-Commander
DEAN, V.C., though he faced the House with much more trepidation than
he did the batteries of Zeebrugge, got well home at the finish.
[Illustration: SOUTH HACKNEY'S CHAMPION.]
The lot of a Labour leader just now is not a happy one. Perhaps that
accounted for the querulous tone assumed by Mr. ADAMSON, who seemed
more concerned with the omissions in the KING's Speech than with its
contents. His best sayings were imported from America, but he would
have done better to content himself with LINCOLN and abjure BRYAN,
whose "cross-of-gold" fustian will not bear repetition.
After Sir DONALD MACLEAN had thoughtfully provided a welcome tea
interval the PRIME MINISTER rose to reply to his critics. The
accusation that he had forgotten some of his recent promises, such
as "No Conscription," "Punish the Kaiser," and "Germany must pay,"
did not trouble him much. If these election-eggs had hatched
out prematurely and the contents were coming home to roost at an
inconvenient moment he had no time to attend to them. What the country
most needs at the moment is a firm clear statement on the Labour
troubles, and that is what it got. So far as those troubles are due
to remediable causes they shall be remedied; so far as the demands of
Labour are based upon class-greed they shall be fought tooth and nail.
There were a few dissentient shouts from the Opposition Benches, but
the House as a whole was delighted when the PREMIER in ringing tones
declared that "no section, however powerful, will be allowed to hold
up the whole nation.
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