(2 of 5)
Faces were thus saved temporarily, but in London last week it was freely predicted that should George V remain invalid, an Imperial Conference will have to be called to settle the Crown Council Question beyond possibility of Irish cavil. Early in the week, several of the 22 subjects designated Knights in the delayed New Year's honors list tingled at the thought of kneeling in silk breeches to be dubbed (smacked between the shoulder blades) by the naked sword of Edward of Wales acting for George V. These ceremonies were postponed to allow the Prince to represent King George at Marshal Foch's funeral.
Five By-Elections. If the attention of the Speaker of the House of Commons is called to the fact that a Right Honorable Member is absent by reason of Death, he will issue a writ for the holding of a by-election to fill the vacant seat. Last week five such by-elections were held, although the five M.P.'s elected will hold their seats for less than two months, namely until May 10, when Parliament will be dissolved for a General Election. Therefore when two more M. P.'s suddenly died, the party chieftains got together, last week, and agreed that nobody would call the attention of "Mr. Speaker" to these two particular empty seats.
Straw Votes. Just as the citizens of the U.S. have "primaries" to tell them in advance of a Presidential Election whether the prevailing winds are Republican or Democratic, so the Englishman reads the signs of the times in "by-elections." Thus simple addition of the results of the last night by-elections since the General Election of 1924 shows that the Labor Party has won 93,000 votes, the Conservative or present Government Party 78,000, and the Liberals 58,000. On their face these figures−not to be bet on−seem to prophesy that the Conservative Cabinet will be replaced after the General Election by a Labor Government. The actual betting odds on London's stock exchange, last week, showed that Labor is expected to win from 263 to 267 seats, Conservatives 261-265, and Liberals 85-89. In the House of Commons today the Conservative Government holds a crushing majority of 400 seats, Labor 162, Liberals 46, Independents 7.