§ MR. CROSSasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the intention of the Government to extend the provisions of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1854, to Municipal Elections? He believed that Act had been found to work very well throughout the country.
§ SIR GEORGE GREYsaid, it was not the intention of the Government to propose the extension of the Act to Municipal Elections. It was a measure of a temporary character, and, although the hon. Gentleman had said that it had worked well, it had been deemed expedient last Session to appoint a Select Committee to inquire into its operation. That Committee had not been reappointed in the present Session, and for the very good reason that perhaps the best test of the working of the Act would be obtained from the inquiries which wore about to take place before the Election Committees upstairs.