EXPENSES OF ELECTIONS. (Hansard, 11 March 1835)

§ Mr. Hume
brought forward his Motion, "To 866 call the attention of the House to the Report of the Committee of last Session on the expenses attendant upon the elections of Members to Parliament." By the returns of the elections of 1832, which were ordered in the last Parliament on his Motion, it would be perceived that no rule regulating the expenses existed. These returns shewed that, in some places, very heavy expenses were entailed on the candidates, while in others they fell on the city, town, borough, or county, where the elections were held. In consequence of this anomalous state of things, he moved for the appointment of a Committee to take the subject into consideration, and that Committee had made its Report, to which he wished to call the attention of the House. If the last Parliament had continued he would have moved fur leave to bring in a Bill founded on the recommendations contained in that Report; but as its dissolution had taken place, and as the present Parliament was not bound by any act of the former, he thought it best to bring the matter again before them, referring them to the Report of the Committee, and leaving it then in their own hands, whether they would adopt that Report or give him leave to bring in a Bill on the subject of it. He should make very few observations on the Report itself. The first point the Committee had directed their attention to was the lessening of the expenses attendant on elections, for which end they recommended a uniform rule for adoption in England, Scotland, and Ireland, relative to taking the poll. This every one would admit would be an immense saving of time, expense, and trouble. The objects which he should propose in any Bill he might be permitted to introduce to the House, would be—first, an attempt to settle some points connected with the registration of votes. The noble Lord, the Member for Devonshire, had declared, on his introduction of the Reform Bill, and in the debate thereupon, that no constituency should be less than 300; yet it appeared by the Report of the Committee that a considerable number of boroughs had a constituency less than this minimum. Therefore, the Reform Bill, it was obvious, had not produced, in this respect, the intended effect. His Bill should go to remedy this evil. The next point which he should enforce was the necessity of enabling electors to vote with as little loss of time and expense as possible. 867 By the Reform Act, as it now stood, every elector was obliged to vote in the particular district where the property out of which he claimed franchise lay, although his actual place of residence might be many miles distant. It was declared illegal to pay the expenses of electors by the eminent Counsel, Mr. Harrison, and Committees of the House had decided variously on the subject. This he should also propose to remedy. With respect to enabling electors to vote with as little loss of time and expense as possible, he should propose to give each individual the privilege of voting in any district he thought proper. For instance, he would enable a man having property in Uxbridge to vote for the county of Middlesex in the Tower Hamlet district if his residence were there, and so on with others similarly circumstanced. That was the recommendation of the Committee, who stated in their Report that they saw no difficulty in the way of effecting this object, save the trifling one of a duplication of lists and a double registry. If adopted, it would save a world of expense, and a great deal of valuable time, as well as much trouble to electors. In his opinion, there was one very strong reason in favour of causing all electors to vote at their own place of residence; it was this—that there they were, of necessity, better known in the neighbourhood of their own residences than even in that wherein their property might be situated, and thus a precaution would be taken against any one man personating any other, or voting twice. It was thought by the Committee that, in every place returning a Member to serve in Parliament, some public functionary might be found to whom might be safely intrusted the discretionary power of increasing, when necessary, the number of polling places, with a view to bring each election to a close in one day; and those additional polling places, as well as all others, the Committee were of opinion ought to be erected at the expense of the city, or borough, or other place, where the election occurred. Though the expense of elections would, in one point of view, be increased by increasing the number of polling places, yet that would be fully counterbalanced by the saving of time in reducing the duration of the election to a single day. The city of London gave an instance of perhaps the largest constituent body in the kingdom; and, therefore, the Committee called before 868 them one of the Sheriffs of that city, who, on being examined, declared, that he entertained not the slightest doubt that the election for that city could easily, and with great advantage, be limited to a single day. Two days, certainly, might prove convenient to some electors, but in venal places so long a duration of the election held out great temptation to electors, for in proportion to the narrowness of the contest, so did the demands of those who held out to the last rise; and it was generally between the first and second day that they negotiated for, and obtained, the wages of their corruption. In a few words, then, the effect of the changes proposed by the Committee would be to lessen bribery, to lessen expense, to lessen the waste of time, and to afford a better opportunity for knowing the sentiments of the electoral bodies. Even under the present regulations, the second day was almost wholly unnecessary, and would be not only useless, but mischievous, under a better system. Further, he wished to state, that he had much satisfaction in expressing his opinion, that the greater part of the changes which it was proposed to introduce could advantageously be established in Ireland. As the law at present stood, the poll must remain open a certain time, and a further time must elapse between the close of the poll and the declaration of the numbers. The mode of adding up the numbers was also most objectionable, and very liable to error, as witness the mistake of 200 votes made by a very effective officer in the case of the Kent election. He thought, also, that there should be one regular scale of charges for registration. The Committee had stated in their Report, that they had considered it a part of their duty to classify the different charges which were made on account of elections. Of all these it appeared that only three were strictly legal; yet the charges of other kinds, under the heads of fees and gratuities to sheriff's, deputy-sheriffs, assessors, and of payments made for certified copies of the registers, &c., amounted to very considerable sums. Most of the improvements to which he had alluded had been originally confined to England, but he apprehended that they would be found equally applicable to Ireland. The general effect of them could not fail to be highly beneficial; they would lessen the expenses attendant upon elections, diminish the loss of time, and 869 give a better opportunity of ascertaining the real sentiments of the electors. The hon. Gentleman concluded with saying, that, although, he had not given any notice of his intention to move for leave to bring in a Bill, he would at once do so; or, if the House pleased, he would give notice for to-morrow [Cries of "Move!"]. He would then move for leave to bring in a Bill to carry into effect the recommendation of the Committee.

Sir George Clerk
stated, that his right. hon. Friend, the Member for Montgomeryshire (Mr. C. Wynn), had paid great attention to the subject, and was of opinion that a Bill might be brought in without any further examination of evidence. Not having been in the last Parliament himself, he had not seen the Report of the Committee; but from the statement given of it by the hon. Member for Middlesex, he was ready to say, that he entirely agreed in the principles of its recommendations, and, with some modifications, they might be advantageously carried into effect. But, however practicable it might be to take the votes of any given number of electors in cities and boroughs in one day, that time would hardly be sufficient for counties, as all the county elections took place within a week, and persons who possessed the franchise in different counties ought to have an opportunity of exercising it. With regard to Scotland, he would suggest that the number of polling-booths should be more numerous than appeared to be contemplated by the hon. Member for Middlesex; for, in the Highland districts, a circuit of twenty-five or thirty miles might not yield two hundred voters.

§ Mr. Spring Rice
expressed his gratitude to the hon. Member for Middlesex for the pains he had taken in bringing this subject before the House. He entirely approved of the suggestions of the Committee, and hoped that the hon. Member would not allow trifling difficulties to deter him from endeavouring to carry into effect the principal of those suggestions, namely, the reduction of the time of polling, at least in cities and boroughs, to one day. With regard to the authority which should have the power of managing the polling-places, he should beg to suggest the Privy Council as the most fit.

§ Major Cumming Bruce
also begged to return his thanks to the hon. Member for Middlesex for bringing the subject for- 870 ward; but he thought with the hon. Baronet the Member for Edinburghshire that in many of the counties of Scotland, one day would not be sufficient to take the poll in. Many voters lived upon islands, and might be prevented by the weather from coming to the poll upon one particular day.

Mr. Murray
said that, no doubt, such would be the case in one or two counties of Scotland, as Ross, for instance; but in the remainder there would be no such difficulty. He could not agree with the hon. Baronet the Member for Edinburghshire, that a good general rule should be rejected because some persons had vot s in twelve different counties. He should, however, consider every suggestion that might be made upon the subject, before moving for leave to bring in a Bill for Scotland, similar to that now proposed for England by the hon. Member for Middlesex.

Mr. O'Connell
said, that the advantage of an increased number of polling places would be great in preventing riot, intimidation, and expense, and in facilitating the identification of voters. He would suggest, however, that it would not be enough to have polling places in towns where quarter sessions were held; there ought to be a polling place in every town or district in which road sessions were held. He wished also, that the mode and right of registration, and the time for polling in England and Ireland, should be assimilated. He complained of the infrequency of the registration in Ireland, and said that the time for polling in towns was too long, while from the various impediments thrown in the way of voters by the administration of oaths and other devices, the time was too brief in counties. He was ready to lend his assistance in framing a Bill to extend to Ireland.

§ Sir H. Hardinge
was satisfied that in Ireland it was necessary to reduce the time of polling to two days. He should be happy, when he received the information for which he had written to Ireland, to afford the hon. and learned Member for Dublin every facility in his power to remedy any evil that required correction in the present mode of carrying on the Elections in that country. He considered it most important that there should be several polling places, for voters had in some cases nearly seventy miles to march before they arrived at the place of elec- 871 tion in some counties. It would be of the greatest advantage to the representation of the county to have these changes made.

§ Mr. Cutlar Fergusson
wished the polling to be limited to one day instead of two; but, in other respects, he saw no necessity for any change in the system as respected Scotland. In the counties of Scotland the Electors were a most intelligent body, and in the burghs there were no corrupt freemen—that greatest curse in elections. In the counties there were no fictitious voters, and no temptations to make them.

§ Mr. Arthur Trevor
wished to know from the hon. Member for Middlesex whether it was intended to take into consideration the powers of the returning officers. He thought that some change should be made in those powers.

§ Mr. James Grattan
said, the Committee confined itself to three points; it recommended the abolition of the Catholic Oath, the delay and inconvenience of which had been experienced in many Elections in Ireland. The Committee also recommended that the certificate of the freeholder should be final, and that the number of polling-places, should be increased.

§ Sir Francis Burdett
concurred in what had fallen from the hon. and learned Member for Dublin. It was strange that, while they talked of a legislative union between the countries, they legislated as if there were three kingdoms instead of one. The general opinion seemed to be in favour of one day's polling instead of two. He thought the object would be obtained if they polled in parishes. The whole of the election expenses, would thus be greatly diminished.