The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-21 00:00:00

THE REFORM BILL.

Mr. 11. VIVIAN asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer
whether a forty shilling freeholder, residing on his own
freehold within a borough, and paying rates, would not
become a borough voter, and thereby lose his county
qualification under the proposed Reform Bill ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said if he
dwelt in his own house, subject of course to the regula-
tions of the existing law.
Mr. GLADSTONE asked the following questions:-
1. Whether the conditions of voting in boroughs, so far
as they are affected by the bill of the Government, are to
be the same for occupiers of the value of £lO and upwards
as they are for occupiers under £lO ; and if not, in what
respect they differ ? 2. Whether it is intended by the bill
that the occupier franchise in boroughs, which now depends
upon the occupation of any house, warehouse, counting-
house, shop, or other building, is henceforth to depend
upon the occupation of dwelling-houses exclusively. 3.
Whether the tctal number of male occupiers, stated by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his speech on Monday.
consists exclusively of the occupiers of dwelling-houses ?
4. Whether her Majesty's Government will lay upon the
table their estimate of the number of voters to be enfran-
chised under the several clauses of the bill, together with
the data, so far as they think fit, on which such estimates
are framed? 5. Whether the occupier claiming to be re-
gisteredunder clause 34,when the composition, or other re-
duced rate on the premises has been duly paid by the land-
lord, must, in order to be registered, pay the difference-be-
tween such reduced rate and the rate which would have
been chargeable upon him if he had been directly rated?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
first two questions were LQUAdQd upon a 11.1i5apprelieW1Q11

of the character of the measure. It was merely a supple.
mentary one, and did not interfere with the privileges
under the act of 1832, therefore the conditions
were not the same. With respect to resider•
tial qualificttion, they had followed the precedent
laid down in the bill introduced by Lord Aberdeen and
Lord John Russell in 1854. The bill proposed a resi-
dential qualification of two years, and therefore they had
adopted it. The bill of the Government preserved all the
privileges of the Act of 1832. The words dwelling house
had been introduced into the measure because it was
deemed sufficient, the words "other buildings" being
thought likely to lead to fraud. With reference to the
number of voters, on Saturday a return would be in the
hands of members with respect to the savings banks and
minor qualifications ; but as regards the statistics of the
entire number of voters, it would be quite impossible to
produce them without incurring great expense, and then
they would scarcely be produced in time to be of service.
Mr. GLADSTONE asked another question with respect
to the compound householders.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he
would become entitled to the franchise upon being called
upon to pay the same rates as his neighbours, otherwise an
injustice would be committed, and nothing applied to the
£5 unless expressed in the bill.