550 



The Review of Reviews. 



fJlotograpn ly\ [Darol-Foumtim. 



The Thirteen-Year-Old Ruler of Persia : 



Sultan Ahmad Shah. 



protest. Mr. Shustcr persisted, and defended his 



conduct in articles attacking the action of the x\nglo- 



Russian Government, articles which were reprinted in 



a pamphlet and circulated in Persia. Now it is quite 



open to the critics of the m/eiiL' to maintain that we 



ought never to have entertd into an agreement .with 



Russia to define our respective spheres of influence 



in Persia. But as we have entered into that ailciite, 



it is difficult to see how we could act otherwise than 



we have done in supporting the demand for the 



dismissal of an official whose chief object seems to be 



to make the working of the entente impossible. It is 



a thousand pities that Mr. Shuster, instead of falling 



in loyally with the arrangement which, with all its 



shortcomings, is the basis of peace in Western Asia, 



should have conceived it his duty to try to make it 



unworkable. Injudicious, reckless advisers bring ruin 



upon the States which heed their counsel. 



, Mr. Lloyd George has been 



^^^ „,„ labouring all the month through 

 Insurance Bill, • , r , 



a perfect jungle ol amenumcnts, 



his own and otlir'- people's, to the Insurance 



Bill. It is stated that no fewer than 470 amend- 

 nitnts, most of them verbal, were voted upon 

 under the closure on Thursday night, Novem- 

 ber 30th. The Bill, which at its introduction was 

 hailed with an outburst of unanimous approval, has 

 been largely remodelled Utopia's a pleasant place, 

 but when we attempt to get there we find it is not 

 so easy to walk straight down the crooked lane and 

 right round the square. The Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer has exhibited indomitable courage, tireless 

 industry, and a phenomenal rcadin«ss to meet hiscritics 

 half way. For sheer driving force nothing like it has 

 been seen in Parliament since .Mr. Gladstone applied his 

 gigantic energies to carry through his Irish Land Acts. 

 Just as the Bill was entering harbour a sudden breeze 

 sprang up in the servants' kitchen, which, being 

 diligently fanned by the Opposition Press, seemed to 

 attain the dimensions of a veritable tornado in the 

 very portly teacup of the /Vlbert Hall. The duel 

 between Lord NorthclifFe's editors and Mr. Lloyd 

 George has not wanted in piquancy, but when Mr. 

 Austen Chamberlain refused to vote for the exclusion 

 of domestic servants from the Bill, and the House 

 of Commons decided they must be included, by a 

 majority of r46, it was evident that the game was up 

 — unless the House of Lords intervened. 



Westminster Gazette. ] 



The Society Stamp Scare. 



SociEiv Lady: "Oh, Mr. Bull, I ./(; wish jou would get 

 liii of that horrid Lloyd Geurjje ! He's goiui; to ui.-ike us lick a 

 lot of nasty stumps and stick thcin on dirty cards, and we sliall 

 catch consumption and all kinds of dreadful things ! " 



John Hi;li.: " liut, my dear l.ady, you arc not ohliged in 

 lick any stamps, not even postage stamps. Why not use a rtct 

 sponge in a saucer ? It's quite simple ! " 



