§ Sir CHARLES DILKEasked whether the figures in the annual Returns of Parliamentary Constituencies (Electors, etc.) and the figures based upon the last Return which had been recently given by the Secretary of State, showed the actual number of persons entitled to vote at Parliamentary elections or far more than that number?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThere is an unknown number of duplicate entries upon the registers which it is impossible to eliminate from the figures. There are, first, the plural voters, who possess two or more votes in different constituencies, all of which they may lawfully exercise; and, in addition to these, there are many cases of duplicate registration in respect of different qualifications in the same constituency, which give the right to only one vote in a Parliamentary election. When discovered at the revision of the lists of voters, duplicate votes of the latter class are either struck out or marked as available for local elections only; but doubtless a considerable number escape observation, and remain upon the register.