THE NEW ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 87, 25 June 1880, Page 2

THE NEW ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.

The elections being all .completed save Orkney and Shetland, it it.n.ow, , possible to measure with < some ap? , pVoach to accuracy the exteni.of . the political change . which. : has ; been . ... .. worked in the country. As the result of the general election now closing, the House of Commons receives a considerably greater infusion of new members than it did in .-.-. either of the preceding general elections held since the passing of the Reform Bill of 1867. In 1868 228 new members were returned, and in 1874 212. The number this year is 235, of whom about two thirds are Liberals and Home Ruler?. A greater amount of political activity. , has also been shown than in either of the preceding years. In 1868 the number, of uncontented seats was 211, and in 1874 181 ; this year it has fallen to 76* Proof of this iur creased political activity is also afforded by a comparison of the total number of v.tes polled by the opposing parties throughout the United Kingdom this year and in 1 874, allowance being made for an increase since 1874 of 11 or 12 per cent in the number of electors on the register. The. total number of Con- - servative votes recorded in 1874 was .. 1,217,806 ;in 1.880,1,412,956. The. total number of Liberal votes record- ■ ed in 1874 was 1,431,805 ; in 1880, 1,877,290. On analysing the gross vote some curious results appear. No less than thirty-seven Liberal gains were determined by a gross majority of only 1742 votes— an average of 47 each ; and in eight of these cases the scale was turned in favour of the Liberal candidates by ten votes or under. In one constituency, that of South Norfolk, the Liberal candidate owes his seat to ono vote alone. Taken altogether, however, the Liberal majorities appear to be of a tolerably subscantial character, averaging as they do t530 votes. On the other hand the Conservative gains— not reckoning South Hants, where there was. no contest, or Barnscaple, for which there is no complete return— are obtained by no more than a gross majority of 3178 votes — an average of 138— which could bo wiped out by the Liberal majority in the borough of Bradford alone. — Home paper.