There is one point on which we feel bound to
express our difference with Lord Rosebery, and that is his declaration that he looks to the present Government as our bulwark against Socialism. How Lord Rosebery could say this of a Govern- ment just about to lay the foundations of a scheme of old-age pensions passes our comprehension. A Government pledged to such expenditure is a bulwark neither against Protection nor Socialism. Consider for a moment the extra expendi- ture which the Government is proposing in the present Session. On the Estimates alone there is a net increase of nearly a million and a half, and there are pretty sure to be supplementary Estimates later in the year. The Education Bill proposes to add at least another million and a half; while, if we accept the estimate given by Mr. John Burns that there will be a million pensioners under the pension scheme, this alone gives us an expenditure of fourteen millions. Other proposals for dipping into the pockets of the tax- payer involved in the Government programme of the Session cannot be placed at less than a million, which brings us, on a conservative estimate, to proposals for nearly eighteen millions ! We think that on reflection Lord Rosebery will have to agree that the present Government is a bulwark in which the Socialistic rats have made some very considerable holes.
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