§ MR. LONSDALEI beg to ask the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to a recent address by the President of the Royal Statistical Society, in which it was pointed out, that whereas at the last General Election 2,818,050 Radical and Labour votes were cast, resulting in the return of 428 Radical and Labour Members, 2,200,898 Unionist votes were cast, resulting in the return of only 139 Unionist Members; whether he has taken note of the conclusion that while every Radical and Labour seat represents 6,584 votes, every Unionist seat represents 15,883 votes; and whether, in view of this condition of affairs, the Government intend to submit proposals for a reform in our electoral system before proceeding further with the Plural Voting Bill.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the president of this society is Sir R. Biddulph Martin, a former Member of this House, who at the last election lost a seat in the Birmingham zone?
THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORI) OF THE TREASURY (Sir H. CAMPBELL- BANNERMAN, Stirling Burghs)I have not identified the gentleman in question.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI know it is.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANNo, Sir, the figures quoted by the hon. Member, which I believe are of a kind not unusually quoted after a general election, escaped my notice, and I am afraid that I must ask him to wait for those further reforms that he desires to see introduced into our electoral system until the Plural Voting Bill has been passed into law.