NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE great question of the day is the date of the Dissolution. The Secretary of the Treasury has explained that the vote on account" will be taken for two months, and as this would be sufficient to render an early Dissolution,—a Dissolu- tion at the end of June,—possible, it is generally assumed, and we think correctly, that this will be the course determined on. Mr. Gladstone no doubt expects it. Though in Tuesday's discussion of the Irish Local Government Bill, be had so sharp an encounter with Mr. Balfour that it is said he flung the statute-book to which he was referring, on the table with enough force to separate the con- tents from the temporary binding, and was profoundly disturbed by Mr. Balfour's proof that his reading of the Education Act and its provisions had been mistaken, his question on Thursday night as to the course of business was put in the most dulcet tones, nor did Mr. Balfour's absolutely non-committal answer at all discompose him. It is pretty certain that an early Dissolution, probably towards the end of June, is determined upon, and the heart-flutterings are as great as if six hundred and seventy important marriages in political life were just about to be arranged.
