OVERWHELMING VICTORY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17639, 1 December 1931, Page 9

OVERWHELMING VICTORY

THE BRITISH ELECTIONS MANY LABOR LEADERS REJECTED ENTHUSIASTIC NATIONAL GESTURE. LONDON. October 2a. Fed up with the Socialist party ! ami the blunders of its leadership, the common people of Britain have turned in their wrath and shattered io tne .tonr corners of the political desert their erstwhile leaders. The appeal of the Premier, Mr. MacDonald, for a National Government to moot Britain's, financial and economic crisis has met with the greatest and most sweeping victory the history of politics in this country can show. Fought under a landslide of public opinion, devastating in its condemnation, the Labor I’arty, bereft of its leaders, has been reduced to a powerless group in Parliament, while the National Government is given a majority overwhelming in character and extent. Conservatives, witii only a few returns to come, had not lost a single seat. They had I,con elected in 172 ridings and 207 of these were gains, mostly from Labor. A 1 A.GDOX AI.D ’S A' IXDIUA TlO X. Air. AlacDuaaid's triumphant vindication at the hands of fcSeaham Harbor miners is the last drop of bitterness in the cup. which the Labor Party is forced to drink to the dregs. Few even among his own supporters believed he would win by a majority of over five thousand and his victory speaks eloquently for his courageous campaign, at the beginning of which lie was booed and howled down repeatedly. AATmt has caused this amu/aug revulsion of feeling? There is only one an-vver ami it is this: People of these i Jambs —of whom it has been said: ‘‘They lose every battle until the last one,'’ —have responded overwhelmingly to the appeal of National Government on patriotic, lines for unquestioned power to deal with the country’s critical situation, with tho bulk of voters the vital issue was neither one of tariffs or free trade or public ownership of banks oi taxation of rich to maintain the

worklcss. PEOPLE AVERE 1N1)1G XA XT. All these gave way before the indignation of wliat National Government supporters considered the cowardice and incompetence oi their late Labor rulers. 'I he country’s verdict: must not be interpreted as in luvnr of the return to “reactionary Toryism.” Successes of Conservatives are of course beyond com parisou greater than those of any other party. They sent candidates into the Labor Gronglmlds to light what they thought were hopeless seals and they emerged triumphant beyond their wildest hopes. lint tho gains of other parties who also siipnorted National Government have been proportionately as great. National Liberals heat Conservatives where Conservatives appeared to be standing in party interest solely and even the small group of the Premiers own National Labor followers won seats that thev never could have captured in an ordinary election. The result G n'aiulv and unmistakably ' a national decision on a national issue, irrespective d early. Air. MacDonald gets 'his “doctor’s mandate” and returns at the head ot one of tho biggest nrHovities that the nation has ever awarded a political leader. Even Scotland, his own land, has turned nmiinst the Labor Parlv, reversing a majority it gave in the last Parliament, LANCASHIRE'S DECISION Still more striking was the change of views in Lancashire, proverl ini home oT free trade. Open and unashamed Conservatives won seat alter seat and carried their victories into Yorkshire and neighboring counties. The Conservative party may claim a

| resounding victory for Larin reform, hut I wilh the backing of a strong Liberal j group behind him. Mr. MacDonald ! should he in a position to enforce his I-‘open mind” policy at all events until I ho gives a fair trial to wliatc\er other ] plans he mav contemplate. I As for the decimated Labor Party. the work of a generation in upbuilding it j lies in ruins. The only leaders it possesses at the moment are George L.ins- ! hurv Sir Stafford Cripps, Lord Parj moor’s able son and an out-and-out j Socialist, and Jimmy Maxton, of Clydeside. . As for the “new party.’ it is a neghg- ; iblo factor, defeat, of its leader. Sir 1 Oswald Mosley, leaving it a dog without , a tail. | ASTOUNDING RESULT I The' British electors sat hack this .morning ami read in their newspapers Hie results ol their writings in the polling booths in yesterday’s genertd election. And it was a result to-astound the most astute of poliUeal pixmlmls. O'-emmuiug their most optimistic expectations. the Nationalist Government forces were returned on Urn crest ot a tidal wave that, washed the l abor Party down into the most insignificant position it has occupied in the House for a decade ■ And while the Nat'onal Government I total mounted over the SCO mark, mem- ! | ers of the Nat ional Government continued to he elected liy a sale majority. 1 At the same tune more unities were j added to the long list of former Labo-' , ministers defeated. | CALL IT REBUKE TO SOCIALISM National Government organs were today jubilant over the election resit t. and generally described the overwhelming victory as a, emailing repudiation of Social : ?m. The Daily Telegraph says the “nemesis of political folly and weakness has been swift and deadly. Leaders who betrayed their trust ami the party that luiliclil I bent have been taught a lesson that will long he romein'-ered.” Tho newspaper adds that the National Government has a maiorit-- far beyond its expectations am| tint the road is ope” for enterprise in setting the country on its feet and leading it into a new path of progress and prosperity. ; URGWDS MOVE ABOUT (TTY 1 Emlleos processions of figure* Inlt-oti-Tun-d in the imirkv fog crossed and reerosserl TrafsHgU!' Square and Piccadilly ('irons I'roiii one place of oxcilonieiit to an'it her. When Hie first glow of dawn showed in t'm sky, men and women in evening 'dress were streaming (nit of half a. dozen clubs .and hated*. Taxis crawled along in the gloom bearing -homeward reveller* in high good humor. Total strangers si landed in the fog and forced to walk miles ■home recked j nothing of their plight,- clasped hands fagd joined forces ip their enthus-

i"sm. B-'lloon hawkers did the best, tiedo of the year to add to the Vest End gaiety. Half London did «ot go to bed last n ;<rht. Banker and busman, millionaire and im'-of-work, all alike refused to sleep v-liße (lie issues of the country V. political fate hung in the bala nee. I n West End clubs and hotels were scenes of gaieiv and rejoicing almost till dawn broke, gathering momentum as the smashing victory of tin. National Government became hourly more certain. In Whitechapel and .Beckham Eye great crowds of workers stood in the raw cold and fog til] long after midnight greeting with mingled cheers, lmos and groans ..j. r)M! „n s fto<diod (m .screens. ‘ouUble Ste] fridge’s great Oxford street store a vu’st- throng impeded 1,-;,fli;. ryir.ing up :i T the brMliontly* windows of the top storey whore \D, S'dfridge onlortnmed at the most hrillin.il gathering of all his famous election parties. The gay music of tho dance from within was drowned by competing cries of the croiyd as result's Ibrnlmd on an electric board opposite. Celebrities wore almost mobbed on mitering as the police barelv held the crowd in check.