The poll in South Leeds, which took place on Thursday,
has resulted in the return of Mr. Middlebrook, the Liberal candi- date, by a majority of 359 over Mr. Neville, the Unionist. At the General Election the Liberal candidate's majority over the Unionist was 3,984. A detailed examination of the figures shows that while the total vote increased by 194,. the Unionist vote has increased by 2,789, while the Liberal vote has decreased by 926, and the Labour vote by 1,579. After the declaration of the result Mr. Middlebrook is stated to have said that, among other things, he had "gained much from being able to draw the attention of working men to the Government's promise of old-age pensions." If that is So, Mr. Middlebrook seems to have a curious and original View as to electoral gains. When it was not possible to draw the attention of the working men to any Government promise as to old-age pensions, the Liberal majority was over four thousand. Now that it has been possible to draw attention to this fact, the Liberal majority has fallen to under four hundred. In truth, this and the other by-elections show that the promise of old-age pensions has utterly failed to attract the voters. When will the politicians learn the lesson which Mr. Gladstone was taught in 1874 when he proposed to abolish the Income-tax ? The electors are not to be bribed with their own money.
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