§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, he wished to point out that the Government had laid before the House a Return, a very complete Return, of the rating of the Boroughs and Counties; but he was sorry to say that in the Returns there was a column of the number of occupants between £10 and £50. What he wished to ask was, Whether this column included the Freeholders who occupied between those two amounts?
SIR GEORGE LEWISreplied, that the Returns referred to were merely an abstract of a larger Return, known as Mr. Locke King's Return, moved for last Session. It contained nothing new. In fact, the column referred to gave a Return, prepared with great labour by the Poor Law Board, and he believed it was an accurate and trustworthy Return. He spoke from memory, but he believed that it gave a Return of all holders, but it did not distinguish between males and females, and certainly it did not distinguish between cases of resident and non-resident occupiers, nor did it distinguish the cases of Freeholders who were occupiers of their own property. On the contrary, it included Freeholders and mere occupiers; and therefore a considerable deduction would have to be made from the total, in order that one might ascertain what would be the actual number of persons who would have the franchise under the Reform Bill, but he was not aware that in a limited time it would be possible to make a better Return than that on the Table.