The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-24 00:00:00

which he is put may thus be cousioerabiy increased.
Such are a few of the most prominent grievances
to which the present system of registration gives
rise, and which, after the lapse of two-and-twenty
years, an attempt is now being made to remove,
allude to the Bill for the Amendment of
the Registration of County Voters, introduced
by Mr. Dodson, which, we understand, will probably
receive the sanction of the Legislature during the
present session. Several of the provisions of this
bill are intended to remedy the evils which we have
shortly described. One section provides that an
objections, with the exception of those officially
made by the overseers, must " set forth in specific
terms the ground, or several grounds, of objection
upon which it is intended to rely. And the same
section provides that no person so objected to shall
be required to defend his vote before the revision
court upon any other point than that upon which
he has received due notice. This would prove a
serious check upon the present vexatious system of
objecting to votes upon frivolous grounds, or, as is
very frequently the case, upon no grounds at all.
Nor would it leave the bona fide objector the
smallest ground of complaint, for it would be easy
for him to state his true reasons, if he had
any, for objecting to his neighbour's vote. The
points to be discussed before the revising barrister
would thus appear on the notice of objection. and,
these being at once disposed of, there would be au
end of the case. No fishing questions would be
allowed, with the view of detecting some flaw in an
adversary's title, other than that set forth in the
notice which the latter has received. Much irre-
levant and irritating discussion would be thus
avoided, which, from the uncertainty at present at-
tending the nature of objections, is at times likely
to arise. Another important provision, intended to
protect county voters from needless annoyance, is
contained in the 22d section of the proposed bill.
By this section any person whose vote has been
objected to may make a declaration upon oath in
avewer to the grounds of objection alleged against
it, and setting forth the facts upon which he relies.
This declaration is afterwards to be transmitted to
the clerk of the peace for the county, and notice
of this fact is to be sent to the objector. If, not-
withstanding this declaration, and the reasons by
which it is supported, the objector still persist in
contesting the point, and he lei's, the revising
barrister is to be empowered to make him pal
costs to the amount of £5 ; that is. five times the
amount which it, any case can at present be
imposed. In ordinary cases in which the psrty
objected to has not made a decluratien on (An
in answer to the notice of objection, but has
simply appeared and defended his vote in the
court of revision, the barrister is to be em-
powered to give costs to the extent of £3 if he is
satisfied rhut 'he abjection is frivolous and vexatious.
These provisions, and others to which we need not
now refer, appear to be well calculated to protect
voters from annoyances to which they are now
notoriously subject. It is also proposed to cast
various additional duties upon the clerks of the
peace and the overseers, which, we should imagine,
will lead to a considergble incre se o: expense. But
considering that the present Registration Act has
been in force since the year 1842, we need not be
surprised that it should now require amendment.
Upon the whole it has not worked bidly, otherwise
it would not have remained so long unaltered. But
experience has clearly showy that it may be made
to cause much unnecessary annoyance to those for
whose protection it was especially designed—we
mean all bona 4de possessors of the franchise. We
believe that the bill before the House of Commons
will much diminish, it it does not remove, the evils
that are now complained of.