The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1910. THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 719, 19 January 1910, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1910. THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.

The further election resulta to hand at time of writing are interesting, but not very ■ numerous. , An additional budget is expected in time for the present issue, but will arrive too late for comment. The details of tho returns already received are, howover, worth examination. At the election of 1900 the Liberals held 63 of tho 207 borough scats, 110, of tho 392 county seats, and 34 of the 72 seats in Scotland. The 1906 elections, left them with tho following seats: Boroughs, 158; counties, 228; Scotland, CO seats. Leaving London out of account'the Government hold 116 borough scats out of 146. There 'has evidently been a very largesturnover, and instead of holding about four of theso seats to every one held by .the Unionists they will, if the figures already received are indica-, tive of the final borough pollings, hold four seats to overy five held by their opponents. The Unionists will probably keep this advantage. Wo shall shortly have the county results, and it is the 292 county seats which will decide the final position. If tho Unionists, who held two-thir'ds 'of these in 1900, can gain\ half of ■ them, and can recover their half share of Scotland,' while capturing I tho bulk of London (they held 53 I out of 61 London seats in 1900), they ' will have a majority of about 40 over tho Liberals, Speculation of any 'do- | tailed character, however, is useless at present, as the latest batch of I returns warns us, for there has been I quite a Liberal recovery in a small , way, the state of the main parties | being at time of writing: Unionist I 46, • Liberal 44, whore yesterday the | position was: Unionist 41, Liberal 34.,

Tho figures relating to the seats gained by the parties arc, however, no proper indication of the great set-back which the Liberals and tho Budget have sustained. In the majority of cases the Liberal majority, where it has not been wiped out and replaced by a Unionist majority, has been greatly reduced. The following are some of the reductions:— 883 to 350, 342 to 262, 2210 to 978, 311 to 85, 968 to 293, 3599 to 2865, 2021 to 412, 5154 to 846, 767 to 329, IGIS to 731, 1585 to 381, 769 to 310, 498 to 254, 8770 to 4901, 509 ,to 292, 1980 to 1119, 4232 t0'.2422, 2432 to 1478, 2484 to 1265, 1187 to 857,3372 to 1191, and 754 to 187. \ In many cases there was a complete turnover, a Liberal majority being converted into a minority. The turnover was very large in somo'electorates, as the following figures, showing the total Liberal loss in the lost scats, will indicate: 894, 278, 1324, 428, 760, 2559, 1056, 1541, 2282, .4245, 725, 359, 410, 1333, ■ 511. The Unionist majorities were increased in; most, of tho seats re- | tained by Unionist candidates. Although, therefore, the final, tally of members may not suggest a great preponderance of Unionist opinion, yet when tho votes cast are added up it will be found that the Literals havo lost hundreds of thousands of supporters. At the elections in 1906 the Liboral vote was 58,4 per cent,

of the total vote.of the, nation,.the uncontested. seats being" brought in on a proportional basis. If : the Budget had been- as; popular as it was ; claimed to be, that proportion would have been hugely increased. . Yet it is certain that' it will .■ have fallen below 60 per cent. . Only one conclusion can bo draw,n from this 'fact.'.- ,\ ■■■." '■' . It would seem that 'Me. LloydGeorge is by no means confident as to the result. It is not a sign of buoyant optimism -to' greet the issue of the■:■ first' engagement with . the. statement that the victorious enemy may not always be; a victor. "The winning of. an election,"-'said the Chancellor, "does not mean holding every'seat.": This ; is! 'certainly, and dubious language from the hero of Limehouse and Newcastle, but .we may be sure that while thero are seats to be won there will be plenty of fighting,"\and of course not a little .'the way './''of promise, -from: the leaders on both sides... At the,election .of' 1906 the voting power of the Unionist public was-such that if.it had received proportional representation in the House the Unionist. : benches'. would'/have held .244 members as. against. 31G on the/-opposite;; side. "Actually, 'there' wore /only lfe Unionists against 'pc ; Liberals.:. The: friends of ■ proportional' representation will not .be able to; point : to '.such- : a striking anomaly oh the present occasion, but the result,' we'may be sure, will af-, ford, them/ample material for :the prosecution.of their.^campaign..,: