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Leader (1850-1860), 5th March 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 311

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      g ? HE NEW REFORM BELL . __^ . Tsb following is a brief outline of the contents of tlie above important . measure ; introduced on Monday la the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer : — ' . AS TO THE FRANCHI 6 B . , No one is disfranchised . Every existing right is ^ * Tittle more than a page of print the future rights of voting are defined . . . _ . .. The 40 s . freehold remains on its old basis . The franchise derived from , the ownership of copyholds , lifeholds , and long leaseholds , is reduced from 10 / .. annum to 57 . per annum . ¦" '''

      per . The occupation franchise is fixed at one uniform rate for counties and boroughs , of 10 ? . yearly value . New franchises are created in favour of—Lodgers , or occupiers of part of any house , whether furnished or unfurnished , at the rate of 8 s . per week , or 20 / . per annum . Persons in the receipt of an income from personal property invested in Government funds or annuity .,- East India Stock , or Bank Stock of of £ 10 ' per annum ; or in receipt of a pension or superannuation allowance for services rendered in any department of the army , navy , or civil service , and not on active service , of . £ 20 per

      annum . . . Depositors in a savings bank to the extent of £ 60 . And certain educational qualifications are created , including— . Graduates . Clergy of the Church of England . .. -. ' . Ministers of all other denominations . Barristers , pleaders , and conveyancers . Solicitors and proctors . Medical men . Certified schoolmasters . ... ' . ' . The future rights of voting are to be exercised in all cases for the county or borough , as ^ the case may be , where , in the case of a qualification arising out of lands or tenements , the property is situ . , or where , in all other-cases , the voter shall reside .

      In the case of ownership or occupation of lands or tenements the same length of possession is required as by the existing law . In the . new creations of the franchise twelve months' occupation of the apartments , or possession of the income or deposit , and in the two latter cases twelve imonths' residence , also , is necessary before registration . The law requiring payment of f > oor rates by the occupiers , hitherto in force only in boroughs is extended to , £ 10 occupiers in counties , The occupation franchise is extended to all descriptions of real property , whether a building is or is not included in the occupation .

      An important provision is introduced to prevent the fictitious creation of votes , so that no more than two voters can be registered in respect of any freehold , copyhold , or leasehold interest in the same premises , unless the property shall have come by descent , &c , to more than that-number 1 , or shall belong to a greater number honajitle engaged as partners carrying on busmess upon the premises . The effect . of this provision , while it will not limit the fair exercise of the privilege of voting by persons who are really entitled , will prevent the undue splitting of property solely for the purpose of creating fictitious votes . .

      Payment pf assessed taxes is no longer required as a condition to registration . This condition has hitherto pressed solely upon the higher class of occupiers , of £ 20 and upwards , while those occupying £ 10 and under jG 20 have been subject only to the condition requiring payment of poor rates . The effect of the repeal is simply to place all occupiers oh an equal footing . Thoughno one is disfranchised , all persons in the actual soryice of the Government in dockyards or factor | os connected with'the airrny and navy are disqualified from voting while so employed , and for one month after leaving the service . '

      AS TO REGISTRATION . Hitherto every county voter , ' as well owner as occupier , has been compelled to claim before the 20 th July . Ocaupiers in boroughs were placed upon the lists by the overseers without claim , freemen by the town clerk . Persona omitted had a power of claiming at a later period . The bill assimilates the borough and county oyfttom . ! It requires the oversoor to put on tho lists the names of ajl owners and oocuplors who possoss the required qualification in his parish , whether they claim or not . This can easily bo done with a little owe and trouble . No doubt there wJU still be sonic oralBsiona . It Is probable there -will bo some im-PKtyer insertions ' , but in tho main the plan will a * " ? reftt improvement upon tho present Bystom , ft mi on . suro « - tolorably complete register . Anatspme suqh system ia neodiocl is proved by tho

      fact that between the years 1851 and 1856 , notwithstanding the growth of population and the increase of wealth , there has been a decaying county register to the extent of 45 , 000 votes , arising solely from the omissions to claim and the absence of any machinery for placing the names of persons on the , register without claiming . " !¦ „ ¦ ; A concurrent right of claiming is , however , still reserved to the owners and occupiers , if they think fit to avail themselves of it ; and in addition to this , if , upon publication of the lists on the 24 th of July , any name should appear to be omitted , or incorrectly described , or any person wishes to amend his qualification or his residence , he will have the power to do so by sending in a supplemental claim before the 24 th August . ' _ Lodgers must send in an annual claim , and claimants in respect of the other new franchises must send in a claim in the first instance , but with

      these exceptions the operation of the registration system will be almost self-working . The days upon which the several stages in the process of registration are to be completed are made more uniform and intelligible , as follows : — Precepts to be issued ... ... ... May 24-• Qualifying year to end ... ... ... June 24 . Lists to be published by overseer .. July 24 . Supplemental lists and lists of objections Aug . 24 . Poor rate to be paid before 24 th June , which became ' due before .. ; ... Dec . 25 . Register to be completed by clerk of peace by ... ... ... ... Dec . 31 . The register of voters will be in force from the commencement to the end of the year , instead of from the last day of November .

      The proceedings before the revising barrister are simplified and improved- At present the whole scope and dperatiph of the law is to make the process of registration as difficult as possible . The ; revising barrister ' s process is confined ¦ ¦ within narrow and prescribed bounds , and technical difficulties arrest the claimant at every turn . The policy of this bill is to make registration to the botiafide voter as easy as possible , and to protect him from vexatious or unnecessary objections . ¦• ¦ . ¦ . Overseers , as well as any other person , objecting to a voter , are . required to state the grounds of objection . Tower is given to the revising barrister to receive evidence by affidavit . To amend the statement of the . qualification or any other error in all . cases where he is satisfied there was ho'intention to mislead . r

      Power i 3 given to summon witnesses before the revising barrister , which does not now exist , and his power to give costs is enlarged from 20 s . to 5 / ., so as to discourage us much as possible frivolous claims and vexatious objections . The register of voters is also more adapted to the purposes for winch it is required . ¦¦ ¦ The clerk of the peace , in addition to the present register , is to make out a voting register according to the residences of the voters , separating the outvoters or non-residents into a distinct list : thus the voters will not bo required to vote henceforth in the district in which their qualification is situate ,

      which may be , and often is , at a great distance from where they reside , but will vote at the polling place appointed for the parish in which they live . The out-voters will be at liberty to vote at any polling place . Great facilities are provided to voters to poll : 1 . By an increase in the number of polling places . 2 . By voting papers . At present a vast proportion of the registered voters never vote at all , owing to the necessity for personal attendance , and the great distance apart at which the polling phicos are fixed . This will bo felt a still greater evil in proportion as the franchise is

      extended . The magistrates at . tho Michaelmas quarter sessions are required to appoint tho future polling places for tho counties , and to provide a separate polling placo fox every parish in which there shall bo not less than 2 O 0 resident electors -, and a polling place for ovary group of parishes not having that number in any one of them at some central ana convenient place whero 200 can bo brought together . It Mill bo unnecessary to orqqfc booths for this purpose A convenient room can in all cases bo hirod , or tho police stations belonging to tho county mny bo made so , unless tho magistrates provide suitable places be longing to the county . It is provided that tho charge for hiring these rooms for polling places shall bo defrayed out of the county rate .

      This M'lll not bo any boon to tho candidates , aq may at first bo supposed . Additional polUng places uro indispensable If found by tho county they wiH cost vory little If charged to the oandiuatu tho oxponso will bo yory great , while hp will ,, in any case , huvo to provide tho additional staff in tho shupo of poll 7 clorks , &e , and to pay a larger amount to tho returning officer for his stall' , rondbrocl necessary by ha increased number of nolHng placos , M'hich will

      The voting papers are to be opened on the day of polling hy a deputy specially appointed for the purpose in the presence of the candidates or their agents , and the votes are to be recorded from them , and no voting paper is to be rejected for informality , if it is properlysigned and witnessed , and contains the surname of the candidate . The expense of issuing the voting papers is to form part of the election expenses of the candidates . These increased facilities for voting render travelling expenses unnecessary , and the -payment of . them is therefore declared to be : an illegal act , under the prorisions of the Corrupt Practices Act . The right of voting by voting / papers is extended to the Universities . . , .. ¦ Important provisions are introduced for the en largement of the boundaries of boroughs which have outffrown their limits . ' . '

      far more than counterbalance the advantage he will receive by having the places in which the poll is to be taken provided for him by the county free . 2 . Voting papers . . These are to be issued by the . returning officer , upon application in writing by or on behalf of the vottirs . They are to be sent by post by that officer as prepaid registered letters , directed to the voters at the address given in the application , and are to be returned direct to the returning officer in the same way . Proof of transmission each way is thus secured . The iorms contain clear instructions for filling up the voting papers , -which must be signed by the voter in the presence of two witnesses , one of whom inust be a householder , who are to sign their names , residences , and descriptions .

      ,,. No one will deny the fairness of the principle that the population substantially ibrming part of the town should vote for the town with which its interests , feelings , and sympathies are identified ; but in many instances a large proportion of the inhabitants of populoiis boroughs , residing beyond the parlianientary limits , have no votes , except for the county , with which they are altogether unconnected , and have no voice in the election for the borough , to wliicli they reallbelong . ' fW ' '

      y ... :..., .,.:.. _« ... It is therefore provided that the Enclosure Commission shall forthwith appoint special commissioners to visit every borough ,-and inspect the boundaries and the location of the inhabitants , and before the 1 st of January next report to the Home Secretary whether any and what enlargement . of the boundaries is necessary , for the purpose of including - / within the area of boroughs the population really belonging to them , with a view to the introduction of a . boundary bill Jiext session .

      The bill concludes with the usual temporary provisions , and the schedules contain the names of the disfranchised and enfranchised boroughs , and the new divisions of South Lancashire , the West Riding , and Middlesex , and the various forms applicable to the ne ^ v machinery created by the Act , which appear to be admirably adapted by their simplicity to effect the objects intended . * ¦

      Untitled Article

      Tiie Ministuv . —In consequence of the difference with their colleagues on the subject of the new Reform Bill , Mr . Walpole and Mr . Henley have resigned their offices . Mr . Sotheron Estcourt sucocecls Mr . Walpole at the Home Office , while Lord March will fill the post of the former at the Poor Law Board . Lord Donoughmore , now Vice-President of the Board of Trade , will succeed Mr . Henley in that department ; and Lord Loyaiue , recently a lay Lord of the Admiralty , will replaeo Lord Donoughinoro . Mr . E . Lygon , MJ ? . for Towkesbury , succeeds Lord Lovaino at the Admiralty . — Lord Henry . Gordon Lennox has resigned his Lordship of the Treasury . Ho will be succeeded , by Mr . Peter Blackburn , M . l . for Stirlingshire .

      The Chinese insurgents aro thus described in a letter from a member of Lord Elgin ' s expedition :- ~ " Tlio low estimate some of us had Ibrmed of the rebels turned out quite correct on a closer inspection . I had an opportunity of visiting some of their chiefs , botli at Nankin and Woohoo . I was quite disgusted with thoir disreputable and disorderly appearance . TUclr pretensions to Christianity are of tho shallowest description , and they do not possess even u superficial knowledge of its tonots , much loss of its practico . They aro polygamists , opium-smokers , and tlio only follow is that of tho

      Bible example they seem to Israelites in tho conquest of Canaan . J ho whole country has been laid in ruins by them , tho women carried oft" , tho mon pressed into their service , and fire and bloodshed mark their track everywhere They seem , howovor , to bo on thoir last legs , Aho apathetic Imperialists aro gradually closing in upon thorn , and any other Government but that ollote system which goes by tho name in China would crush tlio whole thing in a week . . They asked us to sell horn arm » and wo had secret applications lor opium . They live on tho peasantry , -whom they squeeze , and aro blood-su'ckovs who must bo got rid of , ifwo intend to establish a healthy circulation , so essential to : rade . "

      Untitled Article

      no , 4 S 7 . M * bch 5 > 1859 /] THE LEADER . " 311

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 5, 1859, page 311, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2284/page/23/