21 AUGUST 1920, Page 3

The Prime Minister has contracted the habit of announcing important

events to the public when he thinks fit and how he thinks fit. To do this is to treat Parliament with scant respect. We daresay that when recently he used a cryptic phrase about the "subsidised Press" he really had the Daily Herald in mind. If he continues these practices we may expect to find him one day withholding material facts from the nation and from Parlia- ment—facts essential to a proper judgment of a political situa- tion—because it would be more convenient for him to produce them dramatically as a kind of election address.