§ MR. BARTLEYI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that the Parliamentary and Municipal Elections (Ballot Act) expires on the 31st December next, and is on the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill now 1586 before the House to be renewed; whether he is aware that Clauses 26 and 27 of the First Schedule, and part of the Second Schedule, grant special provisions for illiterates voting in the presence of the agents of the candidates, and that those provisions apply to Great Britain and Ireland; and whether he will consent, in renewing the Ballot Act in the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill of this year, to withdraw these and other clauses that may be necessary, and so repeal these clauses, and do away with illiterate voting for Parliamentary and other elections in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland at one and the same time?
§ MR. W. E. GLADSTONEI have no doubt that the question is one for discussion, but it would not be usual to include in this discussion on the annual Act such questions as that.
§ MR. BARTLEYgave notice that on the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill, in Committee, he would move to leave out certain clauses in the Bill giving special advantages to illiterate voters in this country.
MR. T. M. HEALYWould that be in Order? Must not each Bill, as a whole, be either included or excluded?
§ *MR. SPEAKERThe question will arise in Committee, but I entertain grave doubts as to the regularity of the course suggested by the hon. Member for North Islington.