THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12, 15 January 1906, Page 2

THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.

The first batch of returns in the British elections is so decidedly in favor of the Liberals that the ultimate result is a foregone conclusion. The most startling individual result is the defeat of Mr Balfour by the Liberal candidate. The fate of other Conservative leaders will be awaited with interest. The tactical wisdom of the Liberal Party in insisting on the fiscal question as the first and foremost issue is proved up to the hilt. The country has declared unmistakably for freetrade, and against Mr Chamberlain with his proposed tax on foodstuffs. It is a result that will be viewed with mixed feelings in the Colonies, where the spirit of reciprocity is spreading, and which stood to gain something by the reconstruction of the Motherland's fiscal policy. Unfortunately for Mr Chamberlain, he has been caught tripping more than once in his statistical quotations and deductions, and the facts and t figures, have latterly been going against him. Nevertheless, this is not the only factor in the downfall of the Conservative. Party. The Chinese labor scandal must have told against them immensely ; and tho dissatisfaction of the democracy and the labor element must have contributed materially. A feature of the returns is the rise of the Labor Party, which has won several new seats. Exactly how Home Rule is faring cannot yet be discovered; but it would appear that Sir Henry Camp-bell-Bannerman has succeeded in shoving the question into the back-ground. This action may moan a NationalistLabor coalition in the next Parliament. Mr Balfour, while acknowledging the gravity of the situation from the Conservative point of view, predicts a brief tenure of office for the Liberals. Perhaps he foresees the collaboration of the Nationalists and Laborites.