SCOTCH POLITICAL OPINION.

[TO THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR:]

Sue—Your correspondent Mr. James Anderson is evidently of that type of Scotch mind which thinks it has a monopoly of logic and common-sense. I do not think his side of • politics has much to crow about in regard to the way in which this Election has gone so far in Scotland, and while I do not venture any prophecy, I think the chances are that we shall, in the final result, return more Unionists to Westminster than we did in January last Up till yesterday (December 13th) the vote in Scotland stands as follows :—

Jan., 1910. Dec., 1910.

Unionist .•.

• • •

147,781

• • •

156,980

• • •

203,445 Labour and Socialist ... 28,523

14,658

Your readers will see from these figures that the Unionist poll has increased by 9,199 votes, while the Coalition poll has decreased by 15,964; and yet we have only, so far, the same number of Unionist Members returned as before !

The fact of the matter is that but for the Irish vote in the West of Scotland, we would have won seat after seat. It is very hard lines that not only should Ireland be grossly over- represented in Parliament, having, as you point out, forty 3/embers more than she is entitled to, but that we should be swamped here in so many-of our Scotch constituencies by Irish labourers, for it is that class that forms the majority of our Irish population. I have a strong belief that had Mr. Balfour given his pledge about Tariff Reform and his adoption of the Referendum a week or two earlier, we should have done very much better in Scotland than has been the case. At the same time, one must recognise the difficulties that our leader must have had to contend with before he was in a position-to make any public declaration.

It is amusing to hear some of the objections of the Radical candidates and the Ministerial Press regarding the Referendum. Trade-Unionists, at least, seem to think it is a very effective method of ascertaining the will of their members, for it has been resorted to in quite a number of instances within the last few months over the Boilermakers' lock-out, and evidently Mr. Pease, Mr. Asquith's late Chief Whip, was satisfied of its efficacy and workableness.—I am,

Sir, &e., Wrenessr H. ILLEBURN. 45 West Nile Street, Glasgow.