§ Mr. Wardrose to call the attention of the House to some mode of giving publicity to correct and authentic Lists of Divisions. He thought that all hon. Members must be interested in devising some better mode than that which existed at present, of making the public acquainted with the votes on divisions. The practice now pursued of publishing the names of the Members of that House, furnished, as they were, by some individual Members of it, was, in his opinion, attended by all the evils which could possibly result from the authentic publicity of them, and by none of the advantages which, he was satisfied, would follow the adoption of the mode of taking the votes which he meant to suggest. The names of Members were, at present, sent to the newspapers, after a division had taken place, without the sanction of the Speaker's authority, and without being placed on the votes of the House; and the only manner in which hon. Gentlemen could 571 correct the mistakes, which, of necessity constantly took place under this system was to throw themselves upon the courtesy of editors, and to beg of them to rectify the errors which were committed. He recollected to have seen in The Times, no fewer than five letters in one day's paper, and nine upon that of the following day, all complaining of the mistakes which had been made in reference to one division. He (Mr. Ward) also remembered the words which were used by the editor of that paper, upon the occasion alluded to, and they, as he thought, conveyed a just rebuke, and were to this effect—"We repeat, usque ad nauseam, that we are not responsible for the correctness of the Lists, which are furnished us. Why does not the House adopt some plan of giving them to the public in a correct and authentic form?" He did not think that there were any insuperable difficulties in the way of devising some plan, by which all the evils arising from the present mode might be completely obviated. He would not presume to lay any specific plan before the House, for its immediate consideration or adoption; but he thought that the divisions could, at present, be taken by means of cards or tickets, and afterwards published, with an authenticity and correctness, which would be equally satisfactory to the Members and to the public. Though he must admit, that the Committee which had been appointed upon this subject last Session, had recommended a plan which could not be adopted without great loss of time and inconvenience, still he did not hesitate to express his confident expectation, that the result of the proceedings of the Committee for which he intended to move, would prove more satisfactory. It was almost unnecessary for him to advert to the many inconveniences and mischiefs which occurred under the existing system; but he would just mention, that incorrect Lists of those who voted upon divisions were, during the late elections, frequently produced upon the hustings, and it was often found almost impossible to remove the impression, which had been thereby produced upon the minds of those constituencies to which he referred. He was aware that it had been objected to any alteration in the present mode of taking the votes upon divisions, that it any plan, such as that to which he had alluded, were to be adopted, the House would generally be too numerously attended, for the speedy 572 and efficient disposal of public business; but he considered that a very untenable ground of objection, inasmuch as even though there were, in consequence of the adoption of some plan different from that which now existed, a fuller attendance of Members than at present generally took place, the change would, at all events, have this advantage, that thin Houses, which he could not help thinking were great promoters of loquacity, would, for the future, be prevented; and that no Member would venture to address a full House, without being master of the subject which he wished to bring under its consideration. The hon. Member concluded by moving for the appointment of a Committee to take into consideration the best mode of giving correct and authentic Lists of the Divisions of the House.
Mr. Ruthvenmerely wished to say, that, in his opinion, nothing could conduce more to the gratification and advantage of the constituencies throughout the kingdom, than that authenticated lists of the votes of the Members of that House should be given to the public. He feared, however, that it would be difficult to discover any means of obtaining the desired object, but he was glad that the hon. Member had brought the subject under the consideration of the House.
§ The Motion was agreed to, and a Committee appointed.