteen shil- ling claret—has led him to underrate the drinking capacity of the labourer. He will drink spirits of nitre instead of gin, and we suspect will swallow linseeded beer, and if he will the revenue can hardly avoid serious loss. Still it is a fair question for the Exchequer to decide.
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