[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Judging of the result
of .the North-West Manchester election, I have come to the conclusion that the Free-trade issue on its merits had comparatively little to do with Mr. Churchill's defeat. Those Free-trade Unionists of the General Election in the city wards of the division who voted for Mr. Joynson-Hicks this time have not recanted their views at all and taken up the Tariff Reform heresy. To say the result of the poll is a victory for Tariff Reform is a most audacious statement in view of the fact that Mr. Joynson-Hicks and his supporters kept the question well in the.background. I think I know what I am talking about, for during the whole course of the contest I was actively engaged as Liberal secretary of the leading city ward (St. Ann's) and knew intimately what was going on throughout the division. I state unhesitatingly that Tariff Reform has made no headway amongst the hard- headed business men of Manchester. The loss of votes in reality to Mr. Churchill was in two wards inhabited largely by the poorer classes,—viz., St. Clement's Ward, where Catholic priests led voters to the poll against the Government in spite of the Nationalists, and "the trade" in St. John's Ward stood at nothing to secure its ends. The Conservative evening paper here (Chronicle) is quite right, according to my know- ledge, in saying that the votes recorded were on the Licensing Bill and education.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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