FIRST IRISH VOTING UNDER NEW SYSTEM.

LABOUR WINS NOTABLE

VICTORIES.

6,500 WOMEN VOTE IN DUBLIN f

LONDON, January 21

The first elections in the Irish cities and towns under the new Local Government Act have afforded the absorbing political topic of the week. The elections in the Irish counties— which will result in a vastly more revolutionary change, as the new elective bodies will replace those nominated by the Grand Juries—have been deferred until March.

NOTABLE VICTORIES FOR LABOUR.

The salient feature of the municipal elections, the registration for which was from four to six times larger than heretofore, is the return in all the chief cities of a considerable labour element. In Dublin, Cork and Limerick the labour party holds' the balance of power between the Parnellites and the Dillonites. The labour representatives declare*that they are for labour interests first and politics afterwards. WOMEN VOTE FOR THE FIRST TIME.

In the Dublin Corporation, where the electorate increased from 8,000 to 38,000 voters—including for the first time 6,500 women—the labour members are increased from three to twelve, while John Redmond's party, which held forty-four out of sixty seats in the old council, has been reduced to twenty. The Pill onites increased from about six to eighteen.

The Parnellites in Dublin are now as hopelessly split as the Dillonites, which fact, it is thought, will improve the chance of restoring unity.

In the Cork Corporation the Parnellites have been reduced from twentysix to nineteen while the Dillonites have increased from fourteen to eighteen, and labour has nine representatives, several of them Aldermen, beingreturned at the top of the poll. DALY CAN BE MAYOR OF LIMERICK. But the result in Limerick is the most startling of all, for there John Daly, who served fourteen years for alleged dynamiting, has won twentyfour out of forty seats, ancl can be elected Mayor if he chooses. The Unionists, who have fared badly everywhere in these elections, are cursing their leaders for passing such an Act. There is already a decided tendency to throw up Unionism and cast their lot with the rest of their fellow-countrymen. XV. REDMOND LOOMS UP IN DUBLIN, i The election of Mayors in Dublin, Cork and Limerick will take place Monday. William Redmond is mentioned for Lord Mayor of Dublin, and as he is highly esteemed everywhere he would be an excellent choice. But there is a proposition to offer the honour to Lord lveagh, purely on public grounds, in recognition of his benefactions to the city. In Limerick a proposition is made to elect as Mayor a local landlord peer, Lord Emly, as he has renounced Unionism and has become a Home Ruler.

The Lord Mayoralty of Belfast probably will be offered to the Marquis of Dufferin.