BID TO REACH ELECTORS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 111, 23 February 1950, Page 5

BID TO REACH ELECTORS

CANDIDATE FLIES TO ORKNEYS FAMOUS STATUE TO BE PROTECTED (N.Z.P. A.—Copyright) (Ree. 10 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 22. In an eve of the poll bid to reach electors of North Ronaldsliay, the northermost island of the Orkney group, Sir Basil NevenSpence, the Conservative candidate, flew there by private plane to-day. For the 300 inhabitants of the island, which has been cut off for weeks by had weather, it was the first and only visit by any of the three candidates contesting the constituency of Orkney and Shetland. On two occasions SIP Basil tried to reach the islanders by sea, but had been foiled by gales and heavy seas. Their Majesties and Princess Margaret will hear the election results by wireless to-morrow night at Buckingham Palace. The results of the polls are not officially communicated to his Majesty until the final result is known. Voter B/G 641 on the electoral register at Berhamstead, Hertfordshire, said to-day she would vote for herself at the General Election. “I stand for more teddy hears.” Voter B/C 641 is Iris Jones, aged 3h years. Her parents do not understand how her name came to he on the voting register. Mr Churchill and Mr Attlee will learn the nation’s verdict from teleprinters—Mr Churchill at' his town house in Kensington and Mr Attlee at No. 10 Downing Street. Twenty-three students from 15 countries, who have been given special facilities to see how a British election is conducted, will take the oath of secrecy necessary when attending the count of votes at Westminster City Hall. Four of the party are women. The countries represented are France, Germany, 'ltaly* S'wedon, Poland, Siam, Lebanon,, Mauritius, Persia, Greece, Peru, India, Pakistan, Luxembourg and Gold Coast.

The London County Council, after consultation with the police, lias decided that Eros in Piccadilly Circus, one of London’s most famous statues, will be boarded up to-morrow as a precautionary measure against possible damage by election night crowds.

ANYBODY’S GUESS ' LABOUR MAJORITY WILL BE REDUCED (Recv 11.20 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 22. . The result of Britain’s General Election to-moriow is still anybody’s guess after the most unpredictable campaign of the century. One thing seems certain —that Labour’s towering majority of 140 seats over all other parties in the last Parliament will be greatly re- . dueed.

Canvassers and public opinion polls have shown a marked swing to the right in the last week. Whether the pendulum will travel far enough to bring Britain’s great wartime leader, Mr Churchill, back to power, remains the big query,,Polling will open at most places m England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at 7 o’clock in tlje morning and close 14 hours later, when counting will begin immediately in about 260 .industrial and urban constituencies. , . ..., . Crucial interest centres on this ns., batch of results, which will he declared over the vital four-hour period just before midnight. In these areas lies the hard core of Labour strength—the workers of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and other big cities, /who are largely responsible for the Left-Wing landslides in 1945. By dawn on Friday the British people should have a fair idea what Government will lead them for the next five years.

Domestic Matters Although Mrv Churchill’s Edinburgh call for talks with Stalin to end the cold war and the hydrogen bomb and the atomic bomb race deeply impressed millions of voters, the main talking points remained domestic—housing, the cost? of living, taxation and nationalisation. The Liberal Party to-night announced that it would back a Labour minority Government after the election if Labour would give up the nationalisation of industry. At the same time the Liberals, in an eve-of-poll statement, said they would not shirk the. task of forming a minority Government themselves if the nation wished it. The general expectation is that there will be a much heavier poll to-morrow than at the last election, and that the verdict may be vitally influenced by 5,000,000 young electors who have ndt voted before. The Tories claim a turnover of millions of votes in their favour in byelections since 1945, but they do not forget that the Labour Party is still the only Government in British history which had not lost a single seat which it won or held at a General Election.

The Conservatives’ great hope is that they have now won over enough of the floating vote of 8 or 10 per cent, to turn the scales. There is'great, interest in the election overseas. The “Paris Presse,” in a leading article, commented: “Lucky Mr Smith is to have to choose between Mr Churchill, the magnificent apostle of" Old England, and Mr Attlee, the honest bookkeeper of the security of the little people.” The “Daily Express” last poll of public opinion shows, that the Tories still hold on to their lead in popular favour with a half point over the Socialists. The poll was taken between February 17 and 21, the period which included Mr Churchill’s and Mr Attlee’s broadcasts.