HC Deb 09 April 1889 vol 335 cc14-5
MR. SEXTON (Belfast, W.)

I desire to ask the Solicitor General for Ireland whether any person is under a legal obligation to fill up and return any form relating to the Parliamentary franchise devised and issued by the Belfast or any other board of guardians, in addition to the form prescribed by the Franchise Law?

*THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN,) Dublin University

No person is under a legal obligation to fill up and return any form relating to the Parliamentary franchise in addition to the forms authorized or prescribed by the Franchise Law. It is not accurate to describe all these forms as prescribed. The Representation of the People Act, 1884, and the Parliamentary Registration, Ireland, Act, 1885, do give certain forms. But the Poor Rate Assessment Act of 1869, which was applied to Ireland in 1884, while casting upon certain classes of owners the obligation of furnishing information, does not prescribe any precise form in which this information should be asked for by the overseers.