ELECTION IN BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20259, 20 May 1929, Page 11

ELECTION IN BRITAIN.

REST FOE PARTY LEADERS.

NO LAST-MINUTE SURPRISE. LLOYD GEORGE ON WAR DEBT. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. (Received May 19, 11.25 p.m.) LONDON, May 10. The loaders of tli.e political parties rested this week-end, but work in the constituencies did not cease. At Conservative headquarters a denial is given to a report to tho effect that a last minute surprise has already been prepared in tho form of a secret document to be circulated on tho eve of the poll. An official said the election is not going to be won by surprises, but. by an appeal to common-sense. Mr. J. L. Garvin, in the Observer, says the jest of th.e election is the millions of women who are asking the men how to vote and the millions of men who cannot tell thein. Mr. Lloyd Oeorge, speaking at Criccieth, referred to the American war debt settlement as a one-sided arrangement and one of tho most monstrous bargains ever made by any Minister.

OPTIJIISTIC LABOUR.

A TRIUMPH ANTICIPATED., OFFICIAL ORGAN'S PROPHECY. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. LONDON, May 17. The Labour paper Daily Herald, in a survey of tho general election campaign, predicts clear majorities for Labour over the combined Conservatives and Liberals in Scotland and Wales. It ventures tho assertion that Wales and Scotland will be overwhelmingly antiConservative, as was the case in 1906, with the difference that Labour will be triumphant. ' The Herald has great expectations of the industrial North and the Midlands. It predicts also agreeable surprises in tho rural and semi-rural areas of East Anglia and the western and home cbunties.

"The general indications in the constituencies are that Labour is setting tho pace," says the paper, "while the Conservatives and Liberals, in spite of the immense sums they aro spending, aie making relatively little headway. "The great Conservative stronghold of Liverpool is cracking to its foundations. In Birmingham the long reign of tho Chamberlains is about to end. Conservative seats will fall like ninepins.

Speaking at a Labour bazaar at Btadford a few weeks ago Mr. Philip Snowden, a prominent member of the Labour Party, said it' was a marvellous thing that in one generation they should have • established a new political party—and a political party so strong that it was very likely within the next two months to prove to be the strongest political party in the State.

Remarking that this was not merely "talking off the top," Mr. Snowden continued: "I daresay some of you have seen in our Labour newspaper to-day a summary of the figures-which have been polled by the three political parties m this miniature election, beginning with Mid-Lothian in January. There have been nine by-elections, and the Laboui Party has put forward a candidate in eight. The'other two parties have contested them all. Now what has been the result?

It lias been said that figures cannot lie, but that liars can figure. Well, I am 'going to give you figures that cannot lie, and I find that the'total number of votes polled by the eight Labour candidates was 92,800, the Conservatives' total was. 78,000 and the Liberals' total 58,000. The average brings out the favourable position of the Labour Party even more strongly. I find that the average Labour poll is 11,400, the average Conservative poll 8700 and the average Liberal poll 6400. Therefore the average Labour poll is nearly double the average Liberal poll. _ " Suppose we take these nine byelections' as being a fair sample of the constituencies of the country—and I think they are, because every type of constituency is included in this list—what then? Provided that these percentages apply at the general election, what is going to be the position of the three parties? Well, the position of the Labour Party is going to be this—that it is certainly going to be the largest party in the House of Commons." Mr. Snowden went on to say that while the Liberals could be expected to gain a number of seats in rural constituencies, they would be eliminated in the industrial constituencies. He never prophesied, but he would go so far as to commit himself to the statement that he believed the Labour Party would be the largest party in the next Parliament, and then it would have established a permanent position in British politics. "Tt may be that in the future we may have a seesaw of Parliamentary majorities, but, if we have, the only alternative Government will be a Labour Government."

Mr. A. J. Cook, general secretary of the Miners' Federation, was heckled at Abcrlillery by Communists whoso questions concerning the position in the Scottish coalfields he refused to answer, saying that thev were internal matters for the Miners' Federation. For a time there was great uproar In an allusion to Mr. Llovd George's unemployment scheme, Mr. Cook described Mr. George as " Dai the diddle 'em."

DEATH OF LIBERAL.

MR. E. A. HARNEY, PEER'S SON TO CONTEST HIS SEAT Australian Press Association—United Service (Received May 19, 6.15 p.m.) LONDON, May 18. The death has occurred of- Mr. E. A. Harney, who was Liberal member of the House of Commons for South Shields. Mr. Harold Robson, a barrister, and a son of the late Lord Robson, a former Liberal member for South Shields, has accepted an invitation to be the candidate in place of Mr. Ilarney.

Mr. Edward A. St. Augustine Harney was born in Dublin in 1871, and educated at Clongowes Wood College and Trinity College, Dublin. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1896, and went to Australia and was called to the Bar there, and made a K.C. in 1905 He returned to England and was made a K.C. (Gray's Inn) in 1919. Ho was a member of the Australian Senate, 1900-04. He had been member for South Shields since 1922, his majority over his Labour opponent in 1924 being 6319. Mr. Harold Robson was born in 1888, and educated at Eton and Oxford. He was called to the Bar In 1910, and served in tho war in France and Italy. He lias three times unsuccessfully contested seats.