The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-12-06 00:00:00

THE REDISTRIBUTION BILL.?

The following are the main outlines of the Redis-
tribution Bill as explained to the House of Commons
by Mr. Gladstone. The two chief feature of the bill
in its dealings with the boroughs were the division of
the large boroughs into single-member constituencies,
and the merging rather than the grouping of the
smaller boroughs except in Scotland. All the boroughs
under 15,000 inhabitants will be merged in the
counties, though the county districts will, in as many
cases as possible, be named after the boroughs which
form their centre and place of election. Boroughs
with less than 50,000 inhabitants will retain only one
member. Between that limit and a population of
165,000 the two members will be retained, and they
will constitute, with the City of London, two-mem-
bered constituencies. Boroughs above the limit of
165,000 will receive an additional member or
members, and will be divided into wards, each
returning a single member. The towns in England
and Wales that under this rule lose their separate
representation are as follows : Abingdon, Andover,
Banbury, Barnstaple (2), Beaumaris, Berwick (2),
Bewdley, Bodmin, Brecknock, Bridgnorth, Bridport,
B uck in gham,Caln e, Cardigan District, Chichester,Chip-
penham, Cirencester, Clitheroe, Cockermouth, Devizes
Dorchester, Droitwich, Evesham, Eye, Frome, Guild_
ford, Harwich, HaverfordweA District, Helston,
Hertford, Horsham, Huntingdon, Kendal, Knares-
borough, Launceston, Leominster, Lewes, • Lich-
field, Liskeard, Ludlow, Lymington, Maldon
Mahon, 3falmesbury, Marlborough, Marlow, Mid-
burst, Newark (2), Newport, Northallerton, Peters-
field, Poole, Radnor District, Richmond, Ripon, Rye,
St. Ives, Shaftesbury, Stamford, Tamworth (2),
Tavistock, Tewkesbury, Thirsk, Tiverton (2), Truro
(2), Wallingford, Wareham, Warwick (2), Westbury,
Weymouth (2), Whitbury, Wilton, Viroodstoci,
Wycombe.
Here are 74 towns, represented by 82 members, all
of which will drop out of the list of Parliamentary
boroughs, though most of them will reappear in the
county representation by giving their names to county
divisions. To these have to be added a number of
places, which have been variously described as
rural or peasant boroughs, but which Mr. Gladstone
spoke of as "rural and hundred boroughs," which will
find a place in Schedule A and be merged in the
county representation. These are: Aylesbury (2),
Cricklade (2), East Retford (2), New Shoreham (2),
Wenlock (2).
To these are added Sandwich (2) and Macclesfield
(2), which are to be disfranchised. Schedule A
thus gives the Government from England and Wales
96 seats.

The Scottish boroughs which come under it are
Haddington District and Wigtown District, giving
two more seats.

The boroughs which will lose separate representa-
tion in Ireland are 21 in number, and are as follows:
Armagh, Athlone, Bandon, Carlow, Carrickfergus,
Clonmel, Coleraine, Downpatrick, Dundalk, Dun-.
gannon, Dungarvan, Ennis, Enniskillen, Kinsale, Lis-
burn, Mallow, New Ross, Portarlington, Tralee,
Wexford, Youghal.
Schedule B consists of the towns now represented
by two members but which, having fewer than 50,000
inhabitants, will lose one member. The following
are the English and Welsh hmoughs which come in
this category: Bedford, Boston, Bury St. Edmunds,
Cambridge, Carlisle, Chester, Colchester, Coventry,
Dnver, Durham, Exeter, Falmouth, Gloucester,
Grantham, Hastings, Hereford, King's Lynn, Lincoln.
Maidstone, Montgomery District, Newcastle-under-
Lyme, Peterborough, Pontefract, Reading, Rochester,
Salisbury, Scarborough, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Taun-
ton, Wigan, 'Winchester, Worcester.
In Scotland there are no boroughs which will lose a
member under this rule, and there are in Ireland only
the cities of Limerick, Waterford, and Galway. The
seats thus gained are 36. Two members will be taken
from London, one from the county of Rutland, which
now returns two. and one from Herefordshire, which
is now represented by three members. The Irish
county of Carlow will also lose one member under
the 50,000 rule. These are the 160 seats which Mr.
Gladstone stated would be gained under Schedules A
and B.

These 160 seats, tcgether with six which have been
liberated by the disfranchisement of Irish and
English boroughs for corrupt practices, will be given
to new county districts, new boroughs, and new divi-
sions of boroughs. Seven new boroughs will be
created round London, and the existing London
boroughs, like the other large boroughs with more
than 165,000 inhabitants, will be divided into wards.
The addition to the representation of London
will be 37 members. The counties will gain
96 more seats, of which 64 will go to counties in
England, distributed on the same one member prin-
ciple which is to be adopted in the larger towns.
There will be sixteen new members for county
districts in Yorkshire, fifteen for Lancashire ;
Middlesex will receive five, and the county
of Durham four. The county of Cork will
also receive five new members, and Lanarkshire
four. In the largest towns the additions will be
of an equally liberal character. Liverpool will get
six more members, and will be cut up into nine
wards; Glasgow will have four more, and vote in
.uvr.i. divisions. Birminglium will also.receive four
more, and be divided in a similar manner; Man-
chester will double its representation, and have six
members; and Leeds and Sheffield will have in all
five members each; Dublin and Belfast will each
have four members, and will be divided into as many
wards. On the whole England will have six more
representatives than it has at present, and Scotland
will receive twelve additional members. The six for
England are provided by the disfranchised con-
stituencies, but the twelve for Scotland will be an
addition to the numbers of the House of Commons,
which will henceforward consist of 670 members, in-
stead of 658.