Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

6 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

THE REFORM BILL IN COMMITTEE.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

THE REFORM BILL IN COMMITTEE. LORD DERBY, in introducing the Reform Bill to the House of Lords, expressed the hope that it would pass through, the as quickly as possible, and with as little alteration as possible. Notwithstanding this wish, their lordships have evinced something like a determination to stand to their rights, to have a finger in the pie, and to leave their mark upon the measure. Notice after notice of amendment was given, till there was quite a plentiful crop. Amongst them are good, bad, and indifferent, though the number of the former appears to be small. It is unfor- tunate, however, that they should have been pro- posed now. It is on all sides confessed that the Bill is at present very far from being a perfect measure and the evil is that there is not time before the end of the session thoroughly to smooth away the marks of haste which are apparent upon its surface. The time which was wasted at the commencement of the session in discussing vague and fruitless resolutions would now be invalu- able but however much it may be regretted, it cannot be recalled, while, on the other hand, the time for the slaughter of the innocents" has come, and it is evident that the members are in haste to commence their holidays. The amend- ments, therefore, proposed by the Lords tend to delay as well as to jeopardise the measure. The first of these amendments, and which was dis- cussed on Monday night, was that proposed by Lord Halifax, who moved a resolution to the effect that the proposed redistribution was inade- quate to effect a settlement of the question, and that it was expedient to provide means for giving increased representation to large and important constituencies. The proposer argued, and with truth, that the Government measure left untouch- ed many anomalies. There were a number of small boroughs having a less population than 5,000, which were represented, while the claims of those with a population, of four times that number were still unregarded. The former of these it was proposed to disfranchise or group, and the giving additional members to the exist- ing divisions of counties, instead of sub-dividing them, was also hinted at. Avowedly the resolu- tion of the noble lord was not proposed in any; hostile spirit; and it certainly does affirm a truth. The re-distribution scheme is imperfect and very inadequate, and no one expects it to settle the question. It is to be regretted it was made apart of the Reform Bill; but such as it is it must now go, and it will be one of the duties of Parliament to consider a well-digested scheme which shall do away entirely with the small boroughs, ad- mitting to representation those places which have risen into importance. On the part of the Government, the resolution was opposed by the Earl of Malmesbury, who did his best to supply the absence, through illness, of the noble Premier; and it was eventually rejected by a majority of 41 votes. Following upon this resolution came one by Lord Cairns, who proposed the introduc- tion of certain words to the definition of the term "lodgings," which would give a vote to those occupying chambers or rooms not separately rated. This resolution would principally affect Oxford. It was argued that students of twenty- one years of age were as capable of exercising the franchise as any person living in lodgings. This is, no doubt, quite true, but it is manifestly unfair that such an element should be introduced, and that those who have no interest in the town should be allowed to influence its elections either One way or the other. This influence, however, will be very small. There are comparatively very few undergraduates over twenty-one years of age. and those who have been at college for three years then leave and go into lodgings. At Cam- bridge the freshmen live in lodgings. The neces- sary residence of twelve months before a vote can be had will also have a restrictive effect; while those who make application for a vote will experience some difficulty in obtaining it, since the rooms are vacated during the long vacation, and cannot be occupied except by express per- mission. The proposed amendment was accepted by Government—probably because it may intro- duce a few Conservative votes and there was a majority of 48 votes in its favour. The altera- tion of the amount of the lodger franchise was a more important affair. Lord Ravensworth had given notice of his intention of moving that the sum fixed upon by the Commons should be altered to £ 20, but he withdrew his motion in favour of that of Lord Cairns, who proposed the figure should be £15. The Earl of Malmesbury accepted the amendment, and he was called to task for doing so by Earl Granville, who thought this a most remarkable illustration of the spirit of compromise animating tiie Government." Lord Stanley also expressed his astonishment at the conduct of the Government, after having warned the House not to give the other House a slap in the face" by rejecting what it had approved while a home-thrust was delivered by the Duke of Carlyle in reminding Earl Malmesbury of what he had said on the motion with reference to the -distribution-tllat it was a compact between parties which the House could not touch. When it came to a motion, in a Tory sense, they were willing to break the compact without a word of explanation. The House resolved to substitute £ 15 for £ 10, thus raising the amount necessary to be paid by lodgers to give them a vote from about 4s. to nearly 6s. per week. It is argued that this will still admit to the franchise the re- spectable clerk, the educated mechanic, and so forth, and only exclude the residuum" of that class. The sum fixed by the House of Commons was not, as we conceive, at all too low, and if a man occupying a house for which he may give X5 or £ 6 a year is entitled to a vote, those who pay double that amount, though it be in lodgings, are quite as capable of exercising the privilege. It remains to be seen whether the House of Com- mons will accept this alteration. The compound householder has on numberless occasions received a death blow, but again and again has he been re-galvanised in order to give trouble to our legislators. Yet once more has his ghost been called up—this time by Earl Grey, who, on Tues- day night, proposed to omit the clause abolishing the power for compounding the rates in Parlia- mentary boroughs. It was, however, urged that if this were done the whole bill would be thrown into confusion. Although several noble lords supported the amendment, it was decided by a large majority to retain the clause. The amend- ment of Lord Lyttleton to disqualify persons who could not write legibly was not treated in a very serious manner, and was negatived without a division. We are afraid if the proposal had been carried that it would have had a much wider effect than was intended. It is stated indeed that when Lord Lyttleton handed in his amend- ment the clerk was obliged to beg the favour of his lordship's assistance in deciphering the speci- men of caligraphy laid before him. It was stated also by Earl Granville that when in the Foreign Office, and corresponding with many distin- sruished representatives of her Majesty at foreign courts, the writing was uo illegible that lie was obliged to request tlvm to send copies of their despatches, and keep tlio originals themselves. Another amendment of a somewhat important character was that of Lord Cairns, who proposes in three-cornered constituencies to restrict the electors from voting for more than two persons. In a very able speech it was urged that this prac- tice would be an advantage to the legislature, as the minorities of large towns would supply the elements which at present belonged to the repre- sentation of small boroughs without any of the disadvantages, and constitute a stable element in times of popular excitement; that it would break in on the sameness of elections; that it would do away with the rivalry at present existing be- tween members of the same borough holding different political opinions; and that it would give the greatest possible satisfaction to the constitu- encies. It is no argument to say that the idea is -'new-fangled," and the fact of its being a novelty ought to be no objection. It is, how- ever, very evident that those towns which have had three members given them would be worse off than those who have only two, and their poli- tical weight would be decreased rather than in- creased. It is an unfortunate circumstance therefore that the peers should have decided upon in- troducing this principle into the bill. In regard to it, as to the other alterations made, we shall wait with some interest to see how they are treated by the Com- mons. So far as they have gone we do not see that the bill has been at all improved by this manipulation, but rather deteriorated. We hope that Lord Derby may soon recover from his attack of gout, and take his accustomed place in the House, that the Bill may not suffer any more in consequence of his absence.

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