THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 201, 3 December 1910, Page 5

THE BRITISH ELECTIONS

i tiie referendum issue. LIMITED DUCAL VOCABULARY. By Oftble —Press Association —Oopyrigkt London, December 1. The Duke of Marlborough, at Macclesfield, said they were prepared to be ruled by the people, and to do anything reasonable they wished> but he'd be flanged if he'd submit to the domination of his countrymen's enemies who cheered their defeats in South Africa. The Duke of Norfolk, in an address at Coalville, said the Premier contended tlhat. tie Lords were the only issue, but there were other questions. The Liberals were anxious that people should forget the possibility of invasion, but it inns terribly real, and an anxious question. "END 'EM, NOT REFERENDUM." London, December 1. Two hundred special constables guarded Mr. Churchill at Sheffield. All the streets near the hall where he was speaking were closed, barriers being erected. Mr. Churchill said: "Our opponents declare we are on the run, and that a general scuttle is commencing. The Liberals replied, 'No quarter to food-taxers and vote-mongers; end em, not referendum.' " ELECTION NOTES. London, December 1. Lard Ridley, in a letter, says: "I entirely approve of Mr. Balfour's declaration." Dr. Clifford, the well-known Baptist minister, hopes that Mr. Lansbury will be elected for Mile End. Lord Monson is supporting Mr. Filmer, Unionist candidate for Lincoln. Mr/Ttvmciman, at Dewsbury, spoke in favor of two chambers, both answerable to the people. Many references have been made on the political platforms and newspapers to Australia's referenda and New Zealand's votes on local loans and licensing laws. Two (hundred and fifty-three petitions, containing 289,233 signatures; were presorted during the past sesson in favor of extending the franchise to women. Lord lanedowne addressed nine thousand at Portsmouth. He said the value of the referendum, with wihich Mr. Asquith had flirted on several occasions, was that it focussed attention on points. He trusted that Mr. Balfour had reassured the great number of moderates who would resent votes given on a constitutional issue being used for tariff refonn. ORANGEMEN'S APPEAL. London, December 1. The Loyal Orange Institution of England has issued an appeal for support for every candidate upholding the Lords and opposed heart and soul to Home Rule and the rifting of the Kingdom. SPEECHES BY PARTY LEADERS. Received 2, 10.30 p.m. London, December 2. Mr. Asquith, addressing five thousand people at Wolvenhampton on tariff reform, showed that while the Ix>rds were being rebuilt and the mechanism for the referendum developed, with tariff reform on the shelf, the Unionists would be totally unable to make a binding bargain with the dominions at the coming Imperial Conference, except with the "if" of a referendum. The Liberals objected to the referendum, and therefore it was pointless to ask whether they would submit Home Rule to a referendum. "My flirtations with the referendum," he said, "were made twelve or thirteen years ago, in my comparative political immaturity. Since then I have had a good deal of experience of its actu&l working in Switzerland and some American States, Canada and Australia, and have now- come to the conclusion on the referendum that it has proved in practice a disappointing and unsatisfactory way of ascertaining public opinion. One proof is the very small percentage of votes polled as compared with a general election." Mr. Balfour, speaking at the railway sheds at Reading, said the only explanation of the incoherent fury wherewith the referendum had been received was that -the majority of the people were in favor of tariff refonn. He reminded critics that the referendum was part of the free and representative institution reverently given to the great Australian Commonwealth. Since the referendum was actually in operation in one of the sister States of the Empire, he could not conceive why it was regarded as 6uch strange and alien machinery. The referendum had not ruined Australia. Moreover, trade unions use the referendum daily, and it does not ruin them. Every Radical should welcome it, as fulfilling their dearest aspiration, namely, the consulting of the people. He would be painfully disappointed if his counter challenge as to submitting Home Rule to a referendum was treated with silent contempt.