Questions (Hansard, 29 November 1917)

§ Mr. G. THORNE
I beg to move, in Part I., to leave out the word "eighth" ["be the eighth day after"], and to insert instead thereof the word "seventh"
I raised this question in the Committee stage with a view to diminishing the duration of a General Election, and on that occasion there was general agreement, as no doubt there will be on the Report stage, that we all desire to reduce the length of an election to the lowest possible limit. The limit of time provided in the Second Schedule of the Bill was the period between the proclamation and the nomination on the one hand, and the nomination and the polling on the other. The first period was ten days, and the second period was nine days, making a total of nineteen days for the whole duration of the contest —very nearly approaching three weeks. In the Committee stage I moved two Amendments. The first was to reduce the first period by two days, and the other to reduce the second period by two days. The Home Secretary very graciously consented to my first Amendment, and the ten days were reduced to eight, reducing the total number of nineteen days to seventeen days —a concession for which I was very grateful, and I believe all concerned in elections are, too. When I came to the second period of the election, my Amendment was to reduce the nine days to seven days, but though the Home Secretary was very sympathetic he did not see his way, at any rate at that stage, to concede the Amendment that I moved. It was said that the matter could be raised again on the Report stage. I raise it now in these Amendments, in the hope that in their new form they may prove a little more acceptable to the Home Secreatry. When the Amendment was introduced in the Committee stage the Home Secretary had two or three difficulties to overcome. One of them was the question of having all the elections on one day. That question was not then decided, but now it has been decided. The other question was with regard to absent voters, 2320 to make it clear that they would not be inconvenienced in the slightest degree. That has been provided for, and I do not think my Amendment will in the slightest degree affect that. The only point is whether or not it will be practical. I assume that it is the general desire to reduce to the lowest possible limit the length of the General Election, which causes a dislocation of business, is a great inconvenience to all concerned, and creates many difficulties in various directions. I sincerely hope the Home Secretary will see his way to meet me in this, or that he will, in some other way, meet the desire of all of us to reduce the period of elections to the lowest possible limit.

§ Mr. BLISS
I beg to second the Amendment.

Mr. FISHER
I think there is a generally expressed wish that we should reduce the period of an election, not only in the interests of trade, but in the interests of the public generally. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton having got the period of election between the proclamation and the contest reduced from ten days to eight days, seeks to reduce the period further by one day between the date of the proclamation and the date of the nomination. After all, it may be that when the next election takes place a great many candidates who desire to become Members of Parliament may be abroad, and I think there must be some time, at any rate, for those who are thinking of standing for Parliament to make up their minds whether they are going to stand or not. There would also be the question as to what programme they were going to stand on and what colleagues they were going to stand with. If you seriously curtailed the time between the proclamation and date of nomination you might probably run the risk of keeping many desirable candidates out of the field and of preventing constituencies from having a proper opportunity of saying what candidate they would select. My right hon. Friend thinks he has gone far enough in giving the two days and reducing the number from ten to eight in this particular Bill, and that for the present we ought to content ourselves with the considerable abbreviation my hon. Friend obtained. I am not saying when this Bill becomes an Act of Parliament we can expect that it will completely satisfy the country, and we cannot expect that it will remain 2321 unaltered. I believe that this Bill when it becomes an Act after we have had experience will necessitate a good deal of alteration in a good many particulars. 1 think we have done enough now so far as the interval between the proclamation and the nomination is concerned.

§ Sir G. CAVE
I beg to move, in Part II., Question 3, to leave out the words "in respect of her own or her husband's local government qualification," and to insert instead thereof the words "at an election other than a university election."
This is a matter which refers to the question to be put to women voters. It was pointed out in Committee that the question would be a difficult and puzzling one for the ordinary voter. The case where a woman would have a university vote in addition to her ordinary vote would be one in a hundred thousand, and we think it will be enough to ask her, "Have you already voted at this General Elections? "If she has done so and replies "Yes," she will be asked whether it was at a university. It will be better to ask only the general question.