The return of Mr. Lloyd George to England on Wednesday
was followed by a perfect deluge of interviews on his tour and its objects. We do not wish to condemn this expansive attitude unreservedly, but may say that it ill consorts with the special traditions of the office held by Mr. Lloyd George. In addition to these interviews, an authorised statement was issued to the Press, in the course of which the Chancellor of the Exchequer made a pointed allusion to the question of the State ownership of railways, observing that he was very much impressed with the effects of the system in Germany, and that the State ownership of railways and other undertakings was very helpful in dealing with the problem of unemployment. He also stated that wherever he went he found a general complaint that prices had gone up practi- cally universally in Germany during the last twenty years. "Germany was one of the cheapest couirtries in the world twenty years ago; now it is one of the dearest." The object of hie visit was to see whether a contributory system could eventually be grafted on to the non-contributory eyritem in regard to invalidity arid sicknest, bat he had come to no definite conclusion as to this point, as be wished to Investigate the workings of the contributory schemes in Belgium and Austria as well as in Germahy.
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