THE H.B. TRIBUNE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1924. ELECTION FIGURES.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIV, Issue 276, 1 November 1924, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1924. ELECTION FIGURES.

It ia perhaps a little early to begin delving into election figures before having some more complete and precise data to go upoii than are provided by tfte cable messages received , up to the time of writing. Still, where the margins are so -broad these Are quite sufficient for us to draw some preliminary deductions from (hem. In the first place, taking the figures as supplied by the “Morning Post.” it is to be noted that, With fifteen stats still to be accounted for, the total votes cast run close on to 16,400,000 as against a finally ascertained total of about. 14.200.000 recoi-ded at the election of last December. This is an increase—to be augmented by the fifteen further returns—of between 15 and 16 per cent. As aftef the last election it was stated that 74 per cent, of the electors had voted, this would mean that, even allowing for any likely increase in registrations, somewhere Well over 80 per cent, of those entitled to vote went to the polls on Wednesday last. Here we have convincing evidence of the widespread interest that had been aroused in the contest and of the awakening of a large body of apathetic or languid electors to the duty their privilege imposed. There can, indeed, be little doubt but that the political thought of the Old Country has been thoroughly stirred, and it may safely be taken that the economic and social con. siderations bearing on family life involved in a Communist menace have had not a little to do with it. With regard to the party aggregates in the voting the advocates of proportional representation and preferential' voting Will doubtless find in theifi fresh arguments in their own favour, Again taking the “Morning Post" figures, we find that, so far, the seats and votes secured by the three inain parties are distributed as follows Seats Votes. Conservatives .... 414 7,897,524 Labour 146 5)503,197 Liberals 36 2,877,349 Running these figures out roughly, it will be found that, while the Conservatives gained a seat for about every 19,000 votes cast for them, each Labour seat represents nearly twice that number of favourable votes, while the Liberals have captured each of their seats at the expense of over four times that number. The caprices of the present electoral system may be shown by quoting some corresponding

figures for the two immediately preceding general elections.. In 1922, the average of votes for the Liberal seats (exclusive of Mr. Lloyd George’s Independent' section) was 48,540, whereas the average for Labour Was 30,706, and for the Conservatives 18,1.80. At tile 1923 election the distribution wag much more even, but the numbers of votes per seat were: Conservative, 24,874; Labour, 23,766'; Liberal, 29,644. Last time there were 252 “three-cornered” contests, and 201 minority members were returned. Still, despite past vagaries, we have not heard that Mr. Ramsay MacDonald has yet been 'verted to either “P.R.” or “P.V.,” to both of which systems he has all along raised strenuous objection. Possibly the figures for the election just over may shake his past attitude on the subject.

It is worth while noting, if only as a coincidence, that all the extra two million votes cast at this election as compared with that of 1923, and more, have gone to the Conservative side. It may, we think, be safely assumed that a very large preportion of the increase of voting strength shown is to be Attributed to the womenfolk. As was mentioned here some time before the election, there was an expectation of a very much heavier female vote, and party organisers were taking every possible means for attracting it. It seems a fairly justifiable assumption io say that in this campaign aftOr.wdmeil’s votes the Conservatives have been most successful. This inference is, at any rate, supported by the “Chronicle’s” cabled statement and by What the official press organ of the Labour Party has now to say on the subject. A quotation from it in one of to-day’s cables characterises as “imbecility” the Communist “exploitation of fear, especially women’s fear,” thus suggesting that the Red wing of the party had been responsible for alienating feminine sympathy and support. In this connection the “Daily Herald” now counsels Labour leaders to “reason with the British Communists” and endeavour to show fhtm the error of their ways. Unfortunately reason, as it is generally understood, is about • the last thing to which the Communist, British or otherwise, is given to listen. There are, however, probably other and at least equally strong reasons to be fotmd for the accession of women supporters to the Conservative side. At last election housewives, and particularly hon'seiWves With but little margin to come and go upon, were badly alarmed by the scare, of “dearer food” which Mr Baldwin’s opponents raised upon his protection and Imperial prefereifc'e proposals. In the interval Mr. Baldwin and his emissaries have been particularly busy not only disabusing women’s minds of this apprehension, but alsq Showing them how it may be hoped to reduce food prices by organising trade relations with the oversea Dominion's—entirely neglected by the Labour Government —and eliminating middlemen’s profit. T,his has probably had as much to do with the changed trend of female votes as the revolutionary scare, though "sqfetjl first” may also have influenced it very appreciably.