MR. HINDE PALMERasked Mr. Attorney General, Whether his attention has been called to the number of cases, in the Return of "Election Charges" of the last General Election just laid before this House, in which no Returns of the expenses have been made to the returning officers as re- 1247 quired by Law; and, whether any steps have been or are intended to be taken in consequence of such defaults?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES), in reply, said, his attention had been called to this omission. He found in relation to Scotland every Member had made a Return of his expenses. In England, there was no Return in respect of four counties, and in Wales there was no Return in respect of one county. In two of the cases a fire had broken out in the office of the Sheriff whereby the accounts were burned. In reference to contested elections in English and Welsh boroughs, there were only two boroughs in which Returns had not been made; but as to one, the candidate died shortly after the election, and in the other case the candidate had paid, but had received no receipts, and although he had paid the sum a second time, the accounts had not been presented to him. Turning to Ireland, he found that there were 74 candidates who had not made Returns. He trusted they had been returned free of expense, for, if not, they must have thought that the statute did not apply to them. He regretted, however, to state that every one of these 74 candidates had incurred a penalty of £5 a-day since the last day for sending in the Returns.