The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-26 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF COMMONS-LAST EVENING.

THE SCOTCH REFORM BILL.

The House then went into Committee on the Scotch
Reform Bill, and the first business was to reverse the vote
on Mr. Bouverie's amendment, which led to asudden stop-
page of the bill last Monday. A proviso was moved for
the purpose by the Lord Advocate, and accepted by Mr.
Moncreiff on behalf of the Scotch Liberal members. It
underwent some discussion, and was amended in one or
two particulars ; and as ultimately agreed to it provides
that no man shall vote who, within the preceding 12
months, has been exempted from payment of poor-rates on
account of poverty, who has not, on the 20th ofluly, paid
all the rates payable by him up to the preceding May 15,
or who has been within the preceding 12 months in the
receipt of parochial relief. Clause 3, which regulates the
borough franchise, was then agreed to.
Clause 4, the. county ownership franchise, was agreed
to after a slight amendment, a proposal by Sit E. Cole-
brooke to restrict the franchise to persons occupying a
residence within the county being rejected. in clause 5,
tit, county occupation franchise was changed from £l2
rateable value to £l.l gross annual value, and the ratepay-
ing r quirements were amended so as to correspond with
the alterations in the borough franchise clause.
Cause 6, which provides that the third member given
to Glasgow shall be elected on the "minority principle,"
was postponed, and clause 7 was agreed to.
Oa Clause B—the first of the Redistribution Clauses—a
motion ly Mr. Lowther to postpone this part of the bill
led to a revival of the debate on Mr. Baxter's instruction.
:n making it Mr. Lowther spoke very strongly against an
increase i❑ the present monotonous Scotch representation,
and advised the house before apportioning the members to
ascertain how many it would have at its disposal.
The motion for adjournment was supported by Sir L.
Palk, Mr. Beresford Hope, Mr. C. Bruce, who objected to
increasing the,number of Scotch members at the expense
of England ; by Mr. Smollett, who insisted that the redis-
tribution schedules required to be remodelled ; by Colonel
French, who advocated the consolidation of Scotch coun-
ties; by Mr. Hayter, Mr. H. Baillie, and Mr. Harvey. Mr.
Baxter opposed postponement, and

Mr. GLADSTONE strongly deprecated reviving a dis-
cussion already settled.

Responding to urgent appeals from Mr. Sandford, Mr
Baillie, and Mr. Moncreiff,
Mr. DISRAELI explained the views of the Govern-
ment; premising that he could not consent to any post-
ponement, and urging the home to push on with the bill,
so as to facilitate an early dissolution. The original plan
of the Government contemplated giving Scotland seven
members by an addition to the numbers of the house,
but this substraction of seven from the English mem-
bers he pointed out made a difference of 14 on the bal-
ance between the two countries. Still ho was willing to
abide by his original proposal to give seven Trombers to
Scotland, and to adopt the principle of Mr. Baxter's in-
struction—disagreeable as it was to him—as far as was
necessary for that purpose. These seven members he
would thus dispose of. An additional member would ba
given to the counties of Ayr, Aberdeen, and Lanark, and
to the cities of Glasgow and Dundee. The four Scotch
Universities would get two members batweon thorn, and
a member would be obtained for a group of border boroughs
by consolidating the counties of Peebles and Selkirk. Be-
yound this he urged the Committee seriously not to go,
looking to the expediency of effecting a settlement in the
shortest possible thine.
Mr. GLADS TONE expressed his intention to support
the more extended scheme of Mr. Baxter, and
Mr. DRIGLIT took the same view, protesting against
the idea of treating England and Scotland as two separate
countries, and urging the Conservatives to permit their
leader to settle the question on a liberal an'l lasting basis.
Mr. WALPOLE held that the house was bound to ad-
here to the settlement of last year, of which ho contended
an essential part was that no borough should be disfran-
chised, and that the just increase to the numbers of Scotch
members should be made by an increase to the numbers
of the house.

Mr. BOUVERIE asked for some time to consider the
new plan of the Government, which he admitted to bo
superior to the first ; but the opinion of the committee was
o strongly opposed to delay that ho did not press it, and
after some further conversation, Mr. Lowther withdrew
his motion for postponement.
Mr. BAXTER then proposed his counter-scheme of re-
distribution by which he disposes of ten members. In its
original form it gave an additional membor to the counties
of Lanark, Ayr, Aberdeen, and Perth, to the cities of Edin-
burgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee, two additional members to
Glasgow and one member to the four Universities. But
after some conversation he agreed, on the suggestion of
of Mr. G. Duff, to give two members to the Universities,
and this change was effected at the expense of the county
of Perth, which was deprived of its promised addition.
There was a long conversation, turning more on the
manner of putting the question than on its merits. Ulti-
mately the division was taken technically on the question
whether Glasgow shall hive three members, as the Ge-
verament propose, or fjur, as Mr. Baxter's plan suggests
and the result was a majority of 39 in favour of the Go-
vernment —261 to 222.

Upon this, Mr. Disraeli rose and sugg• sted that, with a
view to expedite the bill, the committee, after this decisive
decision, should at once adopt the Government plan.
Mr. Moucreiff, however, supported by Mr. Gladstone
and Mr. Bouverie, objected to going on, and moved to re-
port progress; but a very strong indisposition was mani-
fested by the committee to pausing at this point, and Mr.
Baxter intimated that after the vote just given ho would
not persevere further with his plan. Teo new redistribu-
tion scheme of the Government, giving an additional mem-
ber each to Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire, Glas-
gow, and Dundee, and two of the Scotch Universities,
was then embodied in clause 8. Mr. M'Laren and Colo-
nel Sykes made an unavailing effort to olstain an addi-
tional member for Edinburgh and Aberdeen, but received
no encouragement to go to a division. The proposal to
group the counties of Selkirkshire and Peebles-shire for
the sake of a group of Border boroughs was postponed.
Sir L. PALK next moved his proviso, that nothing in
the bill shall reduce the representation of England and
Ireland. He maiutained that there was a bargain last
year that the English scheme of redistribution should bo
dual, and he recommended that the ten seats obtained by
Mr. Baxter's instruction should be given to E aglish coun-
ties and large towns.

Dlr. DISRAELI, though sympathizing with Sir L.
Palk's object, objected to the proviso on practical grounds,
pointing out that it would reopen the Rig Hill bill.
On a division the proviso was rejected by 262 to 95.
Clause 8 was agreed to, and the further progress of the
bill was adjourned until Thursday.
The Electric Telegraphs Bill was fixed for Juno 9, at a
morning sitting.
Some other orders were forwarded a stage, and the
house adjourned at 25 minutes after 1 o'clock.