UPSHOT OF LAST ELECTIONS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 987, 30 November 1910, Page 7

UPSHOT OF LAST ELECTIONS.

. LIBERAL LOSSES. Tho main, issues at the General Elec--1 tion of January last, as defined by the i Jawlers of the two great .parties, were (1)

the Lords' Veto and (2) the Budget and the policy o£ Tariff Reform, which Mr. Balfour had stated was the only alternative. The election.produced four distinct and important changes in the composition of the House of Commons, which' may bo set forth as follows:— (1) It deprived the Liberal Government of an independent majority. (2) It reintroduced an Opposition of normal Parliamentary strength. (3) It retrenched the numbers of the Lalxmr party* (4) It brought about a definite and substantial cleavage in the ranks of Irish Nationalism. ' Theso results arc shown numerically in the following comparison of the strength of parties before and after tho Dissolution.:— Before the Dissolution. Liberal 373 . Labour 40 Nationalist ... S3 Unionist 168 After the Dissolution. Liberal 275 Labour 40 Nationalist 71 Independent Nationalist..; 11 Unionist 273 The Liberal party (says a "Pall Mall Gazette" writer) sustained a net loss of 9S seats, which turned its net majority of 76 over all parties in the late House into a. minority o£ 120. The Liberal and Labour members together were in a minority of 40 as against the rest of the House, while they were a majority of 42 over the Unionists if both the Nationalist parties were to abstain. Liberals, Labourists, and Nationalists of both sections, combined against the Unionists, were in a-majority of 124. Where the Liberals Lost. The reduction o£ the Liberal party , * strength was effected almost wholly in Lnghsh constituencies, since its net, losses amounted to only two seats in Wales, none in Scotland, and two iu Ireland. The net Liberal losses in England wore dO borough scats (including II in. London) and 55 county divisions. The inghsh boroughs returned in all 111 Unionists (33 in London), against 95 Liberals (26 in London), 19 Labour members (two in London), and one NationalThe English counties returned 123 Unionists, 08 Liberals, -end 15 Labour members. England ns .a whole returned 239 Unionists, 191 Liberals, 34 Labour members, and one Nationalist. Tho most notable among the. satisfactory features of the election for the Government was tire stability of its position, not only in Scotland and" Wales, but also in..the Northern English counties. Taking Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, and Lancashire, which may be ?aid to form a so-lkl industrial block returning 133 member.?, the net losses-of the Liberal party amounted to .no more than two seats. . •

. Unionist Gains. Turning to the converse feature of tho rase—which is the alimentation of the unionist party by 105 votes-wo find, of course, that its progress was most notable in the districts other than these described above. Nono but a Unionist was returned for any seat in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Hereford, or Huntingdon, while thoto. was only one exception each to their monopoly of MicMlesex.TVanriclcshire, Wiltshire, "Dorsetshire, and Shropshire. Hampshire returned 10 Unionists out of 12, Staffordshire 10 out of 15,, Worcestershire six out of eight, Berkshire four out of five, and Essex soveii out of nine. Labour Changes. The losses of the Labour party wore disguised somewhat by tho coatesronee with them of" tho majority of the miners' members, which came into effect by resolution at the close of. tho late Parliament Ttey were ttio poorer, however, by six members, their strength being a round forty, and tho centra of gravity in thrnr organisation was Shifted both by the presence of the miners and by the moral tffect o£ the reduced polls recorded for many of their unsuccessful candidates m constituencies where they had already mcasiirod their strength in 1906. lumbers of electors who formerly voted habonr found. th«ir aspirations satisfied by tho increased, robustness of tho Kadioal programme on this occasion. [ .The Disunited Irish. Tho Nationalists lost numerically but a single seat, but they lost something which was far more important, and that is their unity. There' were two distinct Jlomc Kule parties returned, each, embittsred against-the other by the fresh wounds of a recent and envenomed struggle. Instead of 83 votes, Hγ. Bedmond commanded only -71, wliilo the e even O/Bnenites and Independents hod their raison d'etre in a violent repudiation of his authority, and found their chief inspiration in tho impulse to condemn his policy and thwart .his intentions at every taru. ■