BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 43, 15 November 1918, Page 5

BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION

■ l \ TBE NEXT APPEAI TO THE CODNIKV

NEW CONDITIONS (S?rom Meliourne "Age" Correspondent.) I . , London, August 29. Tho ' nest general election in the United Kingdom, which will be the first appeal to the country since the outbreak oi war,, is expected to take place before the end of the year. By that time the new electoral register compiled under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, passed in January last, will bo ready. This act hue extended the franchine to millions of naw voters, nnd has instituted • important electoral re-' forms, besides making pwviefcn. for taking tho votes of eoldiere serving abroad, and sailors serving in the Navy. The previous general oleation was held in December, 1010, and at that time there were 7,500,000 voters on register. The new Act has extsnded the franohise to millions of new \oters, and voters, of whom 6,000,000 ore women. The Act has abolished plural voting, and has also provided for all'the elections being held on the same day. Previously the elections' extended over three weeks—a system which enabled the plural voter to make the moat of his privileges. ' 'Special provision has been made with regard to soldiers. : It will not be possible for all the men serving in France and Belgium to mark their voting papers on the same day. But all voting papers from the Western front must l>e in tne hands of the returning officers within eight days of the date fixed for the poll in the United Kingdom.' Soldiers serving in the other theatres of the war than France and Belgium will be allowed to vote by proxy; they will be allowed to empower their wives, brothers or sisters to mark their-voting papers.- Sailors may also vote by proxy if there is any likelihood that on the day of the election they will be at sea, or about to join their ■ships. ' ■ ... The votes recorded at the polling booths are not to be counted until all the voting papers have come in from the ■Western*front When these arrive they are to be indiscriminately mixed with the votes recorded within the constituencies. This will prevent any disclosure as to differences in the political views of the voters at home and the 6oldiers at the front.' The result of the election will nob be known -until about a week after polling day. It ie expected that an Order-in-Council will be issued fixing a day on which the counting of the votes will take place, so thai)' in each constituency the count will begin on the same day. To prevent -'freak • candidates standing for Parliament, the new Act provides that a candidate must deposit ,£l5O with the returning officer in order to secure nomination. A candidate who does not obtain one-eighth of the total number of votes polled will lose his deposit. The successful candidate will, not have his deposit returned to him until after he has taken the oath as a member of the House of Commons. This provision is aimed at. the Sinn Fein candidates.. The policy of the Sinn Fein organisation ie to flout the British Parliament by returning candidates who refuse to go near the House of Commons. This course has been adopted by the Sinn Fein candidates returned at repent by-elections. It is expected that a fairly large number of Sinn Fein candidates will be'returned at the general election, but unless ' these, members are formally sworn in as members of the House of Commons, each will forfeit) his deposit of ,£l5O arid will not receive the MOO a year (paid to members of the House,

There is a great deal of opposition'to the idea of holding a., general election during the war.' It is contended that to ,do eo will create party strife at a , time when it is still necessary to preserve national unity, in the prosecution of the war. The opposition to an early election comes from both the Liberal, and Conservative camps. But the advocates of an election declare that the opposition to it conies mainly from those in charge of the party machines, because" '•■an election during the war j threatens .Jo sweep, away the' old party lines. The old party cries have been I silenced by the war, and new ones ena- ! not be found until peace conditions bring forward industrial and eocial problems of a contentious character, on which the old parties will be able to group themselves .in opposing camps. The parly machines have not had time to adjust themselves to the extension of the franchise to 10,000,000 new voters. This is another cogent reason why those m charge of the machines do not want an early election.

"•The advocates of an election point to the fact that the. passage of the Eepresentation of the People Act, with its vast extension of the franchise, lays on the Government a constitutional obligation to dissolve Parliament as eoon as the new electoral register enrollin" the new voter's is ready for use. They declare that Parliament does not now represent the yoico of the country, as it was elected eight years ago by less than half of the present number of electors. The life of this Parliament and its successors was fixed by statute at five years, but the present Parliament has now been in existence nearly eight years. On five occasions it has passed an Act extending its life for six or seven mouths. The last of these Acts extended it 3 life to January, 1919. During its long life the present Parliament has lost more than half of its original members. Sdine have died, some have been killed in action, eome liavu retired from political life, and some ihave been elevated to the House of Lords. Most of the now members of the House havo been elected without a vote being cast, in their favour, the political truce between the parties resulting in an arrangement not to contest by-elections ■ against one another.

The opponents of an immediate general election declare that there is omy one man wno really wants the election, anil this man is Mr. Lloyd George, the Prime Minister. Mr. Lloyd George occupies a unique,. but Eomewhat unsafe, position ns Prime Minister without being the head of a poiitioal party. Ho is the head, of a coalition Government which includes Conservatives, Liberals, and Labour men, but lie is kept in power by the Conservatives and by a section of .the Liberals. The bulk of the Liberal members distrust Mr. Lloyd George, and, in spite of the party truce, thoy virtually constitnc3 an Opposition in Parliament under Mr. Asquith. It is said Mr. Lloyd George desires lo extinguish the old party lines and secure his political future by creating a party pledged to follow him. An appeal to the country on the Question of the vigorous prosecution of the war until Germany has been decisively defeated- wouH result in Mr. Lloyd George's return to power, for ho would reap the reward of the remarkably favourable change in the military situation on the Western front. He can justly claim soino share of tho success of the military policy of unity of command of tho Allies' armies under Marshal Foch, for in the early days of this policy, in the spring of this year, he had to bear a heavy ehare of blame for military reverses which threatened to lead to disaster: ; To a. large extent the coming election ■will be a personal one; each candidate will have to say whether he intends to support Mr.' Lloyd George in his war ■policy. There can bo little doubt that on such an issuo Mr. Lloyd George will sweep the country, and this fact throws Borne light on the opposition of those in charge of the'parly machines. Thoso in charge of tho Liberal Party machine have most cause to dread an early general election, for it threatens to split the Liberal Party in two—to eeparatc the Liberals who follow Mr. Lloyd Georgo from thoso who follow Mr. Asquith as their leader. But, though an immediate election with tho prosecution of the war fis tho main issue will prove a personal triumph for Mr. Lloyd George, nnd enable him to create a party pledged to support him through the war. it is plain that the problems of peace will soon soudiscord among Mr. Lloyd George's mixed following, and will tend to restore the eld party lines of Liberals and Conservatives, i