18 DECEMBER 1909, Page 14

THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN BATTERSEA AND MR. BURNS.

[To THE EDITOR or ma "Sr-Berms:1

Sra,—Would it not be a handsome return to make to the so-called Liberal Free-traders who have poured contempt on the Unionist Free-traders if the Conservative Party in Battersea withdrew its candidate and left Mr. Burns to deal with the " Progressives " ? Mr. Burns last winter did more than any man to check the wholesale manufacture of paupers, and it seems an iniquity that the political career of a man should suffer because he prefers the good of his country to the imagined interests of his party.—I am, Sir, &c.,

W. A. HIRST.

Junior Conservative Club, 43 and 44 Albemarle Street, W.