The Express.
London, England, 1867-06-03 00:00:00

RCDISTRIBUTIt N tIeHEYER.

The Times returns to its defence of the cumulative
vote—the proposal that each elector shall be enabled
either to accumulate or distribute the votes at his com-
mand. This scheme it prefers to Mr. Dillwyn's amend-
ment, which would prevent the electors in all boroughs re-
turning more than one member, from voting for more than
one man, and limit him to one vote. The cumulative vote,
the Times urges, will give a large mass of voters the direct
representation they are at present deprived of, and confer
onthemactualelectondinfinence. Itwould Nave the wealthy
liberals, in Manchester, for example, supposing it had three
members, from being reduced to political insignificance by
the liberalism of the operatives ; and it would give similar
power in other cases to the conservative minority. By
destroying the power of a few voters to turn the scale on
one aide or the other, the cumulative vote would free
members from a tyranny under which they now fall, and,
instead of increasing, would directly diminish the power
of the holders of mere crotchets to force their way into
parliament. To Captain Heyter's amendment that the
boroughs having a population under 10000, which have
been deprived of one member on Mr. Laing's motion,
shall have their boundaries extended, so that with•the ad-
dition of neighbouring district, or towns they shall hence-
forth contain a population of at least 10,000, the Times is
at present adverse, thinking that by so enlarging the small
boroughs we should be only attzmpting to disguise the
insignificant amount of town life they profess to re-
present.
The Deily News is in favour of an amalgamation of the
rival schemes of Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Laing, the government
grafting upon their own plan of redistribution the provisions
suggested by the hon. member for Wick for increasing the
representation of large borough constituencies. By this
means the government plan giving the 12 seats to 12 un-
represented towns and one to the University of London,
with 15 new members to subdivisions of counties, would
remain; while the 15 seats set free by the vote of
Friday would be distributed by Mr. Laing's method
of augmenting the representation of populous towns
north and south of the Tweed. For instance, Mr. Laing
would give a third member to Birmin3bain, Bristol, Leeds,
Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow, Dublin, and
Edinburgh, and a second to Salford, Merthyr Tydvil,
Swansea, Birkenhead, Dundee, and Aberdeen. The hon.
member further proposes to associate fifteen small English
boroughs now separately represented into seven groups,
thus setting free seven seats, in addition to the forty-five
already taken account of. It is questionable whether this
portion of his plan will receive parliamentary sanction ;
though the only fault which can be alleged against it is
that it does not go far enough. If adopted it would
afford the means of meeting more fully the recognised
claims of Scotland to increased representation ; and would
leave a balance of three or four members to be distributed
among English constituencies. Several of the metro-
politan constituencies are as well entitled to one as the
Tower Hamlets to two additional members. Kensington
and Chel.ex, which have been often promised enfranchise-
ment, might be gratified.

The Star exhorts all parties to concur in increasing the
fund for redistribution, and especially cautions those who
are interested for the counties, that unless they now aid
in exterminating the very small boroughs, they will have
the mortification hereafter of seeing that salutary revolu-
tion accomplished without any assistance from them, and
without any extension to the counties of that additional
rep esentation which on fair terms and in a really large
measure of redistribution no one would object to grant.