BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7027, 15 January 1910, Page 5

BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION.

POLLING BEGINS TO-DAY.

BATTLE BETWEEN PEOPLE AND PEERS.

The election of a new British House of Commons begins to-day, when the polling in sixty-seven boroughs takes place, _i.li© results or most of these elections should be. cabled in time for publication m these columns .next Monday morning. ~ .If.is anticipated that the polling for. the whole of the 670 seats in the Commons will be completed by *ebruary Ist. The last election took-place just four years ago, and was remarkable for the complete rout of the Conservatives, their majority or 68 in the previous House being turned .into ■;a..,. Liberal majority of 356. A feature of the elections .was the. rejection, of several members of the Conservative Ministry/which went out of office in December, 1905, Mr Balfour himself being defeated at Manchester by about votes. The Liberal victory was generally taken to mean a l<reo lYado triumph and an endorsement of the Liberal party's policy and programme of domestic reform. Part of that reform, including old'age pensions, has been carried into law; part of it. including the important Licensing and Education Bills, has been rejected by the Lords, lo provide money for pensions and for heavier expenditure on tho Wavy, tne Liberal Government, in its last Budget, proposed continuance, of the hitherto existing incidence of taxation, with tho addition of a,..tax an. the increment of land .values. Tho Budget was passed by the House, of- Commons by a large majority, but was rejected by the Lords. lbere ; upon, the Liberal Primo Minister, Mr Asquith, holding that the Lordi,. action was an interference with the Constitutional right of ■the Commons to control tho national: purse, asked for, and was granted, a dissolution. The main issues before ithe electors to-day, are, therefore—first and foremost, reform of the'House of Lords;. secondly, the Lloyd George -Budget. The outcome .will be eagerly awarted in New *' eo f>-™> where considerable interest has been manifested in the rsmaiKanio. developments in British politics : during tho past few months.

At the dissolution in 1906 tho state of parties was:— Conservatives and Unionists... ... ... ••■ |74 •■ , Liberal' and Labour , ;...,.. ... , ' -«g* Nationalists' "'.'.,. ... .... •....' ••■..'."' ■•• °* • Conservative majority... ... ... ... 68 After the elections the relative strength of parties had been altered to— ,•■-' •• ■:■■,' ..".' .- ; ,; .'■'-■ ' '*"•:■ Conservatives and Unionists.:. ' ■•• .-•••"'■ ••• tSZ Liberal and Labour ... .<..,.... ••• .. ••• *go Nationalists ... ... ••• ••• :-■•/ ' ••■ ; ■,': Liberal majority ... ;.., ....:■",■';' ••• 356... ■, ' By-elections during the past four years have been a little in favout: of. the Conservatives, and the position at the time of dissolution last Monday was— Liberal and Labour ... ... ... — 4? i Nationalists .... -'.'.•• ••• •" -.So and Unionists... ... .... ■ ••- xt>o • , . Liberal majority .... •••; ~'■••• .••• ■ 33° It" 1 is interesting to observe that in the last eight. nPaxliamente, from 1832 to 1906, the Liberals have been the majority in twelve and"the Conservatives or' Unionists' in six. The swing of tho pendulum and the respective majorities have been, as under:— .-. ', .

ON THE EVE OF. THE EIGHT.

PRIME MINISTER OF^ARIES';,REFORM::SHORTCOMINQS.

(Received January 14, 10.35 p.m.) .. , ,LONDON, January 14. The Prime Minister, Mr Asquith; addret-sed a meeting at Bradford yesterday. Referring to Mr Balfour's speech at York, he said: "The oracle has spoken. Not a Delphi nor a Dodona, in the palmiest days of sacerdotal ambiguity, gave forth a more uncertain sound. Mr Balfour states lie would much prefer to tax the luxuries of-the rich. I ask, Why luxuries? Is ho going to remit, the duties'on tea and sugar, as Mr Austen Chamberlain has promised? I don't envy tho task of the, Chancellor who has to meet the cost of old ago pensions, tho Navy, and the ever-increasing demands for social reform out of the odds and ends which he will be able to' accumulate under this precious system of taxing imported luxuries. " - . TAXING FOOD. "If revenue is to be secured, how will the tariff end unemployment? Aftor the' York speech 'the Opposition i is definitely to a moderate | duty upon foodstuffs. Mr Balfour has j the courage to predict that his scheme . will diminish, Tather than increase, , the price of food because it will bring J vast untouched areas of fertile wheat | lands into cultivation. ' , , "But'how long will this take? And; what aro we going to do in the mean-1 time? It is a vital necessity that' Britasi should have the whole world, to draw from. Tho vicissitudes of cli-1 mate and crops - may cause a break- ■ down in a usually dependable source of supply, and we want to bo able to j correct a shortage in one part by I drawing supplies from another." NONCONFORMISTS DIVIDED. ' An active newspaper correspon-1 donee- is proceeding between leading Nonconformist ministers, showing their difficulty in .voting for either Liberals or Conservatives. Several express their utter disappointment at the Government's neglect of Nonconformist demands; they are also strong- j ly opposed to Home Rule. i The Rev. J. J. Greenhough, who cTiampions the Lords, declares that Socialism is the supreme peril, and pro-, tests against the degradation of Non- | conformist sanctuaries by' passionate I party appeals. A QUESTION OT SELECTION..- j Mr Lloyd George, speaking at Wolverhampton, and referring to tho prin-' ciple of a hereditary Second Chamber, said: "Peers require no certificate to provo them sound of body and mind, but only a certificate of birth to prove that they were tho first of the litter. "You would not choose a spaniel

on this- principle, by which five hundred' Peers are chosen to override the choice of forty-five' millions' of people." "BLACK BREAD AND HORSEFLESH." .'»*!•

In his Wolverhampton speech. Mr Lloyd George declared that ihle Tories . were trying to prove that black bread and horseflesh ' were very wholesome. Personally, ho was not afraid of tho Gorman Navy or German trade competition, but he was afraid of German sausages.

In connection witih the election campaign, working, men are frequently, warned of the prospects of their eat*' ing black bread and horse-flesh sawsages m tho event of Tariff Reform be- ■ dug carried. ' ' ( It is now showji.tihat the King hns black bread in every palace and on every Royal yacht. ' 'Radical papers aro publishing ft price-list of horseflesh in Germany. HOME RULE AND SOCIALISM. '. ■ Sir Hugh Bell,' tho Liberal candid, date for tho City of London, speaking' - at a City meeting, declared that he would not support a-measure .for ft separate Parliament for Ireland. Sir Robert Giffen, the' well-known' statistician, -objects to Hhe Socialism involved in Mr Lloyd Georgo's Budget, and considers that the Liberal Government has sacrificed the oause of Free Trade. • v KILLING THE BUDGET HOW EX-GOVERNOIiS VOTED. MONEY MARKET UNDISTURBED. SEOil OUB SPECIAL COEBEBF-ONDEHT. LONDON, December 3. The great Budget debate in the House of Lords ended, last Tuesday night, and by 350 votes to 75 the Second Chamber declared its conviction that it is not justified in divina its consent to the Finance Bill until that measure has been submitted to tho judgment of tho country. The result was entirely in' accordance with everybody's expectations. It was,, indeed, a " foregone conclusion " if ever there was one. Possibly the majority f'>r tho Lansdowno amendment was rather larger than .many anticipated it would be, but no one in his senses had any real hope that the Lords would do other than refuse the Bill a eacoad reading. After tho speeches of Lord Rosebearv, Earl Cromer, Lord James of Hereford, the Earl of Lytton and others, who, while objectinn to the Bill, counselled the Lords strongly against the course to which Lord Lansdowne's amendment committed them, there were those who anticipated that many peers would at least follow Lord Rccbery and decline to vote one way or the other. Tho abstentions, however, were not nearly so numerous as might'have been anticipaled. They included, in addition tc the lords already named, the Archbishop of Canterbury most of the Bishops, and several \i ell-known peers, but most of

t'io " Backwoodsmen" recorded their votes. Tlio slaughterers of the Budget included ■'<> Dukes, 23 Marquises, 30 Viscounts, 12-1 L'arls, tlio Bishop of Linloln, and 152 Barons. Not a solitary Duke ventured to say "Nay' to the Liuisdowno amendment, and only two Marquises—Brcadalbano and Northampton to wit—joined the little army of proliiidsct Beers. Tlio ten Earls votinK with thorn included three ex-colonial Governors in lords Aberdeen, Curringtofc. and Beauchatnp, and only five Viscounts, including Lord Morley, ventured into tho' same lobby. Threo Bishops voted for the Budget, and the rest of the little pro-Budftet army was made up of forty- ; seven Barons. Included among tho noble lords who slow the Budget were many whose names are familiar as household words to Antipodean*—the- Duke of Marlborough, tho Marquis of Linlithgow, Lord'3 Northcote, Tennyson, Knutsford, Stanmore, Milner, Ainpthill, Kintoro, Glasgow, Onslow, Ranl'urly, Roberts, Hampden und Kilmorey. Tin' House of Lords consists of 617 members, three of whom are Boyal Peers who did not vote, and nine are minors who cannot vote. This leaves GO3 members to be accounted for. Of these 125 recorded votes for or against the Budget, twenty "paired" (including Lord Brassey, who was against the Lansdowne amendment) nnd twenty-one peers present during the final debate abstained from voting. Tho absentees apart from "paired" members totalled, therefore, 139. THE AFTERMATH. The nation took tho Lords' rejection of the Budget very coolly, in spite .of tho pessimistic, predictions of financial authorities like Lord > AVelby concerning Hie terrible s-tate of affairs in. the finamoial world the rejection would bring about. Thus far, indeed, there is no evidence whatever that the hanging-up of the Budget has had nny effect on the money market or upon securities generally. . No excitement was witnessed in tho Stock Kxcinitnge on "Wednesday as the result of the Lords' action. Consols actually showed a rise of i, and several other .stocks of the "gilt-edged variety, including a number of colonial inscribed issues, showed advances np to I. There has certainly not been any si "lis on the Stock Exchange, so tar, of the least fear of financial chaos owin" to the rejection, and those operators who acted on the supposition that the action of the Lords would inevitably depress prices have burnt their fingers. ' . , Of course, trouble may ensue later, but the first effects of tho Lords refusal to pass the Finance Bill are invisible to the eye of the ordinary person Consols continue firm with a rising tendency, and tho same can bo -anl of colonial stocks and other firstclass securities. The financial, world and tho. commercial world have, ™ e <™- taken the "fearful blow" which the Lords were said to have administered to them in rejecting the Budget without, in common parlance., "turning a hair. The prophets of disaster may prove correct in the lons tub, but for the present it looks aa though they, would be denied the pleasure of saying, I told you so." THE COMMONS COUNTERBLAST. The Commons replyto the Lords was not long delayed. bn the day following the rejection of the Budget by the Peers Mr Asquith gave notice that on the morrow he would move the resolution : ' - That the action of the House of Lotos In refusing to pass into law the nnanoial provisions made by this House for the services of tho year is a breach of the Constitution and a usurpation of the rights of the Commons. In submitting this to the House yesterday Mr Asquith. made a great speech. Never, indeedT has he with suci nnission and .eloquence. The attack made by the Lords on the of the authority of the House of Commons was an outrage that had e-ndently moved him very deeply. Tho Premier began with a reference to the "unexampled circumstances' in which the House met, remarking that it was the first time m English- history that the grant of the whole supplies of the year, had been intercepted by a body "which, admittedly has not the power to increase or dWnish. a single Eas or propose any substrate or alternative. He declared that the House of Commons would be unworthy- of. its past if it allowed a day to.pass without making it clear that it did .not mean to "brook "the gravest indignity and. the most arrogant usurpation to which Sot more than two centuries it has been .asked to submit. .. In quieter tones Mr Asquith indicated what the Government -mean to do in dealing with the finanoial embarrassment created by the action of the Lords that the Government Sean to make avail of the borrowing powers conferred by the Appropriation. Act They have decided not to continue to collect the" new taxes during the prorogation on the strength merely if the res&lution passed by the Commons last May. .'. But persons desiring to dej so may deposit with the proper authorities the luties payable under the Finance BillIpparontly, reimbursements will be made if necessity should amso." Either tnjs, or Tlse when, the new Parliament meets, tn Act of Indemnity will be passed validating collections of all taxes from December 2nd. , ;■. "Mr Asquith proceeded to review the constitutional case against the Lords. He spoke disdainfully of this ■ newfangled Caesarism which converts the House of Lords into a plebiscitary; organ," and a» to the grotesque claim of the Lords to represent the .will .of ■ the people, asked if the hereditary principle contains within itself an instinct of divination. If so, "the whole British Constitution rests on the off-chance of a succession of miraculous events.". The pretence thut the Lords only, want to refer measures to the people toe "holloweet outcry of political cant. - ''LOADED DICE." A trenchant passage followed on the unfairness of the; system under which when the Tories are in office;, we have an omnipotent House of Commons, when the Liberals are in office we have an omnipotent House of Lores. "We are living under a system of false balance Und loaded dice." The Prime Minister laid it down that there was only one course open to the Government without breaking the law or sacrificing constitutional principle. "That course is to advise—as we have advised—the Grown to dissolve this Parliament at the earliest possible moment." Here there were prolonged cheers from both sides.' '.'His Majesty," Mr Asquith continued, "has been graciously pleased to accept that advice." . ' | In conclusion Mr Asquith said: The House ,of Lords - have deliberately 'chosen. their ground. They have selected to set at naught, with regard to finance, the unwritten, but time-honoured conventions of our Constitution, and in so doing they have opened np a wider and inoro far reaching issue. "We have not provoked the challenge —but we welcome it. We believe that .the first principles of representative Government as embodied in ever broadening constitutional development, are at stake,, and we ask the House of Commons by this resolution as at the earliest possible moment we shall ask the constituencies of the country—to declare that the organ and voice of a free people is to be found in the elected representativee of the nation. Mr Balfour having replied the House divided, and the.resolution was •carried by 3-19 votes to 134. It is authoritatively stated that the proclamation dissolving Parliament, will be issued in time to permit of the general election taking place immediately after the new register of voters comes into force. This means that; the first election will take place during " the second week in January.

1832 ... Libera 1 ■ .... .. . 370 1835 ... Libera 1 112 1837 ... I/iberal ••• •• 18 1841 Conservative 76 1847 ... Liberal . ... 18 1852 ... Conservative ... _ .. 20 1837 Liberal . . 80 1859 Liberal , 50 1865 Liberal ■ • 78 1868 Liberal _ ... " •• 116 1874 Conservative. 98 1880 ... Liberal. ... •• . , 115 1885 ... ,. ... Liberal 86 1836 ' ... 1802 1895 ... "/'... Unionist - Liberal ' Unionist . 114 40 , 152 1900 Unionist . 13-1 1006 Liberal 306