LEAVE. FIRST READING. (Hansard, 7 February 1873)

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON,

in moving for leave to bring in a Bill to make special provisions in relation to the constitution of certain Polling Districts in Ireland, said, that in the Ballot Act passed last year provision was made for greatly extending the number of polling districts and polling places in Ireland, as well as in England. That Act provided that before a certain day the chairman and magistrates of each county should make provision for dividing the county into polling districts, and the petty sessional district was, as far as practicable, to be the polling district. The magistrates were, however, allowed, if they deemed it expedient, to appoint additional polling places, and to attach districts to such polling places. The orders made by the magistrates were to be sent to the Clerk of the Privy Council, and, previous to their confirmation, no- 175 tice was to be given in one newspaper at least circulating within the county, and subsequently they were to be printed in The Dublin Gazette. In order to assist the chairman and magistrates to discharge their duty, information was furnished to them by the Commissioners of Valuation. In 18 counties the Report of the Commissioners was adopted unaltered, or with very slight alterations; in 13 counties the magistrates recommended some additional polling places, and in one county several considerable alterations in the boundaries of the districts were proposed. It was found, however, that, in consequence of the minute subdivision of Ireland into small districts called town-lands, the publication of the draught orders in the newspapers and The Gazette would be extremely expensive. It was estimated that the publication of them in the local newspapers and in The Gazette would cost no less than £12,000. Moreover, it appeared that there was no necessity for all the precautions provided by the Act. There was no reason to suppose that the magistrates had been actuated by improper motives, for nearly all the orders made had been made on recommendations issued from the Government Department, and framed as nearly as possible in conformity with the directions of the Act. In the cases where they had been departed from the object was merely to increase the number of polling places, and in all cases general satisfaction had been given. The Special Sessions at which the work had been done had been specially summoned for the purpose, and ample notice had been given to all concerned, so that anyone who objected to the proceedings of the magistrates could state his case before them. There was no reason why the delay and expense consequent on all these proceedings should be incurred, and the object of this Bill was to provide that the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council should have the power to confirm or alter, as the case might be, any orders issued by the magistrates. It might be asked why the Bill did not simply enable the magistrates to confirm, and that was substantially what it did in the first clause; but a second was necessary to meet cases in which alterations might be expedient. It was desirable that the Bill should pass as speedily as possible, so as to come into operation in case of any elec- 176 tion; and he therefore proposed to take the second reading on Thursday next.