§ MR. CHIOZZA MONEYI beg to ask Mr. Attorney General if his attention has been directed to the growing practice of infringing the Corrupt Practices Act by the expenditure of large sums of money on election expenses, otherwise than through the candidates or their election agents; and if he can take immediate steps to check this practice.
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Sir JOHN WALTON, Leeds, S.)was understood to say that under the provisions of the law in its present form money might be expended—except in respect of specified illegal objects—during an election, provided such expenditure was not made in the conduct or management of the election by a candidate or agent or agency acting on his behalf. In his opinion, it was open to grave question whether such a practice was not a breach of the spirit of the 1261 Corrupt Practices Act, and whether, in many cases, it did not constitute a palpable evasion of the restrictions upon expenditure during an election. The matter was well worthy the attention of Parliament, but he could not make any promise to propose an Amendment of the law during the present session.