Evening star., 1922-11-02
LABOR DEFEATED
At BRITISH POLLS
Party Loses 149 Seats In
London and 160 Out
side Capital.
GENERAL DEFEAT SEEN
Although Elections Were Only
Municipal, Future Prospects Are
Declared Discouraging.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON. November 2-Stunned by
the heavy downfall Of their candidates
in the municipal elections throughout
England yesterday, the laborites in
tensified their political campaign to-
day with the hope of making a bet
ter showing in the general election
for parliament November Is.
In yesterdays balloting the labor
ties lost 149 seats which they had
previously held in London and about
16o seats which they had occupied In
eighty boroughs outside the capital,
for the most part in such large cities
as Manchester. Liverpool, Birming-
i ham. Derby. Nottingham. Plymouth,
Southampton and Portsmouth.
General Prospects Discourasing.
Although nominally considered
purely municipal issues, the local
contests, such as those held yester-
day. are generally regarded and some
times are an index to existing po-
litical feeling. This time the races
were watched with intense curiosity
as a possible forecast of labor's
! changes in the coming general cleo
ton.
While it Undoubtedly would be rash
to assume that labor is doomed to the
same fate at the parliamentary polls
the outcome of the local elections has
certainly made labor's prospects for
parliament very discouraging.
In some instances laborite repre-
sentation was completely wiped out
in the municipal elections, but at
other polls labor held it's own and
even made a few gains.
London Extremely Hostile.
London was intensely hostile to labor.
| The general feeling in the capital was
manifested by the way the voters
! flocked to the polls. despite the raw
wind and furious rains. Ordinarily the
voters in London stay indoors for the
most part when municipal elections
fall on such day. This time. however,
the local political fights seem to have
stirred the electorate quite deeply.
The PARTISAN interest for and aga inst
; labor is little stronger today than the
attention focused on the wrangle be-
tween the Lloyd Georgian liberals and
the conservatives. Inc pOullCdi
really do not seem to know what is go
ing on behind the scenes. Some Of them
say Sir George Younger has won his
fight and that Lloyd George has de-
cided to abandon his idea of spread
ing the war" against the conservatives.
Others declare just as emphatically
that the fallen prime minister has
! taken very determined attitude and
has decided to nominate additional
candidates against conservatives. On
, the whole, however. the general ten
dency is toward the belief that the
not be carried out and that his trouble
with the conservatives will somehow
be Smoothed over.
Harmony Renewal Seen.
Some observers profess to see a re-
newal Of harmony between Lloyd
George and his former colleagues
In the statement made yesterday by
Sir Robert S. Horne, who. although
he was one Of the most faithful fol-
lowers Of the little Welshman, in
formed a Glasgow audience he still
was a unionist and that II elected he
would sit on the unionist side of
the house and give his general sup
port to Prime Minister Bonar Law
The illness of Lloyd George attracts
much attention. His cold and throat
trouble is said by some to be a symp-
tom of rundown health due to fa-
tigue. That he is tired was obvious
to those who saw him during his re-
cent visit to Scotland. Lord Birken-
head will substitute for Lloyd George
as the speaker before a political gath
ering at Bristol tonight. 1t Is supposed
that he will voice the views of Lloyd
George about spreading the war"