THE ELECTIONS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19612, 7 May 1929, Page 11

THE ELECTIONS.

PRIME MINISTER'S MESSAGE. NATIONAL PROSPERITY. NO TIME FOR CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT. (VKITU) PRESS ASSOCIATION—BST ELECTEIC TELEOHArH COPYRIGHT.) LONDON, May 5. "With peace in industry established, this is not the time to put in office either the Socialist Tarty, a large section of which is definitely pledged to class warfare, or the Liberal Party, whoso unemployment scheme even the Liberals themselves declare impracticable," says the Prime Minister, Mr Baldwin, in a message to the nation. The Prime Minister urges the voters to regard the Government's fulfilment of its pledges in the past four years as a guarantee that, if returned to power, they would again keep faith. Reviewing the work of his Administration, the Prime Minister says that, despite the industrial troubles in 1926, which cost the taxpayers £80,000,000 and the trade of the country £400,000,000, trade is now more prosperous than at any time since the war. As indications of the improvement, he states that 78 coal mines reopened this year, and points to the shipbuilding revival, to the increase in the national trading profit from £86,000,000 to £ 149,000,000 during the past four years, and to the fact that 600,000 more people are working than in 1924. Since that date 800,000 houses have been erected, the cost of living has been reduced, much social legislation has been passed, including the extension of old age pensions to insured workers at 65 years instead of 70 years, and a large scheme of rating and local government reform introduced which will be of vast benefit to agriculture and industry.

A KEEN CAMPAIGN.

MR GARVIN'S CONCLUSIONS. LONDON, May 5. It is expected that in only eight of the 615 constituencies will there be no contest when the General Election takes place at the end of the month. Already 1685 candidates are in the field, which constitutes a record for Parliamentary elections in this country. Registration figures show that on the new registers the women entitled to vote predominate for the first time. Wireless broadcasting is playing, and will continue to play, an important part in the contest. Conservative, Labour, and Liberal spokesmen have in turn used the microphone during the last few weeks, and arrangomentß have been made for women representatives of each of the three parties to broadcast a special address to women. Mr Lloyd George, Mr Ramsay Mac Donald, and Mr Baldwin, the three Party leaders, will speak on May 27th, May 28th, and May 29th respectively, delivering their final messages to the" voters prior to polling on May 30th. One in every three houses in the country has a wireless set, and the estimated number of listeners-in totals 20,000,000. Parliament dissolves on Friday, and members of the House of Commons will disperse throughout the country. Mr J. L. Garvin, of the "Observer," arrives at two negative conclusions: First, that the Liberal dreams of becoming the strongest, or even the second strongest, single Party is out of the question, and, secondly, that it is improbable that Labour can double their present Parliamentary numbers or gain the 150 seats necessary to secure even a bare majority in the House of Commons. He adds that no one knows the extent to which Labour and the Liberals can knock out each other. —British Official Wireless, Australian Press Association.