On Tuesday writs were ordered to be issued for the
election of Members for Dewsbury and North-West Manchester, the divisions in which Mr. Runciman and Mr. Winston Churchill are seeking re-election. In North-West Manchester the campaign opened in earnest on Monday, when Mr. Churchill made a vigorous speech, in which he insisted that Free-trade was a more vital and urgent issue than it was in 1906, and must be kept to the front "with fixed bayonets all the time." An exceptionally exciting conflict may be expected, as the Conservatives have an able candidate in Mr. Joynson- Hicks. But we cannot agree that his appeal for the support of Unionist Free-traders who voted against him in 1906 is convincing. He bases his appeal on the present state of the education question and the inadequate time-limit provided by the Government's Licensing Bill. But Mr. Joynson-Hicks, though he has declared more than once that the question of Free-trade v. Tariff Reform is not of immediate importance, and will keep very well till the General Election, has com- mitted himself far more definitely to Protection than he did two years ago, and has been pronounced orthodox by the Manchester Tariff Reform League.
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