§ MR. DE LISLE (Leicestershire, Mid)asked the President of the Local Government Board, If he can explain how it happened that, in the parish of Fulham, at the recent election of Guardians, no voting papers were furnished in some cases to duly qualified ratepayers, who were thus precluded from voting; and, whether this omission would annul the election; and, if so, whether Her Majesty's Government will make inquiry into the alleged defects of the said election before the Guardians exercise any of their legal functions?
§ THE PRESIDENT (Mr. RITCHIE) (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)The Board have communicated with the Returning Officer, and they learn from him that there were upwards of 8,000 voting papers for the parish of Fulham, and that in two instances only had complaints been made to him that voting papers had not been delivered. In those cases the names had not been marked in the Rate Book by the overseers as names of persons entitled to vote. The Regulations of the Local Government Board, with the view of meeting cases of accidental omission, provide that a person to whom a voting paper has not been duly delivered on the day fixed for the delivery shall be entited to receive a voting paper, on application to the Returning Officer, for the purpose of recording his vote. The Board have received a communication from one of the candidates, in which three cases are specified, where it is alleged that voting papers were not delivered; but assuming that this were established, it would not, in the opinion of the Board, render the election invalid; and, so far as this allegation is concerned, the Board see no sufficient reason for directing an inquiry.