§ MR. COBB (Warwick, S.E, Rugby)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that, in the Return ordered to be printed on the 7th July, 1891, showing the number of electors on the register in each Parliamentary constituency, in the cases of upwards of 200 county divisions in England and Wales the numbers of electors returned include not only such duplicates as were usual before the passing of the Local Government Act in 1888, but also duplicates of voters on the ownership lists whose names are also included for County Council purposes on the occupation lists, and are marked §; and that these duplicate names so marked are in many cases 10 per cent. or more of the total number of voters given in the Return; and whether, inasmuch as it would be easy for the Returning Officers to count the names so marked and to deduct them from the total number, he will give such instructions as will remedy this alleged 112 inaccuracy in making out future Returns?
§ *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. STUART WORTLEY, Sheffield, Hallam)I cannot answer for the accuracy of the figures and proportions cited by the hon. Member, but I have given instructions that in future Returns of this kind names against which an asterisk or mark is placed in pursuance of Section 7, Subsection 5, of the County Electors Act, 1888, shall, if possible, be excluded.