Mr. Lloyd George made what his admirers call "the speech
of his life " at Newcastle on Saturday last. He had not time,
he explained, to prepare a speech, but had come for a plain, straight talk about the Budget. As to the plainness of his language there could be no doubt. Thus he told his audience that a fully equipped Duke cost as much as two 'Dread- noughts.' " They are just as great a terror and they last longer." But the real, serious enemies of the Budget were the great landlords who, when Mr. Lloyd George asked them for 5 per cent., replied : " You are a thief ; you are worse, you are an attorney ; worst of all, you are a Welshman." Mr. Lloyd George described the Committee stage of the Finance Bill as that for the axe and the chisel and plane, while all that was now required was the mere sandpapering on the Report stage, bat conveniently omitted to mention or to find a carpentering parallel for the intermediate stage of re- drafting, which necessitated the present adjournment of the House.
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