MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1918. THE BRITISH ELECTORS' MANDATE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 80, 30 December 1918, Page 4

MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1918. THE BRITISH ELECTORS' MANDATE

A sweeping victory for the Coalition Government headed by Mr. Lloyd George is indicated in the British election returns available at time of writing. The result is one that will be welcomed all over the Empire, for it means' that the British representatives will go to the Peace Conference with an unqualified mandate to demand such conditions of settlement as will justify ■the heavy sacrifices of the war, arid, as far as that is possible, make future peace secure. The temper of the Dominions in regard to condi.tions of peace had already been made fully evident. Satisfactory evidence is now afforded that 'the' people of the Mother Country arc as little inclined' as those of the Dominions to tolerate half-measures or to palter with the problems of peace. The returns as yet arc incomplete, but. as 'they stand they I show all but conclusively that the popular verdict w has gone overwhelmingly in favour of Mb. Lloyd George and those with him who stood for the uncompromising prosecution of the war, and stand now for the bold treatment of all questions involved in making peace. It is equally plain that parties in opposition, with the exception of the Sinn Fcincrs in Ireland, have suffered something resembling disaster. _By far the most important election issue was the settlement of the war, and the result is first and foremost a verdict for a strong policy at the Peace Conference—incidentally for the exaction from.Germany of the fullest possible reparation and just indemnities. In so far as it bears. upon the domestic politics of the United Kingdom, it must be taken to mean that a big majority of the electors are minded to .give full. scope to a National Government the existence of which connotes the subordination of party interests and party issues. , The position disclosed is all the more gratifying since- the circumstances in which the election was held opened rather v wide possibilities. It counts for something in this connection that the appeal just made to the country was long overdue. The late Parliament was elected for five years ending in January, 1016, but by successive Acts extended its life almost to the end of this year. It is incomparably more important, however, that the present election is the first held since the passage of the greatest Reform Bill ever placed upon the Statute Book of .the United Kingdom. The Representation of the People Act, 191S, stopped short only of establishing universal franchise. . At a single step and chiefly by extending voting privileges to women at the age of thirty, years, it doubled the number of qualified voters! The age restriction imposed in the case of women is the' one important feature which now distinguishes the electoral law of the United Kingdom from that of its most democratic Dominions. The Act enfranchised approximately six million women and two million men. There are now, in round figures, sixteen million qualified voters in the United Kingdom, as compared with eight million when the last Parliament was elected. This wide extension of the franchise necessarily left room for surprises and made the prospects of the election somewhat open. In particular it raised hopes in the leaders and members of the Labour Party 1 , which seem to have been falsified.

A recent cabled forecast suggested that the Coalition was likely to capture 400 seats, a result that would have given it a safe majority. On the particulars thus far transmitted it seems certain that the Coalitionists 'will b& actually in a very-much stronger position when the final returns are disclosed. The latest available figures show 354 seats won by the Coalitionists and 116 by the parties in opposition. This accounts f0r.470 seats out of a total of 707, to which figure the strength of the House of Commons is raised at this election from 670. With nearly five-sevenths of the totai seats accounted for, the Coalitionists are shown in a majority of three to one, and holding already almost half the total seats in tho House. If something like this proportion is maintained, their preponderance of course will be overwhelming. Ifc is a material point that

the Sinn Feiners, who are in general sweeping the polls in Ireland, except/ in Unionist strongholds, will not be available, even if they go to Westminster, as effective allies of. any other group in opposition. They are as sharply divided from the Liberals and from all but the extreme wing of the Labour Party as from the Coalition. . It seems to be already established that the Sinn Feiners have won a very large proportion of the Irish seats. Their leader, De Valera, has been defeated by the Nationalist leader, Me. John Dillon, in East Mayo, and th>! event is noteworthy, since campaign reports showed that the Sinn Feiners were putting up a. great tight in this constituency. Me. Dillon's chances were regarded as problematical. Unfortunately his victory is an exception to the rule so far as the Irish contests are concerned. It is stated that most of the Nationalist seats, more N than eighty in the last Parliament, have returned Sinn Fein representatives. While the electors in the other kingdoms have delivered an emphatic verdict for a strong Government and a- sound policy at the Peace Conference, events have taken a very different course in Ireland.

Some of the detail features thus far disclosed axe of more than ordinary, interest and significance. Decidedly the most prominent candidate rejected by tho ; ' : electors . is Mb. Asqwth, who has been defeated in East Fife. Greater and more general pleasure will be felt at the decisive rejection of late members who made themselves objectionably prominent while the war was in progress as advocates of peace at any price. Messrs. Ramsay Macdonald and PniLiP Snowdes are numbered amongst those who hayo failed to'secure a majority, and in some cases at least their defeat appears to have been overwhelming. Their fate has been shared by other members outside the Labour Party who have figured prominently as pacifists during the last four years. The British electors have ■ given no better _ proof of sound judgment than in rejecting men who did something by their reckless and increasing clamour to hinder the prosecution of the war, and nothing, certainly, to hasten the establishment of peace. A notable defeat is that of Mr. Arthur Henderson, leader of the Labour Party, whoso attitude in recent times has suggested pacifist leanings. Mr. Henderson, it will bo recalled, wns at one time a representative of Labour in the Coalition Government, and caused embarrassment to his colleagues under circumstances which led to his resignation. The rejection of prominent politicians like, Mr. Asquith and some of his lieutenants is from their point of view a more serious matter on tliis occasion than under the conditions that reigned at previous elections. Formerly polling took place in different parts of the' country on succeeding days, and a Minister or prominent party leader defeated in one constituency had as a. rule no difficulty in securing election elsewhere. An end has now been made of. these conditions, and defeated party leaders can enter the House in the immediate future only if seats are vacated for them and they succeed in winning tho subsequent by-elections. Various details, of course, remain to be cleared up, but at the point to which information is carried it is fairly plain that the Coalition Government has secured an ovcrwhelmingvpopu](ar verdict.