Mr. LYNCH’S latest suggestion for the furtherance of his Republican propaganda is that the COMMISSIONER OF WORKS should remove from the streets all statues of deceased monarchs, and replace them by those of great leaders of thought.  Sir ALFRED MOND absolutely refused.  The worst kings sometimes make the best statues, and he is not prepared to sacrifice JAMES II. from the Admiralty even to put Mr. LYNCH himself on the vacant pedestal.

“P.  R.” came up smiling for another round, and, having secured the services on this occasion of Mr. ASQUITH as judicious bottle-holder, was expected to make a good fight of it.  The EX-PREMIER scouted the notion that the new plan of voting would fill the House with freaks and faddists, a class from which, he hinted, it is not, even under present conditions, entirely immune.  But the majority evidently felt that there could not be much amiss with a system which had returned such wise and patriotic persons as themselves to Parliament, and they outed P. R. by 201 to 169.

Thursday, July 5th.—­It is hardly surprising that the Government has decided not to proceed at present with its great scheme of nationalizing the liquor-traffic.  The announcement that, in order to meet the requirements of the harvest-season, the brewers should be allowed to increase the output of beer by one-third, brought a swarm of hornets about the CHANCELLOR’S head.  Mr. LEIF-JONES (irreverently known as “Tea-leaf JONES”) was horrified at the thought that more grain and sugar should be diverted to this pernicious liquid; Mr. DEVLIN and other champions of the trade were almost equally annoyed because the harvest-beer was to be of a lower specific gravity.  The storm of “supplementaries” showed no sign of abating, until the SPEAKER, who rarely fails to find the appropriate phrase, remarked upon “This thirst for information,” and so dissolved the House in laughter.

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[Illustration:  Gunner (home on leave).  “WAITER, MY NEIGHBOUR’S EFFORTS WITH HIS SOUP (BY THE WAY, I’M SURE HE OUGHT TO BE INTERNED) ARE MORE THAN I CAN BEAR.  WOULD YOU OBLIGE ME BY ASKING THE BAND TO PUT UP A BARRAGE?”]

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THE WEARY WATCHER.

    ["Almost exactly a month ago—­on May 30th—­I advised my readers
    to ‘Watch Karolyi,’ and now I emphasize the advice.”—­"The
    Clubman” in The Evening Standard, July 2nd.]

  Since very early in the War
    My Mentors in the Press
  Have never failed in warning me,
    By way of S.O.S.,
  To keep my eye on So-and-So
    In times of storm and stress.

  I think that WINSTON was the first
    Commended to my gaze,
  But very soon I found my eyes—­
    Tired by the limelight’s blaze—­
  Incapable of following
    His strange and devious ways.

  I watched the PRESIDENT and thought
    (Unjustly) he was canting;
  I watched our late PRIME MINISTER
    When furious scribes were ranting,
  And vigilantly bent my looks
    On HARDEN and on BRANTING.