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BY THE WAY. I

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BY THE WAY. I Luxuries* Some four years ago it was a vogue among flappers to refer to almost everything about which an expression of opinion .is required, no matter how trivial or common-place, as "priceless." It was a pBrase which was vary annoying to pedantic elders who, with keener sense of the proportion vi things, were anxious to reserve their superlatives for really appropriate occasions. But the war, which bas altered our conception of relative ■■values of most things, has given new and significant import to that once light!v used adjective. Commodities that formerly were 'a.che? dirt" have now acquired, in our altered vision, a price above rubies and a v. more to be desired than much fine old,which, indeed, will not buy them. Not long ago queues consisting of what the newspapers are fond of describing as "respectably dressed crowds were to be seen waiting patiently in the rain for hours in the hopes of securing a quarter of a pound of margarine, a commodity at which even two years ago proud Salopians and dwellers in other dairy districts were prone to toss contemptuous heads and turn up supercilious noses. The queues have die- ¡ appeared, thanks to th3 rationing system, but! we still think kindly of margarine, and even servant girls are now knoli to be willing to eat it without threatening to give notioe. There was a period some weeks ago, indeed, when, in Wrexham and perhaps elsewhere, it was eagerly sought after as providing a wel- come change from dripping toast, and the household which could boast that it was able to mix with it a. modicum of real butter was enviously regarded as dwelling in the lap of luxury. And it has been much the same with that humblest of domestic utensils, the homely match. How prodigal we formerly were with them How generously they were displayed on the tobacconists' counters for us to help ourselves when we dropped in to lJuy our (once-upon-a-time) 3d. cigars! If you asked a friend to "lend" you a match, unless he happened to be a Scotchman, he would in- variably thrust half a boxful into your sup- pliant hand and expansively bid you take the lot. And, as you complacently pocketed them you were not conscious of being under a-ny considerable debt to him. You would as readily do the same for the next man who asked you for a similar favour, because you could get a dozen boxes for a penny. But now! Last week a chance acquaintance in I the train asked me for a match. I grudg- ingly offered him one. It went out before he had properly lit his pipe, and he casually asked me for another. I passed it with a frown, which was intended to express a timely rebuke at what I considered an unjustifia.ble 1 presumption on a friendship of such brief duration. Fortunately, the second was more effective, or I think, I should have been constrained very pointedly to aik him if he knew there was a war on Anyhow, pine vestas and even the common or garden "household" variety is an article de luxe to- day, and the attempt to "borrow" a match may now be regarded, in terms of impud- ence, on a par with the old ueviee of invit- ing the "loan" of a fiver! » • Yet even in these days of general priceless- ness there are luxuries and luxuries, divisible into two classes-those which are subject to special taxation and those which are not. It is no light task which the Select Committee of the House of Commons have in hand to determine which these super-luxuries should be, though they have the French example to guide them. But the French mind is apt to be extremely subtle on such matters, and it is interesting, for instance, to note that, ac- cording to Parisian valuation, a wo:rnn can give as much as £1 12s. for a hat and yet not be accused by the revenue authorities of legal extravagance, while, if the poor mun ex- ceeds half that sum on his spring chapoau, "latest style," he has to contribute to the Exchequer some villainous percentage in "luxury tax." Similarly with "pet dogs," essentially a ladies' foible, £1 32s. is again the highly generous limit allowed for ex- penditure without incurring any such pen- alty as the transaction deserves, but let the poor male look longingly at that meerchaum pipe, so cunningly displayed in the tobac- conist's window, and some official steps up behind him, taps him on the shoulder, and save, Not more than 8s., my dear sir, Or you are incurring a taxable luxury." It is always the same in this world, and I suppose it always. will be.. What is the merest necessity in a woman's wardrobe begpmes a, profligate extravagance when purchased, in corresponding fashion, by a man. Margaret, it. is true, has been quick to point out that, under the French system, as much as SS Sts. is allowed for pyjamas and dressing gowns" without taxation, which sho describes as an inordinate surrender to male vanity; but, aa my taste in slumber suits is extremely simple, this particular latitude only leaves me pon- dering on the ways of, capricious Fate, which always offers some special encouragement "to vices to which I do not happen to be addic- ted, while it severely punishes those pecca- dillos to which I am specially prone. Any- how, this differentiation between the ideas of male and female extravagance is a habit of mind so firmly implanted by Eve that not all-the Adams in Parliament are ever likely to be entirely able to free themselves from its thraldom,* and, when I discovered that quite a large proportion of the Select Com- mittee to whom the issue has been referred were marriecl man, I gave up all hope that they would Ire any more sul-m-dul -thon their fellow pnUtjEciMM of Flmnee in arrailgi-lig « system of "luxury" taxes that wouM bring sufficient moral pressure on our womenfolk to Wfcble 1'ttjMp to real, alter all, a fi*e -< and sixpence halfpenny hat ii.ay he quite &s comfortable and pTObaoly much more useful and even becoming as a three guinea eoncoc- *,tion of lace and plumes liable 1 be spoilt by the first spring shower. v sides, rs I tell Margaret when she upbraids me for clinging to the luxurious comfort of an old and iiabby suit, in war time it is hardly patriotic to be I well dressed. « « • jI However, I seethe I in--Hal Se tary to the Treasury deprecates "a, quasi-humorous" j method of treanneatf this subject. So let me atone for any levity app--ent above! by the sober enough reflection ..L1a, though it may be hard to hide our smiles when Major Rowland Hunt wants to know" whftit is sup- posed to be the use of a Cabinet in which nobody understand any til *g about war," if it is correct, as a well- known newspaper writer sai-i on Saturday, that the present lack of effective check on public expenditure and of proper,con.trol of departmen 1 administra- tion. under the present Wax .Cabinet "costs the country several hundred millions a year that would be saved by th- revival of the old Cabinet system," it would se -n Latone of the most expensive luxuries in which the nation is indulging is the enjoyment of pos- sessing a "Business Government"! And I that is assuredly no laughing matter! I A PHILOSOJ'HEK ON TIm PROWL. I

CORRESPONDENCE.

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THECHUHCHES;I THE CHURCHES.…

5^ I BANGORISYr.OPn.

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