Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, speaking at Tetbury on Tuesday, in favour
of the candidature of Colonel Chester Masters, in the Cirencester division of Gloucestershire, declared, as regards agriculture, first, that the whole burden of local taxation fell upon land and houses ; and, secondly, that the main reason for agricultural depression was the low price of wheat. That last statement is, no doubt, quite true ; but it is not a very wise one to make in the counties without qualification, for it tends to make people think that, somehow or other, the price of corn ought to be raised. The speech was not a very effective one, due, no doubt, to the rowdy character of a part of the audience; but, after all, it is not effective speeches that win elections. Unless there is some local under-current, of which we hear nothing, working against Colonel Chester Masters, he should certainly carry the seat. If Mr. Winterbotham, with his name and his great local popularity, could only hold it by 153, Mr. Lawson should have no chance. Liberal and Radical ljnionists may have been able to find excuses for voting for an old friend like Mr. Winterbotham. They can find none for supporting an imported Londoner.
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