22 



The Review of Reviews. 



basis tlic majority of voters of cither sex industrial Yorksliirc. aaricultural Norfok. 



will he unthinking — and the equal en- 

 franchisement of u'omen who possess as 

 their great asset instinct and intuition 

 cannot but be for good. 



Verdict "^i-he first half of the jjresent 



of year has seen fourteen by- 



elections : in six constitu- 

 encies previously Unionist, 

 and in eight previously Liberal. Five out 

 of the fourteen were uncontested — four 

 Unionist, one Liberal. The seats contested 

 were scattered fairly evenly over Great 

 Britain. One was in Wales, two in Scot- 



Half-Year's 



By-Elections. 



and suburban Kent. They may thus be 

 taken as good samples of the general 

 opinion of the country. Of the nine seats 

 that were fought for, seven were Liberal and 

 two Unionist. Six are now Liberal and three 

 Unionist ; a gain of one seat — that of South 

 Manchester — to the Unionist side. The 

 substitution at South Hackney of a genuine 

 Liberal for an irresponsible and incalculable 

 free lance may be counted almost as a 

 Liberal gain, although the nominal Liberal 



land, six in England. They happened in ^'ofe dropped 1,675. The only serious 

 the great towns of Edinburgh, Glasgow, changes in the Liberal vote were at St. 

 Manchester, Nottingham, London; also in Rollox, Glasgow, where it dropped 761 ; 



in East Edinburgh, where it 

 dropped 1,3 7 2, and, of course, 

 in South Manchester, where 

 the drop was 1,649. Lea\ - 

 ing out South Hackney, 

 the combined Liberal and 

 Labour vote showed a de- 

 cline ot 7 per cent, on the 

 last |)receding contests, 

 while the total Unionist 

 vote had increased io"5 

 ])er cent. A similar change 

 throughout the electorate of 

 Great Britain would turn 

 the Coalition majority of, 

 say, 270,000 into a Unionist 

 majority of about 160,000 

 votes. How that would 

 work out in the actual 

 number of seats is anotiier 

 question. So is the effect 

 wlfuli would be produced 

 by the abolition of jilural 

 Irish Representation Pictoriilly Shown. \C)tUlg. 



