It remains to notice some of the curiosities of the
speech. The past year, we are told, in spite of three great obstacles— the coal strike, the bad harvest, and the war in the Near East, was the most prosperous year that British trade had ever seen. The coal strike, however, is supposed to be responsible for a loss of 2550,000. A more serious loss was due to the cold summer. In wet, cold summers, as every- one knows, one is much less tempted to quench one's thirst than in hot, dry summers. But the mass of mankind quenches its thirst in dutiable liquors. Therefore though, thanks to the increase of the liquor taxes in recent years, there was an actual increase in the yield of the taxes on intoxicants, not as much was raised from them last year as might have been expected. Another interesting revenue fact mentioned by Mr. Lloyd George was that the penny stamp duties had been most productive. About one million bankers' cheques passed through every working day.
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