Punch: Punch (69.1875)

66

PUNCH, OH THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[August 21, 1875.

PUNCH'S ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

eiday, August 6th, be-
gins the last week of
the Session. No more
Essence of Collective
Wisdom till next Feb-
ruary ! No more burn-
ing and shining light
from the Clock-tower
beacon above, or the
benches below. No
more displays of dizzi-
ness in Office, or drow-
siness in Opposition.
John Btjxl and the
Times must combine to
exist without that piece
de resistance. their
"Imperial Parlia-
ment," for five months
to come.

" Finis coronut opus"
says the old saw. But
" Opus coronatfinem"
is the rule of British
Parliamentary prac-
tice. "What week of the
Session sees such a mar-
vellous amount of work
knocked off as the last ?
Look at the Lords, and the Bills
they have made happy despatch of in
these last eight days; the interchange
and consideration of amendments be-
tween the two Houses ; the last shots
fired, as the two lines of battle sheered
asunder! the Notices of Motion for
next Session! to say nothing of such
bagatelles as a Review of the Session
from the Hartingtonian stand-point
and the Disraelitish.the Indian Budget,
and a Ministerial Whitebait Dinner.

To come to particulars. The next
time Lokd Oranmobe {Lords, Friday,
August 6th) wants to know the par-
ticulars of Cardinal Manning's re-
ception at one of the Prince oe
Wales's Chiswick Garden-parties,
Punch would recommend him to get
an invitation, and see for himself, rather than
trust to some unauthorised Jenkins.

{ Commons.) Unseaworthy Ships Bill (Stop-gap)
read a Third Time, after notice by Me. Beed of
Me. Plimsoll's intention to move for a Select
Committee on Marine Insurance next Session.
John Bull may depend upon it, that is where
the shoe pinches; and so long as your ship-
knacker can recover more than the value of his
rotten hulls from the underwriters, he will find
means to sail, and sink them, in spite of all the
Unseaworthy Shipping Bills and Board of Trade Surveyors with which you can dog
his rascally heels.

The report of the Judicature Bill brought up a breeze with it. _ The Attorneys
are beginning to be a power in the House now, and they showed it to-night in a
not unreasonable onslaught on some questionable points of Barristers' practice, as