THE APPROACHING ELECTIONS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 13949, 4 January 1906, Page 6

THE APPROACHING ELECTIONS.

It is evident that the Liberals will put forth all their strength for the general elections in the Old Country this month. They will contest every seat, we are told, except the Universities and a few constituencies where Unionist freetraders are standing. There must be many Unionists of the same mind as Lord James of Hereford, divided from the Liberals only on the Home Rule question. As the campaign progresses it becomes more and more evident that the Home Rule issue has been sunk, and Lord James is able to say with confidence that the Union i$ safe at any irate for the new Parliament. The Liberals are seeking no mandate from the constituencies on the Irish question, and in any case there is the House of Lords always strong enough to prevent any attempt to give Home Rule to Ireland even if the House of Commons should carry the Bill. U.nio nists who are freetraders, therefore, are in Lord James’s opinion free to support the Liberals on the fiscal issue. It remains to be seen whether the Government has a compact with the Irishmen, but in every other respect the Liberals are in full strength. The presence of Sir Edward Grey at the Foreign Office is reassuring to those people who might view the present European position with anxiety. Sir Edward is a disciple of Lord Rosebery, and there is no taint of “ Little Englandism ” in his policy. Mr Balfour and Mr Chamberlain seem definitely to have joined forces, although it was a speech of Mr Chamberlain’s that led to the resignation of the Conservative Government. It may have been that Mr Balfour was glad to have the excuse, and in any case he was not slow to see the tactical advantage that resignation would give him in the election campaign. Whatever differences there may have been in November- have disappeared in January, and retaliation stands revealed as protection. The’ contest is an inter-

esting one. The indications, as we have said so often, point to a substantial Liberal victory, but in elections it is notoriously dangerous to prophesy.