GENERAL ELECTION

Southland Times, Issue 20773, 14 May 1929, Page 5

GENERAL ELECTION

INTEREST QUICKENING

MANY CANDIDATES IN THE FIELD

1700 FOR 615 SEATS

(United Press Assn.—By Telegraph—Copyright.) London, May 12.

The lists of election candidates afforded evidence of the revolution in politics, even within a decade. Women provide most of the surprises. .

Miss Jessie Stephen, the Labour candidate for Portsmouth, till a few years ago was a domestic, but she is now a good speaker and unflinchingly addressed a meeting of 2000. She plays a good game of billiards and writes able and trenchant articles. Other Labour candidates include Miss Picton, Turberville, whose ancestors came over with the Conqueror, Lady Clare Annesley, the daughter of the Earl, who gave up fox-hunting to propagate Socialism, and Miss Monica Whately, an ex-police-woman. The Liberals include Miss Nancy Parnell, a school teacher and a niece of the famous Charles Stewart Parnell, and Mrs Hoffman, an American, now a naturalized British subject, who claims descent from Anne Boleyn. Wealthy young Conservatives fighting in the East End of London include Mr Evan Morgan, the artist poet and heir to Lord Tredegar, who will be one of the richest men in the country. He is tackling Limehouse. Lord Knebworth is campaigning in Shoreditch, and Sir Tresham Lever in South Hackney; while the son of the Minister of Agriculture is fighting Mr Harry Gosling, the Labour representative for Whitechapel. Conservative working men include Mr Gwilynn Rowlands and Mr Alfred Coates, a member of the Amalgamated Engineers’ Union. Labour Candidates. Labour’s increasing number of unorthodox candidates include Sir John Manyard, ex-Finance Minister of the Punjab; Mr John Strachey, son of the ex-editor of the Speculator; Mr Louis Fenn, son of Bishop Fenn; the Rev. Gordon Land, a Nonconformist minister; and Mr Hall Caine, a son of the novelist. The Liberals include Mr Beckett Williams, the distinguished young composer, and Mr Compton Mackenzie, the novelist. Immediately after the signature of the Royal proclamation dissolving Parliament election machinery was set in motion by the issuing of the writs, which are necessary for the election of 615 members who compose the House of Commons. The intensive period of the political campaign in connection with the election was also opened within a few hours of the dissolution, and most of the 1700 candidates who are in the field spoke in various parts of the country. The exact number of candidates-that will stand for election will not be known until the nominations are received on Monday week. In addition to a number of independent candidates, however, it is likely that the three great political parties will be represented at the polls as follows;— Conservatives 557 Labour 570 Liberals 512 Prime Minister’s Address. Mr Stanley Baldwin’s election address which has been issued to his constituents is a lengthy document in which the activities of his Government and its future aims are fully dealt with. The section of the address dealing with foreign affairs declares that the promotion of peace and disarmament has been the prime object of their foreign policy and that policy has proved successful over the whole field of foreign affairs. The improvement in the international situation brought about by important treaties such as the Locarno and Kellogg Pact leads his Ministers to look with confidence for an early advance towards disarmament. He says they have set a notable example in the reduction of armaments and along with this reduction in fighting strength they have progressively reduced the cost of Imperial defence. Despite a considerable programme of replacement and re-arrangement in all three services necessitated by modern conditions, in 1929-1930 the total estimated expenditure on defence services showed a reduction of approximately £7,500,000 as compared with the corresponding cost in 1924-1925. The development of the League of Nations is a cardinal principle of his party’s foreign policy. The importance attached by the present Government to the work of the League is illustrated by the fact that Great Britain has been continuously represented by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the Council and in the Assembly of the League. Mr Baldwin concluded: “We welcome as a fruit of this consistent policy the advance recently made at Geneva towards an international agreement for the reduction of armaments, and we greatly hope for further advance in this direction on lines of proposals foreshadowed by representatives of the United States of America. We shall continue in every sphere of foreign policy to act in closest consultation and co-oper-ation with the Governments of the dominions. We believe this to be essential if the unity of the Empire and its influence in the councils of the world is to be maintained.’’ —Australian Press Association. BUSY WEEK FOR LEADERS. PRIME MINISTER’S CAMPAIGN. (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) Rugby, May 12. Political party leaders have a strenuous week of electioneering Before them. The Prime Minister visited his constituency, Bewdley (Worcestershire) yesterday, and after being formally elected Conservative candidate he addressed a public meeting. To-morrow he is to begin a tour of the West of England and will speak at seven or eight meetings in three days, returning to London to address a meeting of city men on Thursday. Mr Ramsay Macdonald will address his supporters at Seaham, for which he is the Labour candidate, to-morrow, and on Tuesday will begin a tour of Scotland. Mr Lloyd George, who has spoken at a series of meetings in Wales during the past few days, is due to address the Liberal candidates of the London and Home Counties to-morrow, and will thereafter leave at once for his constituency in Wales; which he will leave late in the week to speak at Cardiff and Swansea. Among the prominent members of the House of Lords who are taking part in the election are Lord Birkenhead and Lord ‘ Grey.—British Official Wireless. ‘