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EAST CARMARTHENSHIRE ELECTION

TO THE ELECTORSI OF THE! WESTERN…

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THE POLITICAL SITUATION

WHY AND WHtBEFORE

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WHY AND WHtBEFORE The results of the election in East and West Car- marthenshire were about what might have been expected. There arc a few crumbs of comfort for Conservatives, thanks mainly to the pluck and energy of the two candidates, Mr. Mervyn Peel and Mr. Cremlvn. In each case the majority has been re- duced, and both gentlemen have been met with a markedly better spirit than at the January ejection —this in spite of several particularly mean acts of hooliganism. It is good spade work, but we wonder how long candidates will be found to work in such a garden? For. look at the position. Frankly, it seems Hopeless. Here are two Liberal candidates who are returned with majorities large enough to indicate them as men of outstanding suitability and popularity. Yet it cannot be said that either of the Liberal members for Carmarthenshire are pre- eminently suitable men for the honour, neither are they in all senses popular. Mr. Abel Thomas is a very busy lawyer, who spends very little time in his constituency, and it cannot be said that his constituents are enthusiastic about him. In the western half of the county Mr. John Hinds was lucky enough to be selected-by a couple of hands- to succeed the former member as candidate. It was a toss-up whether his party would have him or somebody quite different, so that, in spite of his undoubted worth and character, he owes nothing of his position to any supremacy of natural claim upon the seat. Yet in each case both these gentlemen, who, no matter how much we may like them person- ally, have no special capacity for achieving a great political victory, beat their Unionist opponents- two men of wide experience and education-by such majorities as to make it seem hopeless that Unionism shouid ever triumph there. And is this state of things to be wondered at after carefully weighing- all the conditions wliiel affect the situation? On the Radical side there is the astonishing alliance of the preacher, and never has this alliance been so open and strenuous as at this election. At one Radical meeting there were as many as six ministers of religion on the platform supporting the candidate, and all through the cam- paign ministers have been retained to make political speeches. It is very regrettable to see these gentle- men-especially the younger and more enlightened gneration of them, who often show signs of helping in the cause of religious amity and peace—openly taking the field as politicians, and subscribing to the fanatical and senseless doctrines of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer. But there it is. a tremen- dous factor in the success of any Radical candidate in Wales. In striking contrast with this spectacle is the curious and rather too frequent aloofness of the clergy. We do not, of course, advocate the inter- ference, active or passive, of the clergy in politics; rather would we condemn it, but it is very difficult to understand, why, when the shriek of Disestab- lishment and Disendowment is rising higher, pro- viding a magnificent battle cry for Welsh Radicals, the clergyman, though obviously alarmed, should remain in semi-obscurity, instead of coming out into the street and taking the parishioner to his bosom, well knowing that that very parishioner may be wondering sadly whether after all, the cry of Dis- establishment has not something to recommend it. Another factor in the situation is the condition of the party machinery. Since the advent of Mr. Mervyn Peel and Mr. Cremlyn, the system is much improved, but it remains professional. Organisation on the Radical side is not professional; they haven't even an association; their organisation is of the soil, and in it flourishes Young Wales who consequently grows up Radical and, who, if he does not think much, often becomes an effective speaker. All this is lacking on the Conservative and Unionist side. There are many other reasons, of course, why Conservatism does not forge ahead in this part of the country, but are not these ample for the present?

, WHAT CAUSED THE ELECTIONS

I • THE EFFECTS OF DISENDOWMENT

-. NOTES OF THE WEEK

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