THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 200, 2 December 1910, Page 5

THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

THE REFERENDUM DISCUSSED. THE UNIONIST LEADERS PLEDGE. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. London, November 30. The Morning Post is doubtful about the wisdom of Mr. Balfour's hasty pledge in favor of the referendum. The change will have far-reaching consequences. Hitherto a general election has permitted the Government to carry out its policy. It is now suggested that an additional mandate should be required.

The Daily Telegraph declares that Mr. Balfour has struck dismay into the coalition. Tariff reform cannot rest on anything except the undoubted approval of the settled majority of the nation. Mr. Bonar Law and Mr. George Wyndham applauded Mr'. Balfour's declaration.

The Westminster Gazette says that the Tories have uproariously welcomed the referendum as a device enabling them to escape the presumed'popularity of tariff reform while permitting them to capture votes on the plea that they ardently favor taxing the foreigner. The Gazette adds: "The referendum enables them to remain in office though defeated on solitary questions.'' The Times says that his opponents thought Mr. Balfour lacked the courage to submit tariff reform to the judgment of the country. The leader never received a more enthusiastic or unanimous proof that he had his whole audience with him.

The Daily Mail applauds the declaration, which proves that the Unionist* trust the people, and enables free traders to vote against the Government. The Daily Express says that Mr. Balfour rallied and inspired all the forces of Unionism.

The Daily Chronicle says that if a referendum does not involve a change of government, good-bye to the whole system of party government. The Daily News says that the cancellation of Parliament's commission by repeated referenda is the antithesis of representative government. IRELAND'S HAPPINESS AND LTBERTY. London, November 30. Mr. T. O'Connor, in an election address, said the people had at last an opportunity of ridding themselves for ever of. the servitude to a prejudiced and insolent aristocracy. The election appealed to Irishmen mainly, because the future liberty and happiness of Ireland depended on the extinction of their lordship's absolute veto. Lord Brassey, in forwarding £SOO to Mr. O'Brien's "All-for-Ireland Fund," says: 'lreland has no worse enemies than the extremists, who either preach hatred of England, or Orangemen threatening bloodshed if the existing form of government is not preserved." NOT APPRECIATED. London, November 30. At Colchester yesterday Mr. Winston Churchill was pelted with rotten fish and mud, and the windows of the Liberal" committee-room smashed. The Young Liberals' van was destroyed. A large force of police subsequently patrolled the streets, fearing retaliation on Unionist quarters. DANGER TO THE STATE. London, November 30. Lord Rosebery, speaking at Manchester, expressed alarm at the encroachment on personal liberty under the present Government by means oi bureaucratic inquisition. He emphasised the danger to the State from Irish dictation subsidised by foreign gold, and asked whether this was not a greater danger than a single-chamber proposal. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE IN WALES. London, November 30. Mr. Lloyd-George is busy campaigning in Wales. He attended two meetings at Cardiff, and addressed 3000 people at each. VARIOUS CABLED ITEMS. ECHOES OF THE CONFLICT. London, November 30. Truth says: "The peers have suddenly changed their front, but they are wise in their generation to offer even half a measure." It condemns Mr. LloydGeorge's inflammatory appeals to class prejudices.

The Irish leaders hare issued a manifesto stating that the defeat of the Lords irill clear the path for Home Rule.

Mr. Wyndham. speaking at Manchester, said that 43 in every 1000 trade unionists were unemployed to-day. Thirty years a?o the proportion was ten. The want of employment was due to allowing imported goods to be sold below their cost of production.

Lord Joicey, in a letter to the electors of Newcastle, savs that Socialists have captured the Cabinet and trade unions, though in a minority in both. Instead of promoting reforms like Gladstone, Bright and Cobd-n, they are mere wreckers. ULSTER FIGHTING FUND. Receive.! 1. 8.5 p.m. London. December 1. The Ulster Fighting Fund has reached £ 24.000. THE PARAMOUNT TSSUE. Received 1. 11.20 p.m. London. December 1. Mr. Asr|iiitir> manifesto to Scotland declare* that Hie tardv and wholly delusive proposals for reform of the Lord?. and the panie-stri'ken avoidance of the burden of tariff reform on the part of Unionist leader?, must not be allowed to obscure the paramount issue, which

is to bring tq ah end the obstruction of the Lords. Lord Crewe, at Devonport, deprecated the naval loan, which would endanger the peace of Europe. REFERENDUM DANGEROUS AND DELUSIVE. Received 1, 11.20 p.m. London, December 1. Mr. Birrell, speaking at Bristol, declared that the referendum was a delusive and dangerous proposal, calculated to destroy a free representative Government, whereby business men were elected to convert great principles into practical legislation. MR. BALFOtR'S DECLARATION. Received 1, 11.50 p.m. London, December 1. Mr. Harold Cox, in the course of a letter, says that Mr. Balfour's declaration dispelled every legitimate anxiety, and free traders can now whole-heartedly work for a reform of the Constitution which will safeguard the liberties of Englishmen against the tyranny of a chance majority of the Commons.

The rise in consols is due to Mr. Balfour's Saturday's declaration. Lord Cromer, in a letter to the Free Traders, trusted that Mr. Balfour's declaration would remove all hesitation. THE RICH AND THE REFERENDUM. Received 1, 11.20 p.m. Lodnon, November 1. Mr. Lloyd-Geonre, at Llandrindod, said it was impossible for workmen to find the million and a half which a referendum would cost, in addition to public expenses. Therefore the people would be left at the mercy of the rich. The referendum was a dodge, and it would put the poor, man at the mercy of the great. LORD ROSEBERY ON MR. REDMOND. TAR AND FEATHERS SUGGESTED. Received 2, 12.25 a.m. London, December 1. Lord Rosebery,' in a speech, declared that if the United States, instead of Great Britain, was invaded by a foreign emissary, the tar-barrel and feathers would be the least penalty inflicted on him; and if subsidies of English gold were sent to the United States, the political cause in question would be irretrievably damned. Mr. Balfour's declaration cleared the air, and gave a clear issue between the abolition of the House of Lords and the establishment of salaried Commons. The peers surrendered their hereditary position because the nation refused its support, but this death-bed repentance, if sinoere and valid, was valuable, for humbler persons than peers do not surrender their privileges.