The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-16 00:00:00

REGISTRATION REFORM.

The report of the Select Committee on the regietra-
tion of parliamentary and municipal voters just published
is a long and important document. The Committee state
that being convinced that the fundamental cause of the
existing evils (which they specify at length) is
the faulty character of the primary list, they have
sought for some efficient means of securing the preparation
in the first instance, of a more complete and accurate list.
And in the next place they have desired to discover a ma-
chinery by which the professed object of the law shall be
secured, viz., that all persons entitled to vote shall, as far as
possible, be placed upon the register without unnecessary
trouble or expense to themselves or others. The Scotch sys-
tem appears to fulfil this requirement so nearly that it has
been the business of the committee to consider how they can
assimilate the English system to it. There are many
and great difficulties in the way, which are pointed out.
The fist and fundamental recommendation which the com-
mittee offer is that the preparation of the list of voters shall
be entrusted to the clerk to the assessment authority i❑
each borough, and that ho shall have power given,
either by statute or by the action of the Poor Law
Board, to employ the rate collectors of other parochial
officials to assist, under his superintendence and con-
trol, in the preparation of such a list. The registrar•
should be clothed with authority to enforce all such penalties
as may be imposed upon the overseers with respect to the
omission of names or other entries from the rate-book.
The rate collectors will be able to carry ou this work
contemporaneously with, and as part of, their ordinary daily
duties, and incorporate the business of registration with that
of the collection of the rate. The committee recommend
that such official shall have the title of " Registrar of Voters,"
and that he and the persons whom he may have occasion to
employ shall be remunerated in such manner as shall be
prescribed by the board of guardians, subject to tho appro-
val and revision, from time to time, of the Poor Law Board,
in the same manner as the remuneration made to the
clerk of the Assessment Committee. In some boroughs this
arrangement cannot be carried out, but the committee are
willing to tolerate some imperfections in utilising an ex •
isting authority ralher than introduce an entirely new
machinery. It is proposed to enlist the letter-carriers as
assistants to the registrar. It is recommended that, the
lists shall be published, not outside the church doors,
where they can be seen but once a week, but at public
places, such as post-offices and police-stetions. Notices of
objection are to state the ground of the objection, and when
the registrar has satisfied himself that the ground is suffi-
ciently stated, he is to be responsible for serving the
notice. Revising barristers, it is thought, should have in-
creased power of amending claims when they aro satisfied
that the claims are substantially good. The rovising barris-
ters should, moreover, be appointed by the judges cellectively,
or perhaps by the Court of Common Pleas. The ccmmitteo
aro of opinion that there should be one registrar for parlia-
mentary and for municipal elections.