BRITISH POLITICS

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15100, 22 November 1922, Page 7

BRITISH POLITICS

STATE OF PARTIES

THE LATEST ESTIMATES.

CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY 79.

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.)! Received November 22, 9.55 a.m. LONDON, November 21. Candidates stood at the recent elec-, tion under so many descriptions, and with such qualifications of their political faith, that even yet it is impossible to arrive at absolute accuracyregarding the state of the parties. This is especially the case with the Various brands of Liberals, where members have been returned under many under-' j standings. For instance, Sir Alfred r Mond, one of Mr Lloyd George's min- > istrv, was returned as a plain Liberal ! without any prefix. Yesterday he stood j beside Mr Asquith in the House. On j the other hand i the Liberals claim -many members who stood without professing actual adherence to Me; j Lloyd George’s leadership. The . Con- [ servative Party is (fairly solid, but even' j its ranks include some who declared | that, if returned, they would regard I themselvestfcndcpendent of party whips. The Labourites are also solid, with rt t 1 small co-operative wing, which will j certainly vote with them on all impor- ;j tan-t'questions. Naturally all the party! | organisations and newspapers ara ! claiming totals most favourable tqj themselves, but the most reliable esti-< . mates give the state of parties as follows, with one return still to come: —* Conservatives '344 ’ Labour ,139 Liberals 59 National Liberals 55 Independents 5 Co-operatives 1 4 Independent Conservatives 3 Nationalists 2 Prohibition ,1 Communist . .1 Sinn Fein „..l: This gives the Government a major-* ity of 79. I ■ ; RECOGNITION OF LABOUR PARTY,!

THE PRINCIPAL OPPOSITION.

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.)

LONDON, November 21

The. Times’ lobbiest says that thd Labour Party will be given the -pre-* cedence as the principal Opposition! Party. Their amendments and lutions will be taken first, but, the| Liberals will also be recognised as art opposition party entiled to separate! rights, with a certain number of days! allotted for discussion on desired sub-4 jects. Labour intends to set do\vrt x amendments regarding foreign affairs* ' unemployment, and agriculture, in the! debate on the Address-in-Reply, while the Liberals will raise the questions o$ free trade and the safeguarding of ths Industries Act.

THE FINAL RETURN

LABOUR LEADER ELECTED. ' 7 I ■ j

AN UNEMPLOYED DEPUTATION, j

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.)’

Received November 22/ 11.5 a.m, LONDON, November 21,

Sir R. Hamilton (Liberal) beat Sir! Malcolm Smith (National Liberal) fop Orkney-Shetland seat. This is tjiei final return of the elections. Mr Ramsay ’McDonald lias been! elected leader of the Labour Party. Mr Boilar Law, writing to an/ un-f employed official, firmly refused toi receive an unemployed deputation,' that the Ministers for Labour and Health were primarily re-t sponsible for dealing with the allevia-i tion of unemployment. The mentioned had’ expressed their willing-! ness to receive the deputation, and ifi this was deemed unsatisfactory ilj could be challenged in Parliament. -,

IRISHMEN IN BRITAIN

PLEA FOR ORGANISATION

IRISH PARTY SUGGESTED

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.)' Received November 12, 12.30 p.m. 1 . LONDON, November 21. Rev. Father O’Connor, addressing at Catholic meeting in London, ridiculed the statement that an Irish Party was! now unnecessary in England. The* Irish in Britain made less advantage than the Irish in any other country. Now that their land was emancipated, it was the sacred duty of all the Irish in Britain to become strongly organised in order to uplift the poorer section ol Irishmen. If there had been pr.opor-i tional representation, there would be an Irish Party in the House of Commons numbering 26.