THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22250, 26 October 1935, Page 12

THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

With a campaign period even shorter than that which New Zealand will have, the parties in Great Britain are energetically preparing for the general election. Preliminary figures show that there will bo no lack of candidates for the Gls seats in the House of Commons. Supporters of the Government are already prepared to contest 557, and there will possibly be others forthcoming. Labour is reported as having endorsed SGO. When the party conference was held at the beginning of October, the executive reported that 510 had been approved, so there has been an advance in numbers during the intervening weeks. With nonCoalition Liberals, associates of Mr. Lloyd George, and various aspirants of other colours to be added to the list, the constituencies may have an almost bewildering range of choice. It is to be noted that of the Government candidates offering, 63 are outside the Conservative ranks. When the Conservative Conference was held at Bournemouth in the first week of this month, Mr. Baldwin declared "We want friends that will see eye-to-eye with us; we want friends from the Liberal Party and we want friends from the Labour Party." This statement, which was cordially received by the gathering, has been given definite expression in the choice of candidates. There will not be that complete coalition, covering all shades of opinion, which was attempted in 1931. Yet the Conservatives show no signs of attempting to grasp and hold power exclusively. The dissensions which threatened to split the party's ranks a year or two ago—notably the difference of opinion regarding India—have disappeared. Mr. Churchill showed at Bournemouth that he had returned to the fold completely. There is far from being the same cohesion in the principal opposing party, as the Labour Conference held at Brighton clearly revealed. These, then, are the main features of the political situation as the brief and doubtless vigorous campaign begins. It was announced in the shadow of a serious crisis, but there is every chance that the shadow will have lightened when polling day arrives.