3 MAY 1919, Page 3

The Coalition has lost a third seat in Central Aberdeenshire,

At the General, Election the late Colonel Gordon, as a Coalition Unionist, defeated the old Liberal Member, Mr. J. M. Henderson, by 638 votes. In the by-election, the result of which was declared on Wednesday, Major Mackenzie' Wood, an Asquithian Liberal, defeated-Mr. Davidson, the Coalition Unionist candidate, by 186 votes. A.Labour candidate, who appealed specially to the farm labourers, was third on the poll. The Coalition polled 1,782 votes fewer than in December, and the Independent Liberals 958 fewer. About half the electors voted. The defeat reflects the general anxiety and impatience, which the °looters naturally vent on the Government. The wonder is not that Central Aberdeenshire has reverted to the Asquithian fold, but that it ever, in any conceivable circumstances, should have returned a Unionist. The conservatism of Scotland is a thing that few Englishmen understand.