A great sigh of relief went up when the Tariff debate was over. Nobody is satisfied with it, and the Premier professed to be so pleased with this general dissatisfaction that he hailed it as a proof of its excellence. What he really feels is an all-absorbing desire to kick himself and his Treasurer for ever interfering with it at all. Consumers are already feeling its excellence in a very practical way. A housekeeper, on arriving from her shopping on Saturday night, was wroth. " There," said she, " these tariffers ought to be put on the roads. I've had to pay a penny a yard more for elastic, a penny extra on a box of hairpins ; that box of pills was 3d more than last time, and your shilling's worth of writing paper is fifteen pence. Catch me voting for Liberals again." And the good woman refused to be comforted with the assurance that these extra charges were, perhaps, blessings in disguise, S.he will probably discover much more seriqus advances in the every day wants of life as she makes her round for her weekly necessaries. The Tariff is so searching in its iniquities that there is no loop-hole of escape {or the most economical of housewiy.es. During this debate, som.e of the most loquacious of the Libefals, delighted with the unwonted freedom granted them to say what they chose and vote how they liked (sometimes), performed strange .antics. For instance, Mr Hogg, the chosen of Masterton, firstly advocated a shilling duty on tea ; and in the final vote as to whether it should be 3d or 4d he walked into the 3d lobby,

PIETY AND POLITICS.
