§ MR. HOBHOUSE (Somerset, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he is aware that "The Registration of County Electors Act, 1889," expires after the present year, and that great expense and inconvenience will be caused if some alteration is not made; early next year in the dates for completing the registers of county electors; and if he will consent to the appointment of a Select Committee this Session to consider the best mode of altering the dates for the registration of Parliamentary, Municipal, and County Council electors; or whether he will undertake to introduce a Bill for this purpose?
§ *THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE,) Tower Hamlets, St. George'sThe question is one of considerable difficulty. If an alteration be made, it must either be in the dates for registration or in the dates for elections both to County Councils and Municipal Councils. In either case an alteration would entail considerable inconvenience, and I am not convinced that under the law as it stands the registers cannot be made out in sufficient time if due diligence be used. The matter is, however, at present under the consideration of the Government.