BRITISH POLITICS.

Southland Times, Issue 19725, 27 January 1906, Page 3

BRITISH POLITICS.

MR LONG IN BAD ODOUR. LATEST RETURNS. Per United Press Association. Bx Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. LONDON, Jan, 25. The devolutiontiste are making; a strong fight against Mr Long. Lord Dunravon denies that Mr Long is the mouthpiece of Irish Unionists, and condemns Mr Long as the exponent of a mischievous reactionary policy. Mr Lief Jones' (L.) majority over Lord Kerry for Appleby was three. Messrs Devlin and McHugh (N.) have each been returned for two places. Liberals * elected i Isle of • Wight .i Baring: Camborne, Cornwall: Dunne. Liberal gains—Egremont : I ullcrton ; Tavistock : Luttrell ; East Aberdeen: Annantr,‘-Wells, Somerset; Silcock; Wirral. Cheshire: W. 11. Lever ; Wellington, Shrops : Henry , Doncaster : Nicholson ; Hyde ;D. Schiwaun ; South Ayr ; Beale ; Monmouth 'South : Herbert I Gainsboiough : Kenton (L.), 5922 ; Morcign (U.). 5071. , /T Re-elected I—Burton 1 —Burton ; RatcUno (LU.) ; Bute :N. Lament (L.) ; Chichester : Lord Edmund Talbot (C); Luton : Ashton (L.) ; Caithness : Harms worth (L.) ; Linlithgow : Uro (L.) ; Holderness : Wilson (C.). Elected :Clitheroe : Shaekelton (Labour) 12,033, defeating Bolton (Independent Tarillite), 3828 ; Chesterfield : Haslam (Labour), 7-o-l, defeating Lampson (U.), 5590 ; Ber-wick-on-Tweed : Sir E. Grey (L ). 5102, defeating Inskip (U,), Waltham-stow v Simon (L,), 15,011, defeating Shard (U.), 11,07-1 ; Wimbledon : Hambro (C.), 9533, debating Fox Pitt (L.). i 7109. AN OPENING FOR THE EXPREMIER. LONDON, Jan. 20. Received 26th, 9.37! p.m.

The Hon. Alban Gibbs, member for London City, offered to resign in the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour’s favour. Mr Balfour has gratefully accepted the offer on public grounds. It is unlikely that ho will bo opposed. . A NEW DEPARTURE. Mr John Burns, Rt the instigation of the Battersea Borough Council, has engaged 2000 unemployed in road-making. CONVERTED FREETRADERS. Mr Moreing, the Taritlite candidate for Gainsborough, sent three Liberal and three Conservative workers to study labour conditions in Germany. They are unanimous in the opinion that there is a necessity for a change, some advocating a duty on foreign goods. All are agreed that there.is an absence of unemployed in Germany ; that the unskilled worker is better off there than in England, and that there is a greater demand for skilled labour. The deputation arc no longer free traders on the existing basis. Received 26th, 11 p.m. Re-elected —Arfon ; Jones ; Lanark North-east Findlay : Keighley ; Brigg. Liberal gains—Partick ; R. Balfour ; Altrincham ; AV. (Tossley, 8358 : Disraeli, 5667 ; Renfrew East: Laidlaw. Unionist gain—Govan : R. Duncan. Liberals elected —Brecknock ; Robinson ; Harborough ; Lehmann-

THE LATEST TALE. Liberals ... 338 Labourites ... 50 Nationalists ... 81 Unionists ... Hi MR WINSTON CHURCHILL. " Indomitable pluck, irresistible pushf and the cheek of a Yankee bpok canvasser” arc the distinguishing characteristics of the new Un-der-Secretary for the Colonies, Mr AViuston Churchill, according to one of his least unkind critics. His appointment to the post vacated by the Duke of Marlborough has occasioned some surprise, for Winston Churchill is scarcely the sort of man to whom the atmosphere of Downing street seems likely -to prove genial. The new- Under-Secretary for the Colonies has crowded more into his life than most of* his-contemporaries. He is but 31, and it is said that only his youth barred him from taking Cabinet rank. Ton years ago he entered the British Army, but he first saw active service with the Spanish forces in Cuba. Afterwards he fought with the Malakaland field force, took part in the Tirah expedition. and the Nile campaign, his descriptions of which made a name for him as a brilliant journalist. Then ho went, to South Africa as a war correspondent of the MorningPost, and became quite famous byreason chiefly of his capture by the Boers and his escape from Pretoria prison and his subsequent book on the war. While his name was still familiar to tho people’s ears AVinston Churchill made his debut as a politician, and at Oldham in 19D0 he marched in victorious to the House of Commons. He started politics ostensibly as a Tory, but he was at heart a Liberal, if not a Radical, and very soon found the Tory ramp impossible. He was continually at variance with the leaders of the party, and last year openly crossed to the Liberal side and immediately declared war on the reformers and their policy. He has certainly proved one of the ablest champions of Freetrade, and as a debater has shown himself a match for any of the late captains of the Treasury bench. His friends sa.v ho is the coming man, anil prophesy that he will some day be Prime Minister.