NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 121, 15 February 1919, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

Particulars' <5f the British general elections, as cabled, _ wcrif rather meagre, ancl English newspapers now coming to hand fill in many of the gaps and supply many points of intcrost. .Jfot the least of these is the list of candidates for the 707 scats in the House of Commons. 'There' were over IGOO candidates in all, and it is interesting to note the success or lack of success met with by the different political groups in relation to the number of candidates put forward. We give below the totals, t%ethcr with the numbers of successful-candidates in each group. The classification is taken from the London Times-. Candidates. Elected. Coalition Unionists 30-1 331 Coalition Liberals 158 133 National Democratic Party (Coalitionists) ... 19 2 Unionists 75 50 Labour 3-S8 72 Liberals 1253 28 Socialist 12 1 , Independents 120 5 Federation of Discharged Soldiers and unclassified 32 D Sinn Fein 103 73 Irish Nationalists GO .7 Co-operators - 10 1 Women's Party 1 — The total of clectcd members is two short of the 707 elected, but tho j totals -are sufficiently complete to j indicate the comparatively small percentage of Labour and Liberal j candidates returned. The figures j for Labour would* appear to still less advantage but' for tho fact that they include ten Labour members elected on the Coalition ticket.

Unless the Government bestirs itself it may find its hydro-electric schcme for the North Island displaced and pushed into the background by local schemes which might to he merely supplementary. Active steps are being taken in the AVairarapa and also in the Auckland district with a, view to harnessing local sources of waterpower. If such undertakings arc launched others arc likely to iollow. Meantime the Minister or Public AVokks sees no prospect of making an early start upon the development of Mangahao or other main sources of power in the North Island. It is agreed on all hands that these sources are capable of .being developed much nmrc econo'mically and with materially greater

profit than smaller sources which would serve limited localities. As matters arc shaping, however, it seems quite possible that within a year or two a considerable amount of labour and capital may" be devoted to the development of local scliemcs while the main of hydro-electrical energy are still: being neglected. This would be an absurd state of affairs. The Minister of Public Works meets all appeals by pointing to a shortage of labour. In such conditions as reign and arc in prospect in New Zealand, however, Ministers and the Government should not regard a shortage of the labour needed to prosecute essential works as an ill beyond remedy which can only be passively accepted. It is their plain duty to exhaust all means of obtaining the necessary labour.

In demanding something more than it paper guarantee of the security of her eastern frontier, France has raised a plain issue which goes to the heart of the matte* where the League of Nations proposal is concerned, She is evidently well within her rights in this matter. The risk of a- sudden and treacherous, attack by Germany cannot be regarded as wholly eliminated, and it follows that in consenting to a general limitation of armaments Franco would acccpt a jimich heavier risk than Britain or' America. It is bare justice that riie should be given corresponding safeguards, and this no doubt implies the establishment of an international army; at the least definite arrangements under, which France would promptly bo given adequate assistance and protection if she were attacked in_ defiance of the rules of international order proscribed by the League of Nations. The proposal is well calculated to test the sincerity of all parties to tho of Nations proposal, the United States included. It would bo a matter for infinite regret if the refusal of one or a number of nations to set up an international force prevented the formation of the League. But it would be better that the project should be wrecked in this way, or should be narrowed in its scope, than tnat the nations should set up an international order they were not prepared to unitedly, maintain and defend.