30 MAY 1891, Page 2

Sir Wilfrid Lawson opposed the adjournment of the House in

honour of a great gambling festival. If there were no gambling, there would be no horse-racing, and the House of Commons ought not to patronise an institution which was essentially, therefore, one for gambling. If they wanted more holidays, let them seek them on other occasions, such as the groat Temperance festival at the Crystal Palace, or the Eton and Harrow cricket-match, or the Queen's birthday, or the Chancellor of the Exchequer's birthday. He hoped he might be allowed to conclude in words like those of the hozwurable membor for Waterford, who sag eOme years ago :

—" Remember, my brethren, this is not a sermon that I have been preaching to you ; it is only the truth that I have been telling you." The motion was, however, carried by a majority- of 28,-137 against 109. It is not so easy to disestablish any Parliamentary holiday, especially one that lends a sort of public sanction to a shady species of amusement.