TORY PARTY FINANCES
Sta,—If your correspondent, Mr. Ross, will refer to my letter in your issue of November 22nd he will see that I am concerned only with conditions obtaining at present. He may, however, be interested to learn that 50 per cent, of the candidates adopted since the last General Election have either
had to undertake no financial commitments whatsoever or have subscribed to the local Associations amounts varying from £5 to kso. When con- stituencies reorganise their finances as a result of their recruiting drives, it is expected that the number of candidates freed from all subscriptions will steadily increase. I am grateful to Mr. Ross for asking how I justify the statement that the Conservative Party is now "the poor Party." Mr. Ross has evidently not observed the vast increase in Socialist finances due to the repeal of the "contracting in " clause of the Trades Disputes Act. Owing largely to this compulsory levy the Socialists can dispose of infinitely greater resources than the Conservatives, who rely upon voluntary sub- scriptions. As for our " rich " supporters, in the first place the number of rich men who, for various personal reasons, now support the Socialist Party is not small. In the second, rich men generally, with Income- and Sur-Tax at 19s. 6d. in the £ on the highest incomes, are a vanishing
Vice-Chairman, Conservative Party.
Conservative and Unionist Central Office, S.W. r.
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