BRITISH POLLS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18865, 16 November 1935, Page 5

BRITISH POLLS

NATION'S CHOICE RETURN TO POWER NATIONAL GOVERNMENT STRONG WORKING MARGIN EXPECTED LABOR GAINS POSITION OF THE PARTIES (Elee. Tel. Copyright —United Press Assn.) (Reed. Nov. 16, noon) LONDON, Nov. 15. The general elections yesterday resulted in,the National Government being returned to office, with an even larger majority than had been generally expected. ' : The state of the parties at 6 o'clock to-night and also the position-after the elections of 1931 are as follows: 1935 1931 'Government

The Government parties have had 15 gains and 94 losses, and the Opposition' parties 102 gains and 21 losses. The strength of the three main parties after each of the last threo elections was as follow :

As the night of the elections progressed, Labor's barometer moved upwards with a crop of electorates they were generally expected to recover, such as Nelson (Mr. A. Greenwood's old scat), Batley, St. Helens, Bcthnal Green, North East, Camberwell North, where the ex-Minister Mr Amnion, was restored to fav.or. Two former Labor Ministers, Messrs Alexander and Lees-Smith, avenged their crushing defeats of 1931, while Mr. Roberts, another exMinister, managed a come-back for West Bromwich. Thus far, 12 Labor ex-Ministers defeated in 1931 have, secured their return to the House of Commons. Of 67 Labor ex-members of the House of Commons who lost their scats in 1931, 37 have been returned and 30 so far defeated. The Labor leader, Major G. It. Attlcc, lifted his 1931 majority from 551* to 7245. Twenty-seven'candidates, of whom 18 were Liberals, have so far lost their £l5O deposit. The sole Social Credit candidate lost bis deposit at Erdington, Birmingham. TRIUMPH FOR PACIFISM Mr, J. H. Thomas hung on in the dual Derby electorate oven if only in second place. Mr. G. Lansbury described his return as a triumph for pure and simple pacifism. Mr. Winston Churchill's son Randolph was unequal in West Toxteth to maintaining the long run of Conservative successes in Liverpool, for which Major Shaw compensated by capturing VVavcrtree, which Mr. Randolph Churchill helped to give to Labor by standing as an Independent Conservative at the 1935 by-election. Sir Austen Chamberlain made his seventeenth contest an easy winner. Dr. Douglas Cooke had to be content vrity. a halved majority, retaining Hammersmith South. Lady Astor's son reversed Labor's .1933 by-election snatch win in Fulham East. In the women's battlefield in Wallsend, Miss Margaret Bondfield did not succeed in turning the tables on her- staunch little Conservative c.ospinster, Miss Ward, but another Conservative failed to reproduce the 1931 fluke when she won the Soicalist seat of Rotherbithe by 130 votes. Sir Kingsiey Wood, who is a past master of crowd psychology, confounded the pessimists with a fourfigure win at Woolwich, but all his fame as the world's speedster did not assist Sir Malcolm Campbell to keep the Conservative flag flying in the working-class constituency of Dept--I'orfl, whore ho conducted his campaign in an old-fashined car capable of only 10 miles an hour. ONE OF HARDEST KNOCKS "One of National Labor's hardest knocks was at Finsbury, where Sir George Gillett succumbed to tho Lab.orite clergyman, the Rev. G. S Woods. Tho great shipping and manufacturing centres afforded interesting insights into the trend of the contest. The Conservatives hold six of the eight Liverpool seats, but so far have dropped four of the 10 Manchester seats, which previously were all Conservative. Mr. J. R. dynes is one of this quartet and will re-enter the House. Labor also won four of seven hitherto all Ministerial seats in Sheffield, but Birmingham again gave all 12 seats to the Conservatives, including tho Chancellor's overwhelming victory at Edgbatson. Early in the morning came a succession of Labor gains. Four outer London seats wero recaptured by Labor, three from the Conservatives, and one from an opposition Liberal, who won in 1931. The ballot box at Dartford (Kent) was discovered to be on fire, and 30 ballot papers were destroyed or damaged. A Laborite, Mrs. Adamson, defeated by 3000, said she was satisfied tliß result had not been affected. The new House unprecedently has a mother and son —Lady Astor and Mr. W. W. Astor. This is tho mother's second record. She was the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons, that of her husband, who had previously represented Plymouth. The family lias now been connected with the constituency for 25 years. Another notable success was that of the author, Mr. Harold Nicholson. National Labor, who won West Leicester from the Liberals.

Conservatives . 378 471 Liberal National .. . 30 35 National Labor .. 8 13 Nationalists 2 2

418 521 Opposition Labor ... 155 o2 Liberal ... 19 7.7 Inch Labor 4 — Independent 1 — Communist 1 " 178 89

1935 1931 1929 Con. ... 378 471 260 Labor ... 153 52 287 Liberal ... 19 33 . 60