§ 43 and 44. Major Beamishasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether he is aware that some 70 per cent. of the acting profession are disfranchised at general elections and local government elections owing to the fact that their profession entails their absence from the constituency in which they are registered; and whether he will examine this matter with a view to enabling such people to register their votes in future elections;
(2) what progress has now been made by the Committee on Electoral Registration in studying the question of giving the right to vote by post at municipal and general elections to physically incapacitated people.
§ Mr. EdeUnder the existing law a person physically incapacitated, and a person who by reason of the nature of his occupation, service or employment may be debarred from voting at a poll can claim to vote by post at a Parliamentary election. I am advised that itinerant actors would be included in the latter category. The Committee on Electoral Registration, whose Report has been published, recommend that similar facilities for postal voting should be extended to local government elections "so far as practicable."