THE COMING REFORM BILL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 22, 21 September 1883, Page 23

THE COMING REFORM BILL.

The Pall Mall Gazette says : — In order to ascertain the opinions of the bnlk of the Liberal party as to the lines on which the coming Reform Bill should be drawn so as to satisfy the wishes of the country, the committee of the National Reform Union issued to its branches and leading members a circular containing ten questions, in which the important points connected with the subject were detailed. The circular was issued in March, and the following abstract of the answers received has been sent to us by the secretary, Mr. Arthur G. Symonda :—: — Among the associations and clubs — 171 of which have Bent in their replies— there is a pretty general consensus of opinion on the various points contained in the questions. Thus, speaking roughly, there is a practical unanimity on the following points :—(1): — (1) As to the advisability of dealing with the redistribution of seats separately from tbe extension of the franchise in the counties ; (2) aa to the wisdom of adopting, in the redistribution bill, a purely populational basis ; C3)as to the necessity of abolishing minority representation ; (4) as to the need of reform in the present system of the registration of voters, in the direction both of shortening the time of qualification, and of protecting the duly qualified from losing his vote through the negligence of local officials or the interference of party agents. Again, four-fifths of the individuals, and eleven- thirteenths of the associations and clubs that have replied strongly insist that, when the franchises are assimilated, they should also be simplified, and that one uniform residental or rating franchise, with an effective lodger franchise, should be established throughout Great Britain and Ireland. So, too, there is a wide agreement, among those who express any "pinion on the subjects, as to the following points :—(I): — (I) That the official expenses of elections should be thrown on the rates ; (2) that public-houses should be I closed during tbe time of elections ; that canvassing should be abolished ; (4) that at a general election all elections should be held on one and the same day. Several important suggestions are made independently of the questions contained in the circular;— e.g. (1) That the "Illiterate Voter" should be disfranchised, or at all events, should receive no official recognition ; (2) that the Ballot [ Act should be extended to the elections of local boards and boards of guardians ; (3) that the nniv ;rs ties should be disfranchised ; (4) that women's suffrages should be included in the next Beform Bill. There are also several associations and clubs which, while accepting the simplified basis of the franchise above referred to, openly declare their preference (theoretically, at least) for manhood or universal adult suffrage. The plan of equal electoral districts finds very general, though by no means universal, favour among the committees, the alternative plan of extending the areas of existing boroughs so as to include sufficient portions of the surrounding districts to equalise the anomalies, beiug accepted by several in preference. About two-thirds of both associations and individuals approved of Cobden 's plan of one-membered constituencies. Many extremely practical suggestions have been sent in for the improvement of the working of the Ballot Act, the prevention of corrupt practices, the reduction of the costs of elections, and the simplification of the present system of registration. Bub as it is almost impossible to classify them, and as, though very valuable, they do not bear directly on the subject of the coming Reform Bill, the committee has decided to exclude them from the report.