The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The ECho. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1923. THE CONSERVATIVE DEFEAT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 293, 8 December 1923, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The ECho.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1923. THE CONSERVATIVE DEFEAT.

For the cause ihat lacks assistance, j For the wrong that needs resistance, l I For the future in the distance, j And the food that tee can d—

I In the British elections the Conservative party lias suffered a grave defeat. We write before the final returns are available, but on the figures before us there is no doubt about the nature of the verdict. The Conservatives may in the end be the strongest of the three parties, but their majority over the other two will have disappeared. Indeed, that majority disappeared at once, and at the time of writing, with 118 results to come, the combined Opposition parties have a majority of 77. Mr. Baldwin expected a working majority over the other parties on a special issue; to get this was the object of his appeal to the country only twelve months after an election at which the Conservatives were given a comfortable margin. He has lost that majority, and though tlie voting has been complicated by other issues, especially those put forward by Labour, lie has lost it mainly on the question on which he went to the country, that of Protection versus Free Trade. Some of his prominent supporters have been . defeated; in many places Conservative majorities have been reduced; and in the voting in the areas that arc most closely identified with Free Trade tho answer has been emphatic. In Manchester, for example, only one Conservative was elected where seven were elected a year ago. and the Liberals have increased their representation from nothing to five. We may say, then, that Free Trade has been given a new lease of life in Britain. But what of the other political results"/ What will the Conservatives say to Mr. Baldwin? Wise after the event, will they not want to know why he condemned the party to something like political suicide? Before the election his courage was rightly praised, but in the atmosphere of defeat men arc liable to be judged by results. And what of the Opposition parties, and the prospects of stable government? We are under the disadvantage of not having the strength of the two parties before us, but it is certain that Labour gained many more scats than its opponents expected, and even than it expected itself. The party estimated that it would gain twenty seats but in the first 204 results its net gain was 22. The Liberals have done well, but apparently not nearly so well as they—or the more sanguine of them—expected. It was Liberalism's ambition to displace Labour as the official Opposition, but it looks as if the party had failed. And, of course, if Labour remains the stronger party. Mr. Bamsay Mac Donald will be sent for if Mr. Baldwin resigns. That resignation is very probable. Leaders in Britain are not so prone as arc leaders in this country to cling to office when the verdict of the country has gone against them. Mr. Baldwin asked for a certain mandate, and that mandate has been refused. The most likely thing, therefore, is that he will resign and throw upon some other party the onus of carrying on the Government. Labour could not govern without the support of Liberals, or Liberals without that of Labour, but whichever leader is sent for is likely to do what he can to accept and hold oflice. The mere fact of the Labour party being summoned to form a Government, and holding office, if only for a few weeks, would greatly increase the party's prestige. • Labour has made an advance whose importance none can honestly deny, and it would be willing to face serious difficulties for the satisfaction of reaching the Government benches. Many people of different political opinions will deplore the unstable situation that has been produced. Xo party will have a clear majority. Another appeal to the country before long will not be popular, and, in any case, there would be no guarantee that it would produce something more satisfactory. Some form of a coalition is therefore indicated, yet most Liberals and all the Labour party—to say nothing of Conservative opinion—arc opposed to coalitions on principle and by experience. It remains to be seen what the reactions will be in foreign affairs. The results will come as a shock to French opinion, which had not realised that tlie Rothermere Press did not speak for England. But at this time, when the fate of Europe seems to hang in the balance, it is very desirable that there should be a stable Government in Britain, one that can speak firmly and with the knowledge that it will be supported by Parliament. The prospect of such a Government being set up is not bright.