THE SHILLING DINNER.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14327, 12 April 1912, Page 7

THE SHILLING DINNER.

Whatever financial strain there is upon the 'operations of the Kitchen Committee of the House of Commons is probably due in the main to tho existence of what.is known as the Shill'ng Dinner. This dinner consists of joint, two vegetables, bread, butter, and cheese, all ad lihituni. It is not quite a case of pla*n Jiving and high thinking, but rather a case of gocd living without thinking of tho consequences, for it is obvious that the meal entails a lf>_sjtpon the caterers (says the London -'.Standard). It was* originally established for tho benefit of the Labour members, to whom it was. of course, a distinct boon. But human nature is human nnture, even in Parliament. When the other members •saw .what the representatives of labour ..were getting for the "simple bob" they thought that they, too. would benefit by th* cheap fare, and .v is a fact that at the present tHme about two-thirds of the members of the House habitually tako the shilling dinner. The circumstances, however, are different now from what they were. Last year a bountiful Government gave membois of the Legislature a salary of £400 per ""•o 11 - 1 " Tllei ne ''" Kit chen Committee "•ill ba appointed in tlie course of a few days, and it, may be that one of their earliest acts will be to consider tho propriety of abolishing an indefensib.e commercial transaction in the shape of the shilling dinner.