Parliament reassembled on Thursday. Although not very much actual work
was done, the lobbies, like the newspapers, seem to have been full of talk as to the future conduct of the Session. The Times in particular has been calculating that if the Government persist in their legislative and financial pro- gramme, it will be absolutely impossible for the House to rise earlier than October 5th. Meantime the Government are said to be taking steps to arrange " shifts " of Members for getting through the work. That is, some Members will be allowed to take their holidays in July and August in order to be back in September, while others will be allowed off in September. No doubt on paper it does seem impossible that the Government will be able to finish their programme till the middle of October. We cannot help thinking, however, that the general desire of the House to rise at least by the middle of September will prevail, and that, partly by the weakening of the extreme zeal of the Opposition as soon as September begins, and still more by the willingness of the Government to abandon most of their legislative proposals and to concentrate almost solely on the Budget, though even there making concessions, Parlia- ment will rise, if not by the second, at least by the third week in September. There of course remains the further alternative that the Government, seeing, or fancying they see, some sort of reaction in their favour, will go to the country on the plea that the Opposition is trying to prevent the King's Govern- ment being carried on in order to save the rich from paying their fair share of taxation. On the whole, however, we think Dissolution unlikely.
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