In November Parliament, having reached the end of its statutory existence, will be dissolved and the country will be in the throes of a general election, unless a bill to prolong the life of the present legislature is adopted. That there will be a strong feeling in the country that such a bill is desirable at this time goes without saying. In addition to being in the midst of a great war, the British nation is in an unusual state of flux, many of the inhabitants of the larger cities having been evacuated to the country, leaving boroughs which were formerly large voting centres partially denuded of people, and crowding other and smaller cities with unaccustomed population. The problem presented by this wartime phenomenon is not insurmountable, but will call for a great deal of organization for its satisfactory solution, since registers of voters will have been disorganized in all parts, and the customary individual difficulties of different areas will have been modified or accentuated, according as the population has decreased or increased. In addition there is the still undiminished force of the old adage about changing horses.in mid-stream. It is usual for a general election to unleash passions which are never pleasant at the best of times, and to be the occasion of the washing in public of a great deal of dirty linen. There cane little doubt that at a period when the whole energies of the country should be concentrated on winning the war, such political ebullitions will be wasteful. This does not mean, of course, that there should be no change in the personnel of the Government at present in power until after the war has ended. It may well be preferable that changes should be made as conditions alter in the progress of the fighting, or it may be found desirable to broaden the national basis of the Government and receive into the inner circles of the nation some of those who are now in opposition. These points have doubtless been considered by the Government and, should action be necessary, it will certainly be taken, Plain commonsense dictates, however, a cautious policy in this connection until there has been an outcome one way or the other from the efforts being made to bring about an honourable peace,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.