The Government of England Part 22

[199:2] Whereof twenty are in England, and one each in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

[200:1] This is not because the county const.i.tuencies are essentially larger or smaller than those of the boroughs. The Borough of Wandsworth, for example, had, in 1901, a population of 179,877. These figures are taken from single-member const.i.tuencies; for it so happens that the two-member boroughs, when their population is divided by two, are neither among the largest or the smallest. Com. Papers, 1905, LXII., 333 _et seq._

[201:1] 39-40 Geo. III., c. 67, Art. 4.

[201:2] _Ibid._, Art. 5.

[202:1] 8 Hen. VI., c. 7.

[203:1] In Scotland the value of the land, if not of "old extent," had to be 400 a year. In Ireland an Act of 1829 had raised the limit of annual value to 10, to restrain the practice of manufacturing f.a.got voters on the eve of an election.

[203:2] In Ireland the borough franchise was multifarious as in England.

In Scotland it was wholly in the hands of the councils of the royal burghs.

[203:3] 2-3 Will. IV., c. 45, -- 26.

[203:4] _Ibid._, -- 18.

[204:1] 2-3 Will. IV., c. 45, ---- 19, 20. The last provision was added during the pa.s.sage of the bill, and is known from its proposer as the Chandos Clause.

[204:2] _Ibid._, -- 33.

[204:3] _Ibid._, -- 32; but freemen thereafter admitted could vote only if made such by birth or servitude.

[204:4] _Ibid._, -- 33. By -- 31, 40_s._ freeholders retained the franchise in boroughs that are counties by themselves.

[204:5] 2-3 Will. IV., c. 65.

[204:6] _Ibid._, c. 88.

[205:1] Com. Papers, 1831-1832, x.x.xVI., 489.

[205:2] It is interesting to observe that of these, 108,219, or nearly two fifths were freemen, scot and lot voters, potwallopers and other persons whose ancient rights had been preserved. They belonged, of course, only to the old boroughs. Election Returns (Boroughs and Counties), Com. Papers, 1866, LVII., 215, p. 8.

[206:1] These figures, about the proportion of electors and members to population, are taken from a Report on Electoral Expenses, Com. Papers, 1834, IX., 263, App. A.

[206:2] Pp. 47 _et seq._

[206:3] 13-14 Vic., c. 69.

[206:4] In reading the debates on these bills a foreigner is often puzzled by the distinction between ratable value and clear yearly value.

The latter is what is called gross estimated rental in the Rate Book, while the ratable value is supposed to be the net yearly value, and it is obtained by making a reduction from the gross, which varies from place to place, but is on the average about ten per cent.

[206:5] Of the borough electors in England and Wales 26.3 per cent belonged to the working cla.s.ses; Com. Papers, 1866, LVII., 47, p. 5. In Scotland the proportion was 18.3 per cent. _Ibid._, 805, p. 12.

[207:1] 30-31 Vic., c. 102.

[207:2] One of the safeguards in the bill was the provision that householders must be separately rated for the relief of the poor, and must have paid their rates; and in order to insure personal payment by the householder, the Act forbade the common practice of rating the owner of dwellings in lieu of the occupier. But the practice saved the local authorities much trouble. It enabled them to receive the rates in a single payment from the owner of a number of houses, instead of collecting small sums from many tenants; and they were in the habit of allowing a commission or rebate to owners who paid in this way.

The convenience of the old practice was so great that in 1869 it was again permitted; and the Act (32-33 Vic., c. 41) also provided that such a payment by the owner should be deemed a payment by the occupier for the purpose of the franchise, thus sweeping away the safeguard of personal payment of rates.

The practice is called compounding for rates, and the tenant whose rates were paid by the landlord was the subject of fierce discussion under the name of "compound householder," although it was in fact the rate, and not the house or the holder thereof, that was compounded.

[208:1] It will be observed that the 10 occupier differed from the householder in the fact that he might occupy any shop, warehouse, or other building, whereas the householder was qualified only by a dwelling-house. On the other hand, the premises occupied by a 10 occupier must be of the clear yearly value of 10, whereas the householder was qualified without regard to the value of the house.

By the Act of 1867 the householder might occupy any part of a house used as a separate dwelling; while the 10 occupier must occupy a whole building. This difference was, however, done away with in 1878 by an act (41-42 Vic., c. 26, -- 5), which provided that the occupation might be of any separate part of the building, if that part were of the yearly value of 10.

[208:2] 31-32 Vic., cc. 48, 49.

[208:3] They ran from a little less than one in twenty-one to a little more than one in twenty. _Cf._ Com. Papers, 1866, LVII., 215, 569.

[208:4] _Ibid._, 643. The extension of the franchise in Ireland in 1850 nearly trebled the number of county voters there, in spite of the falling off in population.

It may be observed that the growth in registered voters is not an exact measure of the increase in the number of persons qualified for the franchise, because with the organisation of the political parties there has been a greater and greater effort to make every man register who is ent.i.tled to do so.

[208:5] Com. Papers, 1872, XLVII., 395.

[208:6] 48-49 Vic., c. 3. The Act also extended the household qualification--both for counties and boroughs--to men who occupy a dwelling-house not as owners or tenants, but by virtue of their office or employment, provided the employer does not also occupy the house, the object of that proviso being to exclude domestic servants. This qualification is known as the "service franchise."

[209:1] 48-49 Vic., c. 3, 6; and see also 2-3 Will. IV., c. 45, -- 24, and 30-31 Vic., c. 102, -- 59.

[209:2] Rogers on Elections, I., 64-66. The references to Rogers are to the 16th Ed. of Vol. I., to the 17th Ed. of Vol. II.

[209:3] The amount required for the qualification of freeholders in boroughs which are counties is not exactly the same as in counties; and the leasehold qualifications do not extend to them. In England there are now only four boroughs which retain these rights: Bristol, Exeter, Norwich, and Nottingham. Rogers on "Elections," I., 160 _et seq._

[210:1] Rent charges, whether arising from the commutation of t.i.thes or otherwise, are realty, and qualify a voter as land.

[210:2] If the land is copyhold or other tenure, it must in any case be of the yearly value of 5.

[210:3] The 50 leaseholders admitted by the Chandos Clause in the Act of 1832 were required to occupy the land, and are now included in the 10 occupation franchise.

[211:1] Rogers, I., 61-63, 125.

[211:2] _Ibid._, 27, 66.

[212:1] Rogers, I., 148-49, 162. In the City of London he may reside within twenty-five miles.

[212:2] _Ibid._, 149-50.

[212:3] Page 207, note 2, _supra_.

[212:4] Rogers, I., 27, 30, 126 _et seq._, 142 _et seq._

[213:1] Com. Papers, 1898, Lx.x.x., 755.

[213:2] It is slightly less in Scotland than in England and Ireland.

[213:3] Aug. 30.