^86 



The Review of Reviews, 



Marcn iC, 1906. 



THE GENERAL ELECTION: 



Various Views by Various Observers. 

 Mr. W. B. Duffield, writing in the Fortnightly 

 Review, says : — 



The electors have read the personnel of the Ministry 

 aright, and have given them a free hand. As to the 

 future, prophecy is dangerous, but a few things are clear. 



1 The elections in the counties were won mainly ou Free 

 Trade; in most country places Chinese labour did not in- 

 terest the audience, though education did, principally after 

 Free Trade. 



2. Chinese labour had effect where Trade Unionism was 

 strong; it greatly swelled the majority against Protection, 

 but to say it won the election in these places is nonsense. 



3. The Labour bogey which now alarms society is grossly 

 exaggerated: the actual Labour section is small, and some 

 of its members are men of money; certiiinly one is a mem- 

 ber of a highly respectable London club. 



4. The manifestation is one of contempt for Mr. Balfour's 

 incapables, and at the same time of conlidence in the Minis- 

 try with a mandate for sweeping measures of reform. 



MR. MASSINGHAM'S PROGRAMME. 



Under the heading •' Victory, and What to do 



With It," Mr. H. W. Massingham sets forth in the 



Contemporary Rcvieio the lan(hnarks which pioneer 



thinkers have set up for the direction of the leadt-rs 



of the Liberal Party. They are : — 



Education : — 



(a) Restoration of the right of public control over essen- 

 tially public schools. 



(h) Abolition of religious tests for their teachers. 



(c) Respect for the wishes of parents in regard to special 

 religious instruction. 



id) A vigorous effort to promote the physical efficiency of 

 the children, and to connect elementary and higher edu- 

 cation. 



(c) More liberal grants to necessitous school districts. 



Temperance :-- 



(a) Proper taxation of licenses. 



(b) A linie-liniit to conipensition, and a fairer division 

 of it between brewer and publican. 



(c) A free hand to local authorities for experiments in 

 option or control. 



Land ; — 



(a) Power to County Councils to acquire land compulsor- 

 ily for small holdings, as well as for allotments, with a 

 supervising power by the Board of Agriculture. 



(b) The separation of site from building values, and the 

 taxation of the former for local purposes. 



(c) The fair rating of vacant land in the neighbourhood 

 of towns. 



(rt) Compensation to tlie dispossessed farmer for improve- 

 ments which have added to the value of the land. 



(<•) The promotion of scientific agriculture, of co-operation 

 in the sale and distribution of produce, and of experimental 

 work, as a province of the Board of Agriculture, now one 

 of the most important of our public offices. 



(/) A large scheme for the provision of rural cottages 



(a) Special rating of land held for mere amusement. 



Labour: — 



(a) Restoration of tlie effective right of combination and 

 of peaceful iiersuasion during strikes. 



(f)) The eiglit hours" day for miners. 



(c) A vigorous administration of the Factory Acts, with 

 special regard to overtime, unhealthy trades, the treat- 

 ment of \vonien workers and the safeguarding of the 

 motherhood of the nation. 



'd) The Government to be in the first flight of em- 

 ployers. 



Poor [jOrr : — 



(ii) Discrimination between loafers and the temporarily 

 unemployed, with the removal of electoral disabilities from 

 the latter class. 



ih) The removal of "pauper" children from pauper 

 •schools. 



(c) Separate and neighbourly treatment of ihe aged poor, 



I'Vemploijment : — 



(a) A national scheme of afforestation, on economic lines. 



fb) Grants to localities enabling them to deal with 

 specially severe distress. 



u) Transference of powers of Guardians to Town Councils. 



London : — 



(a) A Port Bill, with an improvement of the waterway. 



(b) A further equalisation of rates. 



(f) Fair play for the County Council and its transit and 

 housing schemes. 



The Coln)iie»: — 



Establishment of an Imperial Consultative .Council, with 

 special reference to schemes of defence and emigration, 

 trade interests, and industrial law. 



Trade:— 

 (a) Anti-Commission Bill. 

 (h) Strengthening and re-organisation of Consular service. 



(c) Relief of railway rates. 



A TORY GROAN. 

 Blackwood's Magazine, in " Musings Witlxxit 

 Method," calls the General Election " the heaviest 

 indictment ever made against the Democracy." It 

 has not been won on Free Trade, but on the silly 

 cry of ■' Chin, Chin, Chinaman." Even for that cry 

 we might have had some respect, had a vestige of 

 sincerity underlain it. Nothing underlay it, how- 

 ever, but the desire of the party out of power to 

 become the paxty in power. 



The Chinaman is not the only bogey which has 

 been u.seful to the Liberal Party. '' The cowl has 

 servtid it as loyally as the pigtail — a vivid picture 

 of a greedy monk strangling an honest Nonconform- 

 ist has not been without its effect." This and 

 •' other works of art," Blachvood's says, proceeded 

 from a department presided over by Mr. Birrell, 

 whose famous invention of '' hecatombs of babes " 

 has doubtless ended in his being given power over 

 many hecatombs of innocent children. "' Ireland 

 will be given Home Rule, and the rest of the Em- 

 pire will be freed from any kind of rule whatsoever." 

 At least, that is what is promised. " And so," sums 

 up the writer — • 



when we demand of the people whether it would have Free 

 Trade or Protection, it replies. ' You shall not strike a 

 Chinaman," whose skin was never in danger, and then, no 

 doubt filled with generous impulses, goes home and beats 

 its wife. 



As for the comparison with 1832, that Parlia- 

 ment, as Greville said, was inferior not only to the 

 last, but perhaps to anv Parliament for many years 

 before, and it could not hold out more than two 

 vears. The part played by the Radicals in 1833 

 is played by the Labour members to-day. 



The writer " from a College window," in Cornhill 

 has much to say about the art and habit of com- 

 position that is of value. He would not discourage 

 the writing or printing of inferior books, because 

 it is, after all, one of the most harmless of hobbies. 

 He does, however, hold out the somewhat appalling 

 prospect that, " if we became a more intellectual 

 nation the change would be signalised by an im- 

 mense output of inferior books, because we have 

 not the student temperament " ; but " we have a 

 deep instinct for publicity." He advises the writ- 

 ing of a diary as one of the best ways of developing, 

 style. 



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