Mr. Barnes said in Glasgow on Monday that nobody seemed
to want a General Election. " He expected, however, that when the new Register was made up, new voters would want to exercise their vote. As a democrat, he would certainly not stand in their way." No one can say what the new voters want, as incest of them are busily engaged in winning the war. But the Prime Minister's Press is working up an -agitation of the usual kind in -favour of a General Election in November, so that we may easily foresee what is going to happen. The chief argument used—that it would be unfair to hold by-elections on the old Register when the new Register is complete—seems to us weak, since a by-election nowadays is seldom contested and excites no public interest Those-who urge a General Election are thinking not so much of the elector's rights as of the Prime Minister's opportunities. Mr. Barnes, as a Labour member of the War Cabinet, will not stand in their way.
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