Loss of Seventy Seats

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 643, 20 April 1929, Page 9

Loss of Seventy Seats

CONSERVATIVE LEADERS GUESS

Baldwin Forecasts Election

Times Cable

Received 9.5 a.m. LONDON, Friday. MR. STANLEY BALDWIN’S prediction in his Drury Lane speech that the Conservatives will he returned to power at the General Election in June by the same majority as Disraeli had in 1874 is, as “The Times” points out, the first official estimate of the party’s general election prospects.

In 1874 the House of Commons consisted of 652 members, of whom 352 were Conservatives, 242 Liberals, and 58 Nationalists. Disraeli therefore had a clear over-all majority of 52. “Mr. Baldwin,” adds “The Times,” “thus has ranged himself -with those Conservatives who believe the party will not have less than 330 members out of 615 in the new Parliament, or, in other words, Mr. Baldwin Is prepared to see the party lose 70 or 80 seats.” The “Daily Express,” which, has long insisted that unemployment is the paramount issue of the election, says Mr. Baldwin’s reference to the responsibilities of Empire and the need for consistent Empire development was excellent, but his references to unemployment were casual and superficial. He showed that he had not genuinely applied his mind to the problem. Mr. Baldwin seemed to be uncon-

scious that this was the supreme issue, not only of the election, but of Britain’s social and industrial state. The “Daily Chronicle” says Mr. Baldwin lived up to his reputation of being an honest man when he told his party that he could not promise them a policy, because he had not got one. VALUE OF GRAMOPHONE PARTY LEADERS’ RECORD LLOYD GEORGE NERVOUS (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) LONDON, Friday. The headquarters of the political parties have suddenly realised the value of gramophone records in electioneering. Their effects are more permanent than wireless or the talkies. The Labour Party first exploited the idea, although Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, in the recording room, admitted that he would rather take part in a duet with Will Fyffe, the Scottish comedian, than address the microphone upon world peace. Mr. Lloyd George was seized with a fit of nervousness and announced that he would never record again all his life. He would rather face 1,000,000 electors in the flesh. Mr. Baldwin, hearing that his rivals had submitted to the ordeal, hurried to follow their example. Sir William Joynson-Hicks, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Sir Herbert Samuel, Mr. Philip Snowden, Mr. J. H. Thomas and Miss Margaret Bondfield have also recorded aspects of current politics.