§ THE EARL OF POWISsaid, this Bill was introduced into the other House at the beginning of the Session in consequence of the Resolution of a Committee which sat last year, that it was desirable that votes for the election of Members for the Universities should be recorded in a prescribed form before a justice of the peace. The Bill was referred to a Select Committee, and, after considerable discussion, passed the House of Commons in its present form. The reason for the Bill was the non-residence of almost the whole of the University constituencies. They numbered respectively 3,500 and 5,000 voters, and only about 250 were resident either in Oxford or Cambridge. A great deal had been done by the multiplication of polling places to render it more easy for the voters in other constituencies to record their votes, and a majority of those voters were resident in the borough or county for which they possessed a qualification. The Bill sedulously avoided anything like voting by proxy, and would greatly diminish the cost of contested elections for the Universities. He, therefore, hoped their Lordships would assent to the second reading.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.
§ Motion agreed to;
§ Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next.