The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-19 00:00:00

,o get rid of the great bulk of questions that are raised be•

fore the revising barrister. But that is the very thing we
contend we are doing. We contend not that the local au-
thority is untrustworthy, but that it requires to be kept
under check. We say, look for the best and most certain
test, and that I have shown not to be the rateable value,
but the gross estimated rental. I ask, What are the errors
to be found in the latter that are not carried forward and
aggravated in the former? and I have shown that errors
exist in the rateable column which are not to be found in
tho column of gross estimated rental. The bill adheres to
the phraseology of the Reform Act. It provides that the
occupation franchise shall be founded on the clear yearly
value, so that we go as straight to the rate book as
my noble friend, with this difference, that we go to the
right part of it, and he goes to the wrong. Every object
my noble friend seeks to gain by going to the column of
rateable value can be gained in a much better way
under the column of gross estimated rental. If my noble
friend desires to oust the revising barrister, the proper
way to do so would be to make the column of gross esti-
mated rental final, that being the column we can fix upon
with the smallest amount of risk, and which contains the
fewest errors. Such are the grounds on which I hope the
committee will reject the motion of my noble friend. I
am not surprised at the smallness of the majority for the
proposition of the Government the other night, because
everybody knows how difficult it must be in complicated
questions of this kind to bring hon. gentlemen to a close
and accurate knowledge of the facts. For twenty years
past there has been a growing sense of the evils conneeted
with registration. (Hear, hear.) We share in that con-
viction, and are ready to take any steps towards diminish-
ing it. There has been a great desire to set up an external
standard, but until the last three years there was no ex-
ternal standard which possessed any approach to accuracy.
But the President of the Poor-law Board introduced and
carried through the last Parliament an act by which that
question was to a great extent adjusted, and that was by
the column of gross estimated rental, which furnished a
safe and secure basis, and one which we can now adopt for
the franchise. I say, then, that every advantage pointed
out by my noble friend can be obtained by our proposition.
If my noble friend be right in saying that the decisions of
the local authorities ought to be made final, then those de-
cisions should be based not upon the inferior basis of the
rateable value, but upon the surer and better basis of gross
estimated rental. (Cheers.)
Mr. HENLEY supported the amendment, because the
rateable value could always be ascertained and the rental
could be concealed. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had
admitted that for every other purpose the rateable value
was the best test, but for the electoral franchise he said it
was not practicable. In his (Mr. Henley's) idea it was
absurd to say that any person would allow his house to be
rated at a higher value than the rent he paid.
Tho debate was continued by Sir F. GOLDSMID on the
Government side, and Mr. GOLDNEY for the amendment.

Mr. POULETT SCROPE ,went fully into parochial
matters, with an endeavour to show that the less local
officials had to do with preparing the list of burgesses the
better, and that tho rateable franchise would create much
jealousy and suspicion, which the rental would not. •
Sir W. JOLLIFFE and Mr. GREEN followed on the part of
the amendment, and Mr. HIBBERT and Mr. TORRENS for
the Government. The latter remarked that if the house
refused to pass this moderate bill they would have to accept
a much more liberal one in a very short period.
rental AfLotrearovßae.rflteihwooNirvarrotre:bsGifrom Mr. POWELL in favour of the
amendment,
' The SOLICITOR-GENERAL argued in favour of tho
in the latter part of hisU°
pevalue.esupportedch
said
thathe
bill aits
a
a ndt
present stood was a stepping-stone to universal suffrage,
and it was framed with the belief that the Government by
its means would annihilate the Conservative members.
But if the truth were told there were members of the so-
called Liberal party who were averse to this measure; and
he should charge them with cowardice if they voted in
favour of it.
Mr. FORSTER asked what it was they Were legislating
for. Was it not to produce as good a Itaurin Bill as pos-
sible ? And,he believed there were members on the other
side of the house who were willing to support a measure
which would settle the vexed question of Reform. He
argued that from all the statistics they could obtain the
rental franchise would give less trouble in its arrangement,
would admit more deserving persons, and would lead to
' less disputes than a rateable one.
Sir R. PEEL took the committee entirely by surprise,
L first by cutting ridicule on Mr. Forster's speech, then at-