INDEPENDENT WINS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 124, 21 February 1944, Page 4

INDEPENDENT WINS

Rebuff For Government In By-Election /LONDON, February 18. The Independent Labour candidate. Aiderman Charles White, won the .West Derbyshire by-election by a majority ot 4561 votes. The- result is a distinct rebuff to the Churchill Government. The final figures were: White, 16,036., Lord Hartington (Conservative), ,11,770;. KGoodall (Independent Agriculturalist), 233 Mr. Goodall forfeited his deposit. At the 1938 byelection LieutenantColonel Hunloke (Conservative), whose resignation caused the present by-election, had a . majority of 5524 over his Labour opponent.; ..... u The result of this by-election has caused much excitement in the loonies of the House of Commons. Members are astonished at the size of Mr. White s majority. The Government made special efforts to retain the seat after its close call in the recent Brighton by-election. Mr. White’s return raises the number of Independent members of the House of Commons to 15. Warning Repeated.

“The Times” says that the Independent victory repeats the clear warning already given in other constituencies that it is hard for a candidate to win without a programme. It is not sumcient to put to the electors the sole aim ot military victory. A candidate with purposes for the future gains the ear of a public which is more eager to. hear of the uses to be made of the victory that all are equally resolute to win. The Kirkcaldy by-election, caused by rhe resignation of the Labour member, Mr. Tom Kennedy, resulted: T. 1. Hubbard (Labour and National Government), 8268; D. C. Young (Scottish Nationalist) 6621; H. H. Hilditch (Christian Socialist), 1136. Mr. Hilditch loses his deposit. . , , The general election in 1930 resulted: Tom Kennedy (Labour), 19,-157; Albert Russell (Conservative), 15,086. . Nomination's today for the .Bury St. Edmunds by-election. were Major E. M. Keatinge (Conservative and National Government), Mrs. Corbett Ashby (Independnt Liberal). Rolling will take place on February 29. This is the first contest in this electorate since 1929. Prophets Confounded. (Received February 20. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, February 19. The result of the West Derbyshire byelection confounded the prophets, bqt Mr. White claimed he was a strong supporter of Mr. Churchill. There is therefore no international significance in the result, says the “Daily Telegraph.” Captain Waterhouse, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, however. said that the result “will encourage ‘he Germans to hang on in the hope that England would crack.” He described the election tactics of those opposing the Government as “filthy and reprehensible.” The result, he added, showed democracy at its worst. The Duke of Devonshire., father of Lord Hartington, said: “I think the electors resented anythin? in the nature of dictation and quite wrongly thought there was dictation here.”

The “Daily Mail.” recalling Mr. Churchill’s personal appeals for the Conservative candidate, Lord Hartington, rays: “The constituencies intend to maintain their ancient right to think for themselves. We are fighting for democracy. This is a people’s war, which Whitehall sometimes forgets.” The Parliamentary correspondent of "The Times” says that the result is recognized as an awkward rebuff for the Government which cannot be explained merely by West Derbyshire’s political views or the electorate’s assessment of the personal merits of the rival candidates.