The by-elections-at North-West Camberwell,.Basingstoke, and Northampton all resulted in favour
of the Coalition. In Camber. well, on a small poll, Dr. Maenaraara, the new 'Minister of Labour, held his seat with a majority of 1,885 over Miss Lawrence, the Labour candidate. The ,Independent Liberal candidates came in third. At BasiQstoke Sir Arthur Holbrook, a Coalition Unionist, defeated Sir Harry Verney, an Indepen- dent Liberal, by 3,122 votes. The _Labour candidate came last, with nine hundred votes less than were given to Labour at the General Election. At Northampton Mr. McCurdy held his seat, defeating :Miss .Bondfield, the Labour candidate, by 3,371 votes. It must be noted that .at Camberwell and Basingstoke the winning candidate polled fewer votes than his Independent Liberal and Labour opponents combined. This is an argument for Proportional Representation. But it does not mean that -the Coalition is out of favour. Obviously the electors of Camberwell and Basingstoke prefer the Government that they have to a Government headed either by Mr. Asquith or by Mr. Henderson.
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