We have to record the results of two by-elections. On
Saturday, February 16th, Captain W. Waring, the Liberal candidate, was returned in place of the late Mr. A. W. Black to represent Banffshire, by a majority of 2,009 over his Unionist opponent, Mr. W. Whitelaw. At the previous election Mr. Black's majority over Mr. J. A. Grant was 2,209. On Wednesday polling took place in the South division of Aberdeen for the vacancy made by the retirement of Mr. Bryce. The contest was triangular. Mr. G. B. Esslemont, the Liberal candidate, was returned by a majority of 367 over the Unionist and Tariff Reform candidate, Mr. Ronald McNeill. The figures were :—Mr. Esslemont, 3,779; Mr. McNeill, 3,412; and Mr. F. Bramley (Labour and Socialist), 1,740. The result was a very considerable decreas,e in the Liberal majority. Mr. Bryce's majority over Mr. W. G. Black, the Unionist candidate, at the previous election was 4,444. It is often assumed in triangular elections that the Socialist vote is entirely a loss to the Liberal candidate, but we believe that the loss is to some extent shared by the Unionist. Some Socialists vote for the Unionist when there is no Labour candidate rather than for the Liberal, whom they regard as the representative of that most hopeless of classes, the bourgeois.
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