The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-26 00:00:00

P A RLIA 111 EN 7A R Y AND MUNICIPAL
EL EC TIO COMMITTEE.

At the sitting of the Parliamentary and Municipal
Elections Committee on Friday, Sir Charles Wentworth
lke, M.P., furnished some interesting evidence as to the
French system of elections. To assist him in his labours the
deputy returning-officer of the district selects four electors,
two being the oldest and two the youngest on the register,
who sit withhim in the room where the votes are recorded.
The ballot-box is opened in the presence of the commis-
sion thus formed, and the key placed in the hands of the
oldest elector. Each voter is furnished with a
polling-card, on personal or written application, during the
three days prior to the day of the. election. On that day
no cards can be obtained. About two-thirds of the
electors of Paris take care to provide themselves with
cards, though votes can be recorded without them.
As the electors enter the room, they are met by the touts
of the candidates, who press the claims of their principles
upon them, and hand them voting papers inscribed with
their different names. These papers are not all of the
same thickness, and the witness stated that in some dis-
tricts the voters will erase the name of the Government
candidate and write in the name of the candidate he
favours, and as he hands in the paper to the persons pre-
siding at the ballot-boxes, it is thought, from its thick-
ness, to be for the Government candidate. When the
voting closes, any elector who likes can place his seal on
the ballot-box. The growing feeling in France is against
continuing the voting for two days. The proces-verbat,whieh
is issued after the election, details the proceedings which have
taken place at the time of voting, and the manner in
which the scrutiny bas been conducted. There arc five
classes of rejected visiting papers, viz.-1. Those which are
utterly bad. 2. Those on which the names of the candi-
dates cannot be read. 3. Those on which there is not a
sufficient description. 4. Those in which the voters
have made their names known; and 5. Those contain-
ing the names of candidates who. have not taken the pre-
scribed oath. As these invalid voting papers are
taken out of the ballot - box they are placed in
different coloured envelopes, and are afterwards destroyed.
No nomination beyond that of the candidate himself is
required in France. In Paris the expense of the ballot
falls on the city. The expense is trifling. Tho expenses
of M. Thiers and of M. Favre, at the last election, were
about £4OO each, the amount being chiefly expended in
printing. Referring to New York, the witness said
that the system adopted there is very similar to
that in vogue in France, though the elections are not
conducted with so much care, impersonation prevailing to
a large extent. In Massachusetts, as there had been a
good deal of fraud, especially amongst the Irish
voters, a law had been passed establishing secret
voting. The plan adopted was the envelope system
used at the test of the ballot in Manchester lately. It
was found, however, that fraud still prevailed, and
so a repeal of the law was effected, and elections
are now conducted as they are in France. Bribery in
New York is conducted through the medium of ward
managers, a species of contract being made with them to
secure the votes of the bribeable people, who are tho-
roughly well known.

In answer to questions by the committee, the witness
said that secret voting is practised in the Australian
colonies. In Tasmania a great deal of shuffling goes
on with the voting-papers, one paper often being
substituted for another. In Victoria the return-
ing officer is always sworn to secrecy. The
hon. member was strongly of opinion that the best
mode of voting by ballot would be by means
of balls, thc.re-. being many objections to the
use of papers. "The evil of what is known as after-
noon bribery might, he thought, be done away with, even
without the Ballot, by the abolition of check clerks. Nor,
he believed, would the Ballot prevent that kind of bribery,
prevailing in small constituencies, which may be described.
as paying for results.
The next witness called was Mr. Arthur Arnold, who
was present at the last election in Greece. The voting
was secret. Each candidate had a separate ballot-box,
and the balls were put in in the same manner as is
done in the clubs in England, the names
of the candidates being legibly inscribed over
them. There were five vacancies and thirty candidates,
and the plan pursued was for the attendant in the booth
to go round with the voter with a bowl containing
thirty bullets. As each of the thirty bullet-
boxes were reached the name of the candidate was called
out, and the elector, taking a bullet, deposited it in the
half of each of the boxes inscribed "Yes" or "No," as he
desired.

A malicious attempt to destroy the boilers of the
North of England Waggon Works at Preston has just been
discovered. The supply pipes connected with the boilers
receive their water from a large well in the yard, aid
during the evening some persons have ettercd the yard
unseen by the watchman on duty there. A large quantity
of stones, bricks, wood, and other materials were gathered
together and thrust into the pip( s, totally disabling the
boilers from being used at the present, and damaging them
to a considerable extent. A largo number of men were un-
able to work in consequence thereof.
THE BOILER EXPLOSION IN SOUTH WALES.—
The adjourned inquest on the bodies of the four men
killed at the boiler explosion at the Abergwawr Colliery.
on the 31st of May, has been held by Mr. Overton, at the
Rock Inn, Aberaman. Mr. Wales, the Government in-
spector, attributed the explosion to the fire end of the
boiler, partly from long use, but principally from faulty
construction. A letter from Mr. Fletcher, chief engineer
of the Manchester Steam Users' Association, was read,
which stated that the boiler was twenty-three years old,
and that after it had been in use three years it was con-
verted from au internally-fired boiler to one fired exter-
nally, while, in addition, the furnace-tube was taken out.
These alterations were a great mistake. Competent
inspection would have detected the danger. The jury
returned a verdict of " Accidental death."

AN AGED ACTRESS.—Dramatic necrology has
lately recorded the decease, at a good old age, of the
humorous comedian and excellent man Robert Keeley ;
and more recently, at the ripe age of seventy-five, of the
intelligent and painstaking Shakspearian actor, Mr.
I)rinkwatcr Meadows. And now, from the United
States, we learn that Mrs. Vernon—an actress of great
personal merit, who had for seventeen years played the
" first old women " at Wallack's Theatre, New York—
died in that city on the 4th instant, in the seventy-eighth
year of her age. She was an Englishwoman, but had
emigrated to America so far back as 1827'. For several
months before her death she was quite deaf, and s) nearly
blind that she had to be led upon the stage ; yet her
acting had lost none of its vivacity and spirit, and she
remained a favourite to the.last.

THE ATTEMPT 'TO SHOOT IN IRELAND. —At
Dublin, Thomas Shea, described as a veterinary surgeon,
has been charged with attempting to shoot Mr. A. S.
Foster. of Cappagh House, Finglas. From the evidence
of Mr. Foster it appeared that on the preceding evening,
in consequence of a message brought through his coach-
man, be walked down the avenue leading from his house,
where be met the prisoner, Thomas Shea. The prisoner
said, "Mr. Foster, I hear the Misses O'Reilly have come
to live with you." Mr. Foster said, "Mr. O'Shea, I
cannot allow you to proceed up to my house. You have
treated me very badly, and promised to pay me the money
I advanced to you; but, when once a man deceives me, I
have done with him." After an altercation, Mr. Foster
asked prisoner to withdraw, and be said, "Do you mean
it?" to which the prosecutor replied, "I do." The
prisoner, who wag on horseback, turned his horse round,
and appeared to be feeling in his pocket fur something, at
the same time dropping a piece of paper which Mr
Foster handed to him, and again requested him to with-
draw. Shea then quickly turned his horse towards Mr.
Foster, and charged him at a distance of eight or ten
yards. Mr. Foster seized the bridle in his hands, and
stopped the horse, when the prisoner, as alleged, presented
a pistol at him, and drew the trigger. The cap exploded,
but the weapon missed fire. Mr. Foster sprang forward,
dragged him off the horse, threw him on the ground, and
a struggle ensued, iu the course of which Mr. Foster suc-
ceeded in wresting the pistol from the prisoner, which on
examination was found to be loaded. The struggle was
only terminated by the arrival of the coachman. Mr.
O'Donnell, the magistrate, decided on remanding the
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