20 JANUARY 1906, Page 2

The tide of Liberal success continued to roll just as

strongly an Wednesday, when 12 more seats were won in London, thus bringing the Liberal total up to 40 out of 61. Two seats were won in each case at Nottingham, Portsmouth, and Sunderland; Cardiff was captured by Mr. Guest with a majority of 3,000; and other gains were achieved in Chester, Christchurch, Exeter, Salisbury, Whitehaven, and Greenock. The results from the counties were quite as sensational, Mr. Brothick being defeated by 800 in the Guildford division, and two other ex-Ministers, Captain Pretyman and Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes, losing their seats in the Woodbridge and Ramsey divisions respectively; while Mr. Henry Chaplin, the chief agricultural Protectionist and Mr. Chamberlain's right-hand man in the Tariff Reform campaign, was rejected in the Sleaford division, which he had represented for twenty years. On the other band, the Conservatives won a seat at Maidstone and another in Mid-Herts, while the seven divisions of Birmingham went solid for the Opposition. This notable result, however, we regard rather as a tribute to the com- manding personality and great civic virtues of Mr. Chamber- lain than as a proof of adhesion to his fiscal policy.