2 JULY 1910, Page 9

We trust we have been able to give a fairly

clear account of the Budget to our readers, but the matter has not been an easy one,—partly owing to the confusion caused by the exceptional conditions of last year, and the consequent appear- ance of the problem of arrears, and partly to the somewhat topsy-turvy method in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer presented his statement to the House of Commons. Indeed. we might almost say of this year's Budget as Mark Twain said of the German language. He did not profess to have got to the bottom of it, but thought he understood it as well as the gentleman who invented it. He could get on pretty well, he added, if he stood on his head and held it to a looking- glass.