THE BUDGET BATTLE

Evening Star, Issue 14250, 27 December 1909, Page 6

THE BUDGET BATTLE

FIRST POLLINGS JANUARY 15.

OVER 7,700,000 VOTERS,

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright,

LONDON, December 24.

It is officially announced that the writs for the elections will be issued on January 10. The unopposed returns will be received on January 14, and the first borough pollings take place on January 15, The country pollings will commenco on January 19, and be practically completed by February 1. The registers contain the* names of 6,221.722 voters in England and Wales, 785.520 in Scotland, and 698.787 in Ireland. The borough electors number 3,002,873, the county electors 464,690, owners 640,882, occupiers. 8,717,059 (?), lodgers 275,658, freemen 23,974, and universities 48,154. [There is a mistake in the number of electors who vote as occupiers. The total number of voters of all classes on the register in 1908 was 7,514,481. since when about 200.0C0 names have been added to the roll.] OPPOSITION CHARGES. A CHANGE OF DATE. LONDON, December 24. Tlu! ' Daily Mail' and the ' Standard' accuse the Government of sharp tactics in allowing January 8 to be announced as the date for the issue of the writs and sudden!v altering the date at the last moment. The Radical agents were doubtless forewarned, but the Conservatives have wasted much money in useless printing and hiring of halls for election eve meetings. Saturday polling will suit the artisans, but the shopkeepers will be busy. REFORMING THE LORDS. LONDON, December 26. The 'Daily Telegraph' outlines the re. forms in the House of Lords which it suggests would be acceptable to the Unionist leaders in both Houses. The scheme includes a reduction in the number of peers to 150. these to be elected by the present peers from their numberj either for life or for a Parliament, anv peers renouncing nomination to be eligible for candidature for the House of Commons upon certain conditions.

INSPIRED BY LORD ROSEBERY. LONDON, December 26.' (Received December 27, at 9.15 a.m.) The 'Telegraph' further suggests that 100 non-hereditary seats be distributed among the Overseas Dominions, these representatives to be elected" by plebiscite or the vote of the local Legislature, as the Dominions may decide. Chambers of commerce and learned societies to nominate others, with Catnolics and Nonconformists and Jews to occupy some of the present Episcopalian seats. There is a general impression that Lord Rosebery has inspired the ' Telegraph' scheme. THE CHAMPION OF THE LORDS. LONDON, December 26. Mr Joseph Chamberlain's vigorous letters to the Conservative and Unionist candidates in all parts of the country on various aspects of the political situation continue to be a feature of the campaign. GLADSTONE LITERATURE. LONDON, December 26. (Received December 27, at 10 a.m.) The readers of the 'Daily News' (Liberal) have subscribed £5,000 to purchase election posters and literature on the occasion of the Gladstone centenary (December 29). THE LORDS JN A TRAP. WELSHMEN SET IT.

FAMOUS LORDS AS MUDDLERS,

LONDON, December 26. (Received December 27, at 9.15 a.m.)

Speaking at Llangelly, Mr Lloyd-George said that the Lords are in a trap. "When I recall the contemptuous things they have fa id on Welsh questions, I am glad to think that Welshmen set that trap. Wc have caught some large rats." He further declared that Mr Brodrick (now Viscount Midleton) had made such a mess of the War Office that a Tory Government coidd stand, him no longer, and sent him to the Indian Office to help Lord Curzon to muddle the affairs of the Indian Empire. Each of these Lords lias just enough intelligence to know that the other is a muddler, but neither had quite enough to know how to do better. The Unionist newspapers contrast Mr Lloyd-George's language with Loid Morley's splendid eulogy of Lord Curzon on the 23rd of February last. WHAT THE UNIONISTS WILL DO. TARIFF REFORMI'IIE GREAT Af r TERXATIVJS. LONDON, December 26. (Received December 27, at 9.15 a.m.) Speaking at Sunderland, Mr H. Bonar Law said: "If you return a Unionist Government, their first act will be to alter the present fiscal system. This would do a great deal 'to remedy the evil of unemployment." Emphasising the connection between tariff reform and the national defences, he added-: "If Great Britain loses control of her iron and steel trades she will inevitably lose the power to compete for shipbuilding, in which our supremacy was rapidly disappearing at the present time.