Feb. 18.
'The result of the by-election in the Holder= linoss Division of Yorkshire, made necessary by the death of Sir Servington Savery, has sulted in retention of the seat by' the National Government, despite the fact that the conservative vole was split by the entrance of an Independent Conservative into the fight together with Liberal and Labour contestants. The flyures which have been published of the voting are interesting. The poll itself was larger than at the last election, both the Labour and Liberal candidates registering increases, while the National and Independent Conservative vote combined also represented an increase, though some six thousand voters apparently did not prove of the policy followed by My. Chamberlain. The total poll was 45,064 as compared with 41,483 at the last election, and that increase seems to have been about! equally shared between the three political creeds, accepting, of course, that hid there been no independent Conservative candidate the voters would have supported the official Po! entrant. 'The latter, nevertheless, won the! seat with a comfortable margin of over six thousand votes, though the combined official opposition of Liberal and Labour actually polled more votes than the successful candid-ie. 'The' total combined Conservative poli still represented a majority over its opponents. Study of the figures may not prove particularly comforting to the Prime Minister, for they show that there is a very substantial proportion of his supporters who still refuse to support his policy and are even. now bitterly critical of his actions during and since the Czechoslovak crisis. That. about one-quarter of the Conservatives who! voted at Holderness, recorded their suffrages! ment's supporters to create a new party, jealled. "The One-Hundred Thousand" designed to put more ginger into the policy of the National Government proved and egregious failure, It died almost stillborn, and while there are endeavours still being made to resuscitate it, there seems to be little chance of the movement ever being a success. That may be for a number of reasons. Sir John Simon claims that there is an increasing feeling throughout the country that the prospects of peace are becoming. more secure. There are many who will undoubtedly believe that Sir John is indulging in a little too much optimism, though it cannot be denied that certain factors operating in favour of peace are stronger today than they have been for a very long time past. There is the knowledge that Britain is growing stronger every day. There is the knowledge that Britons are prepared to shoulder every burden necessary to make themselves secure, while the close and warm understanding} between Great Britain and France, and good relations with the United States, together with the prospect of the conflict in Spain coming to an carly termination all contribute to the feeling of greater security than has been the case for all too long. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is probably correct in insisting that another important factor is the determination with which Ins. Chamberlain has pursued his policy of secking to effect 2 better understanding with other states no matter what form their government may take, and to the coolness and firmness with which he has held to his course during recent months of anxiety. That Great Bri tain is infinitely stronger now than she was but a few months ayo is due entirely to the determination of the man who succeeded in staving off war last September. The four and a half months which have passed since then have enabled Great Britain to put herself in a better position of defence than she would have been in had hostilities broken out then. Weaknesses in the system have been discovered and practically entirely removed; they should be totally eliminated within @ very short time now, and no matter how roundly Mr. Chamberlain may be condemned by critics who would have followed what they contend is a stronger policy the fact remains that he has contributed not only largely to the present feeling of security, but also to the confidence with which Great Britain can now contemplate the possibility of war.
How far that had any influence upon the! minds of the voters in the Holderness Divis-on is not clear at this distance. Quite likely had very little, for feelings such as those to which Sir John refers are apt to be much too intangible for use as electioneering arguments. Incidentally it may be readily inferred that the election was fought out on what happened last year rather than upon the improved prospects which have recently' been brought about, It may take a_ long time to bring about that general conviction, which Mr. Chamberlain and his immediate supporters hold, that it is possible to be friendly with those states with whom rela~ ions are not so cordial as could be desired, but a fully armed Britain should find the task of improving international relations in this respeet_much easier now than would have been the case when Mr. Chamberlain had to make his fateful decisions last year. 'Those who profess 0 find in the opposition which has been demonstrated against the Prime Minister signs of weakness in the general political structure of Great Britain, should give their' impressions no undue weight. The British, like the French, reserve themselves the right to differ greatly on political matters, but in the face of danger they coalesce into one body for mutual defence. There is every likelihood that if Mr. Chamberlain went to the country now he would find himself returned to power because of the reluctance of the British voter to swap horses when facing crises which may be expected in the near future. If he defers doing so until next October, the chances of retaining power may be considerably increas~ ed, especially if in the interim he cither achieves some success for his appeasement oF in the face of political aggression shows just that same degree of firmness as! that with which he has so resolutely stuck to his guns despite the fierceness of his critics and the rebellion of some of his supporters.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.