Mr. Hibbert has won Oldham, and won it by a
majority which shows a very great Liberal reaction in the borough. In 1869 Mr. Hibbert was at the head of the poll, but by so narrow a majority that he was only 24 in advance of Mr. Cobbett, the highest Con-
serrative,-24, out of over 6,000 votes. In 1874 he was defeated, and 185 votes behind the highest Conservative, Mr. Spinks, i.e., defeated by 185 out of over 8,500 votes, the parties still running each other close, though not so close as before, and the Liberals being worse worsted than the Conservatives were in 1869. But this time Mr. Hibbert has defeated Mr. Lees by 711 votes out of over 9,500, the numbers being for Hibbert, 9,542; for Lees, 8,831. For a place like Oldham, where the Conservatives have always been very strong, that vote implies a very marked Liberal reaction indeed.
