THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17011, 19 November 1918, Page 4

THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.

The forthcoming British elections are invested, owing to time and circumstance, with a significance probably never before attachable to an event primarily political.. The Prime Minister .has asked ' for a mandate to carry to the peace conference, and for an expression of the nation's desireß regarding the grave problems of reconstruction. These two facts alone would suffice to make the outcome of the appeal to the people a matter of deepest importance to the self-governing dominions of the Empire, and to the allies. But beneath and beyond them lie other factors arising from the trend of Events throughout the world. As Mr. Lloyd George has said, the British people have set an example for generations to the rest of the world in the steadiness of their government. : With more than half of Europe struggling to find its balance amid the chaos of crumbling institutions, the need for such an example is greater than ever before. With its Constitution, more flexible than the rigid system of the .: United States, and more responsive to the will of the people than the French form'' of government, the United Kingdom is the ideal member of the allied federation for the ready establishment of reconstructive measures which may serve as a model for the remainder. But apart from their interest for Europe and America, the coming elections mark an epoch in the history of Britain and the British dominions without parallel in their development. The new House will be elected on a vastly widened franchise. Several millions of citizens not previously enfranchised will cast their votes, and voices hitherto dumb will find utterance. . Women will exercise their newly-won privileges, and it may be that women members will take their seats. Changes which before the war were regarded almost as revolutionary have been made-during the war without exciting more than brief comment. It is not probable that the new House of Commons will face the thought of reform with any less readiness. But it fe in matters affecting the Empire that the new spirit is most likely to find its manifestation. The war has resulted in the discovery of the Empire by many previously blind to its existence. Imperialism, too often treated before the war as a catchword, to be hurled back and forth between contending parties, has gained new significance. The school of political thought which depicted. British Imperialism as first cousin to Prussian Junkerism may not expect to receive much consideration in the light o£ the new knowledge. 'Recognition has been won for those who saw beneath the word the ideal of a union of English-speaking peoples, bound (together by ties of blood, by common ideals, : %nd by a common love of justice and freedom. Such a conversion of the nation at large canriot fail to influence the trend' of British thought, just as a new appreciation .of Britain has influenced thought,' in the Dominions. .With such a field for its energies, the new Parliament to ! be elected will have .opportunities and responsibilities never before known. Every stage in its election, arid every step in its subsequent progress, will engage the attention of the world, and in particular of every portion of the Empire. ..■'....