GENERAL ELECTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 248, 18 October 1924, Page 7

GENERAL ELECTIONS.

NO DEARTH OF CANDIDATES. STRAIGHT-OUT FIGHTS. COMPARISON WITH 1923. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received 12 noon.) LONDON, October 17. There are at present over 1350 candidates standing for election. Probably 43 will ibe returned unopposed, including 2Q Conservatives, 8 Liberals, 8 Labourites. There is likely to 'be 203 straight-out fights between Labour and Conservative candidates, compared with. 99 last year, and 40 between Labour and Liberals, compared with 55, and 84 between Conservatives and Liberals, compared with 106.—(Reuter.) '• MacDONALD'K TOUR. A VOICELESS PREMIER. LORD BIRKENHEAD'S COMMENT (Received 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, Octobtf 17. In a speech at the Constitutional Club,. Lord Birkenhead, after alluding to the Premier's shifty evasiveness, attacked the Russian Treaty, and described as an insolent threat the speech at Hammersmith, wherein the Attorney-General said a b.loody revolution might come if the Conservative party was returned at the •lection. Mr. Mac Donald had a lively passage motoring to-day from Birmingham to Aberavon, passing through the hostile territory of Worcester, where he declined to make a speech, saying that his voice was gone and he wanted a rest. He was greetod with cries of "Traitor!" at Malvern, while at Ledbury a huge Union Jack was held before the car amid, shouts of "Down with the Red Flag!" The Premier had an enthusiastic reception at Newport and Cardiff, but wae unable to epeak at Cardiff <twjng to ■voice failni-e. He is described as looking ■worn and ill.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.) NOMINATIONS TO-DAY. IS CHAMBERLAIN FORGOTTEN? AN APPEAL TO LIBERALS. LONDON, October 17. Nominations for the general election close to-morrow. The lists of nominees have never been so eagerly awaited. The parties are now carrying out their last-hour manoeuvres for position. The "Daily Chronicle" says the lists will dispose of the assertion that more Liberal candidates have withdrawn than Conservatives. Perhaps the most striking feature of yesterday's campaign proceediips was the appeal made by the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, to the Liberals. Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald is evidently alive to the possibility, which is hinted at in many quarters, that Labour may benefit through the refusal of some Liberals to vote for Conservatives in con- | stituencies where Liberal candidates are i standing down in order to allow of straight-out fights, and even through '•"break-away" Liberals in three-cornered contests, who resent any sort of alliance between their party and the Conservatives. THE NAME OF CHAMBERLAIN. The "Daily Telegraph" says that Mr. Mac Donald had a great reception from 15,000 people at the Smithfield market, Birmingham. The Prime Minister said the name of Chamberlain was still one to conjure with, but did not those of them who stood for that name feel that the old order of things was passing away?- Where did they stand to-day? . "My Liberal friends," he said, "is Lib- j eralism to-day a mere register of what your fathers stood for? Political parties, like individuals, grow up and become vigorous, live a useful life, grow old and pass away. I appeal to you Lib- i erale, seeing the change that is taking I place, to move on. Come away from the wreck." It is announced that the Conservatives and Liberals are joining forces in opposition to Mr. Arthur Ponsonby, Under-Secretary for Home Affairs, and Mr. E. Shinwell, Parliamentary Secretary for Mines. Lord Carson has written to Mr. Winston Churchill, saying: "I am not . enamoured of coalitions, but I feel we ' must rely on some such arrangement in order to obtain a stable and progressive Government/ STRAIGHT-OUT CONTESTS. The "Morning Post" says that as a result of an arrangement it is believed ' that straight-out fights against Labour | candidates will eventuate in all the 15 ; divisions of Glasgow. There was some ! difficulty in sealing the pact in one or j two divisions where it was thought the : Ulster boundary question might prevent ( the Conservatives from supporting the Liberal candidates, but ultimately the candidatures were arranged in accordance with their views. Except-for last-minute surprises 32 i Conservatives, 16 Labour candidates,! nine Liberals and one Independent will | be returned unopposed. It is unoffi- < cially stated that Labour is running 000 candidates, including 51 miners. The chief Liberal whip, in an interview, stated that the party would have at least 350 candidates, compared with 454 at the last election. He explained , that the reduced number of Liberal can- , didates as compared with last year was , clue to a desire to concentrate where i there was a prospect of success. There j was no disposition on the part of the Liberals, locally or nationally, to waste | any efforts on forlorn hopes.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.) POLITICS IN ULSTER. DE VALERA'S INFLUENCE. LONDON, October 17. The Ulster Government has forbidden Eamonn de Valera, the Republican leader, to enter Ulster for electioneering pur-, poses. He will be arrested if he attempts to do so.— (Reuter and "Sun.") j