THE DEPTFORD POLL.
[To TEl EDITOR OF TEl " SIZCTILTOR."]
SIR,—In your note and article upon the London County Council Elections, in the Spectator of March 9th, there are some errors of fact which I venture to hope you will allow me to correct. You state that "one Collectivist candidate has been elected." As a matter of fact, every Collectivist member of the late Council who offered himself for re-election was returned. Besides Mr. John Barns, whom you unaccountably overlook, the three Councillors, for instance, who are members of the Fabian Society (Messrs. W. Crooks, W. C. Steadman, and Sidney Webb), were returned at the head of the poll in their respective constituencies,—two of which, by the way,. send Conservative Members to the House of Commons. Nor does Deptford, as you state, return Mr. Webb "by a reduced. vote." On the contrary, Mr. Webb's vote rises from 4,088 in 1892, to 4,286 in 1895, the highest obtained by any Progressive member; whilst his majority over his highest unsuccessful competitor (1,768), this time exceeds that of any other Councillor in a two-member constituency. In addition to these three members of the Fabian Society and Mr. John Burns, the new Council includes as many other members of " Collectivist" views as the last one. The Progressive Councillors who were defeated at the poll happen, in every ease, not to be those who are associated with this phase of
Previous page
