"RAILWAY NATIONALIZATION."
[To THE EDITOR 07 THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—" Dockyard constituencies, such as Chatham and Portsmouth, where the first appeal made to every candidate is that he should promise to support all the demands of Government employees, whether just or unjust." The above in your issue of the 26th is entirely inaccurate. Portsmouth
was not won by any such means, and I for one should be ashamed to sit for any constituency on such terms—terms which I should look upon as unworthy and dishonest. Portsmouth has over 34,000 electors, and these gentlemen are thoroughly able to recognize and appreciate the difference between glib-tongued, irresponsible politicians, whose stock- in-trade is promises, and candidates who are willing to promise no more than they honestly believe they can perform. I have been in Portsmouth now for some years, and I have never yet received from a dockyard employee any demand or complaint against the Government which could be termed " unjust." I have bad many in which the men have been treated with great harshness, for the conditions of dockyard service are not what they should be as regards terms of service, wages, pensions, or compensation—for the Government "contracts out" of the Workmen's Compensation Act—and it is and it will continue to be my most earnest endeavour to try and improve many of those conditions, but only because I believe them to be unfair
M.P. for Portsmouth.
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