THE ROYAL BIRTH BY THE UNOFFICIAL POET LAURIE FRASER

HOUSE OF COMMONS 12 JULY ORAL ANSWERS. POET LAUREATE.
MR LYNCH.asked the Prime Minister,whether,in view of the opinion widely held that the establishment of the office of Poet Laureate has been of advantage neither to the nation nor to literature, he will consider the advisability of abolishing that office?
The PRIME MINISTER,( Mr Asquith) The question is being considered in all its aspects.
Mr LYNCH  asked whether the Prime Minister can state the salary ,perquisites, and privileges appertaining to the office of Poet Laureate, and also the exact nature of the duties;whether the Poet Laureate is bound to produce a certain quality of verse per annum; and whether he will have printed as a White Paper the productions in verse of the Laureates for the last 150 years?
The PRIME MINISTER: The salary is now £70 a year with an allowance of £27 in lieu of  a butt of sack. I do not know that the duties of a Poet Lauriate are exactly defined .I am not prepared to accede to the request contained in the last part of the question. Most of the productions referred to can be obtained by those who desire to peruse them.
Mr SWIFT MacNEILL, Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the position of Poet Laureate was established in substitution for the old, ancient, and time-honoured institution of the Kings jester, and that the salary is exactly that what was given the Kings jester? Will the right hon. Gentleman now re-establish the office of Kings jester?
The PRIME MINISTER, This time I think my Friends history is not quite right.
Mr CROFT; Will the right hon,. Gentleman consider the claim of the of the hon. Member for Donegal?
Mr JAMES HOPE . Has the Poet Laureate the option to claim a butt of sack or £27.
The PRIME MINISTER;That was commuted one hundred years ago.
Mr LYNCH; Is there not an intolerable deal of sack for a ha'porth of poetry?

You new life that's come
into the outside world
take your time, we
have a billion years
you will search
and search forlorn
but
always forward and
remember this
is'na jist a load of bollocks
it really is'na.

kenthepen,(fraser)(semimonkey)