§ MR. COLLINSwished to put a Question to the Secretary of State for the Home Department of which he had given him private Notice. An election was now proceeding at Gloucester for the election of a Town Council in that city, and it was being carried on by a system of open voting, contrary to a Statute which provided that the voting should be in secret. That being so, he should like to learn from the right hon. Gentleman, Whether the Government will take into their serious consideration the propriety of prosecuting the real leaders implicated in so open a violation of a Law which has so recently received the Royal Assent?
MR. BRUCEsaid, he was sure the House must have observed with great admiration the zeal of the hon. Gentleman in enforcing a law in passing which through Parliament, its supporters had received no great assistance from him. He hoped, however, to be able to relieve the hon. Gentleman from all anxiety on the subject. He had received no special information on the subject to which the Question related, but the election would date from the day of the nomination; and if the election were proceeding to-day and the nomination had been made previously, there would be no violation of the law in voting openly. In any case, the matter was not for the decision of the Secretary for the Home Department, but rather for a prosecution by the proper person under the Act.