ELECTION IN BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20254, 14 May 1929, Page 9

ELECTION IN BRITAIN.

LISTS OF CANDIDATES.

REVOLUTION !N POLITICS.

SOME OUTSTANDING FIGURES

FIGHTERS IN CONSTITUENCIES.

Australian and N.Z. Press Association. (Received Mny 13, 5.35 p.m.) LONDON. May 12.

The lists of candidates for tlfe general election afford evidence that there has been a revolution in politics, even within the last; 10 years. Women provide the most surprises. One Labour candidate is Miss Jessie Stephen, of Portsmouth. Until a few years ago she was a domestic. Now she is a good speaker and has addressed meetings of 2000 people without flinching. She plays a good game of billiards and writes able and trenchant articles. Other Labour candidates include Miss Pieton Turbervill, whose ancestors came over with William the Conqueror; Lady Clare Annesley, daughter of an earl, who gave up fox-hunting in order to propagate Socialism; and Miss Monica Whately, formerly a policewoman. Liberal candidates include Miss Nancy Parnell, a school-teacher, niece of the famous Charles Stewart Parnell: Mrs. Hoffman, an American by birth, now a naturalised British subject, who claims descent from Anne Boleyn. Wealthy Conservatives in East End. Wealthy young Conservative candidates who are fighting in the east end of London include Mr. Evan Morgan, artist, poet and heir to Viscount Tredegar, who will be one of the richest men in the country. He is contesting the Limehouse seat.

Other conservatives are: Viscount Knebworth, who is contesting Shoreditch, and Sir Tresham Lever, South Hackney. A son of the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Walter E. Guinness) is fighting Mr. H. Gosling (Labour) for the Whitechapel seat.

Conservative workingmen candidates include Mr. Gwilym Rowlands, a Welsh miner; Mr. Alfred Coates, a member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union. Labour has an increasing number of unorthodox candidates. They include Sir John Maynard, formerly Minister of Finance, Punjab; Mr. John Strachey, son of the former editor of the Spectator; Mr. Louis Fenn, son of Bishop Fenn; the Rev. Gordon Lang, a nonconformist minister, cousin of the Primate; Mr. Derwent Hall Caine, son of the well-known .lovelist. Liberal candidates include Mr. Beckett Williams, a distinguished young composer, and Mr. Compton Mackenzie, novelist. Probable Number of Candidates. A British official wireless message says most of the 1700 candidates in the field spoke in various parts of the country last evening. Their exact number will not be known until the nominations close on Monday, 'May 20.

In addition to a number of independent candidates, however, it is likely that the three great political parties will be represented at tho polls as follows: —■ Conservatives . . • • • • 587 Labour . . Liberals • • Baldwin on Foreign Policy.

In tho course of the election address issued by the Prime Minister, Mr. Baldwin, in the form of a pamphlet, he said the promotion of peace and disarmament had been a prime object of the Government's foreign policy. That policy had proved successful over the entire field of foreign affairs. The improvement in the international situation brought about by important treaties such as that of Locarno and the Kellogg Pact, led Ministers to look with confidence for an early advance toward disarmament.

Britain had set a notable example in the reduction of armaments. With that reduction in fighting strength she had progressively reduced the cost of Impeiial defence, in spite of a considerable programme of replacement and rearrangement in all three services necessitated by modern conditions.

In 1929-1930 the total estimated expenditure on the defence services showed a reduction of about £7,500,000 as compared with the corresponding cost in 1924-1925. Importance o! League of Nations.

The development of the League of Nations was a cardinal principle of the Conservative Patty's foreign policy. The importance attaclfed by the Government to the work of the League was illustrated by the fact that Britain had been continuously represented by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the, council and in the Assembly of the League.

They welcomed as the fruit of that consistent policy the advance recently made at Geneva toward an international agreement for a reduction of armaments, and they greatly hoped for a further advance in that direction oil the lines of the proposals foreshadowed by the representatives of the United States.

The Conservatives, in every sphere of foioign policy, would continue to act in closest consultation and co-operation with the Governments of the Dominions. They believed that to be essential to the unity of the Empire if its influence in tho councils of the world was to bo maintained.

Strenuous' Time lor Party Leaders. The leaders of the political parties in Britain liavo a strenuous week of electioneering before them. Iho Prime Ministei, Mr. Baldwin, yesterday visited his constituency—Bewdley, "W orcestei shii e and after having been formally elected Con-servative-candidate lie addressed a public meeting. To-morrow Mr. Baldwin is to begin a tour of the West of England, lie will speak at soven or eight meetings in three davs and will return to London to address a meeting of city men on Thursday.

Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, Leader of the Labour Party, will to-morrow address his supporters at Seaham, Durham County, for which he is the Labour candidate in place of Mr. Sidney Webb. On Tuesday he will begin a tour of Scotland. Mr. Lloyd George, Leader of the Liberal Party, who has spoken at a series of meetings in Wales in the past few days, is to address the Liberal candidates of London and the Home Counties tomorrow. After that lie will leave at once for his constituency—Carnarvon, Wales Late in the week he is to speak at Cardiff and Swansea.

Among prominent members of the House of Lords who are taking part, in the election are the Earl of Birkenhead and Viscount Grey.