Arizona republican., 1912-07-15
Plan Proposed By Minister of Education to Abolish Plural Voting and at Same Time Increase Number of Voters.
PROPERTY NO MORE
 A QUALIFICATION
The Plan Holds Out a Hope to Suffragists of Getting Submission of an Amend ment for Votes for Wo- men.

LONDON, July 14-John Al Pease, minister of education, long chief liberal whip and therefore an expert on registration was put up by the government to introduce the promised reform and registration bill, the eff feet of which would among other things, be to abolish plural voting and increase the number of voters in the United Kingdom by some 2,500,000. It is on this bill that the govern ment has promised to give facilities for the introduction of an amend ment to grant the suffrage to women on the same terms as to men. This amendment however, will not be a government one and members are to be left to vote as they like on it. As the present house of commons has already declared itself against votes for women, the amendment has lit tie chance of passing. In fact, the bill itself has very little chance of reaching the statute book, with home rule and Welsh disestabishment ahead of it and hardly time enough to discuss those two great measures. The bill has been introduced in keeping with three promises made by the prime minister. The first was to his own supporters to do away with plural voting. which it is generally admitted handicaps liberal candidates [ in the constituencies, most of the l landholders who have these plural votes casting them against the fiber l ale This promise can be kept with | out the passage of the present bill, as another bill with the same pur- pose has been introduced by pri- vate member and has already passed
 its second reading. By adopting this | bill as their own. the government can redeem the first of Premier Asquiths lIomises.
 The second promise was. if there was time, to remove the difficulties
 wEich the present law places in the
 Way of registration. This can also
 be carried out in the private bill.
 The next promise was to the suf- 1 fragists. to give facilities for thei
 ,roduction of an amendment giving
 \ otes to women This will be carried
 out: but. as it will be opposed by leaders on both sides of the house, it
 is not likely to get nrther than an
 introduction This xotld finally dis
 pose of the matter i the present
 parlia ment. Then the 'eform bill will
 be laid aside. unless, If course. some
 thing unforeseen happens. and the liberals will get rid of plural voting by private bill, and in the same way
 secure the passage of any of their franchise proposals that they con
 sder vital.
 The bill introduced by Mir. Pease is of far reaching effect. By it the value of property as an element of qualifi- cation would cease and every man of 21 years of age with six months resi- dence or occupation in a constituency.
 could have his name placed on the register without all the red tape which makes the English system the
 most cumbrous in the world. For example. under the present system, if a man removed from one house to
 another in the same street. he auto
 matically lost his vote and could not get on the list again until a new one was being prepared, which might
 mean a year Under the bill just
 introduced the lists always remain iOpen, and a voter has six months in
 which to notify the officials of his change of address. There are many
 other anomalies that wolud be removed
 HeSe ClldHSeS llSSt Wl(H tllS dp-
 proval of all. but there are other
 clauses in the bill, besides the abol-
 ton of plural voting, which the con Iservatives bitterly oppose. The abo-
 litiOn of university representation.
 which would reduce the voting power
 of their party in the house of com
 mons by nine, is objected to on the ground that the university con- | stituencies are the only ones where an education qualification is required.
 This reduction of the membership of
 the house of commons. with the six . ty-one taken away by the home rule
 bill, would make the membership ex- actly 500 With home rule for Scot land and Wales, which liberals now look forward to. the house would be- come a still smaller one numerically.
 As slight solatium for the loss
 of plural votes. the peers. who here
 tofore could not vote. are given this privilege with all other males of twenty-one years of age having a
 residence or occupation in the con-
 stituency. This does not. however.
 carry with it the right to sit in the s house of commons.
 The bill would repeal all the pres I ent elaborate para phernalia of fran chise laws. registration courts and re- s vising barristers. It would repeal in 2 entirety no fewer than twenty eight s statutes, and partially repeal forty -four other acts of parliament.