In the course of the debate upon the Civil Service
vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday Mr. Touche made some strong but entirely justifiable criticisms upon the new postage stamps. He pointed out that there were two requirements which stamps should fulfil. The first was a question of dignity, in which he included their msthetic and technical qualities ; the second was the protection of the revenue against forgery. Neither of these requirements was fulfilled by the new stamps. Mr. Hobhouse, in his reply, made a defence of the stamps which can hardly be said to carry conviction. After emphasizing the fact that 33 per cent. was saved by the new contract, he declared that " though opinions might differ as to the beauty of the design, and though there might, perhaps, be some improvements in the printing, he did not think there was really much to be said against the design itself." He went on to suggest that the failure of the gum was possibly due to the extreme beat. We regret to say that this lame apology seems to have satisfied the House, which defeated Mr. Touche's protest by a majority of 111 (151-40).
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