V, SELECT COMMITTEE ON FICTITIOUS VOTES, IRELAND. a space of any given extent, but varies from very Mr. J. c. Besnard. were given to the number 37. A townland is not small to very large ?— Yes. 38. The parties who are desirous to register, in whatever right, were bound to give a certain notice under the Reform Act?— Yes. ° 39. Were notices given accordingly ?— Notices I have mentioned ; of above 8,600. 40. Were you the person that made out the list?- Not at all; that was the duty of the clerk of the peace, Mr. John Colburne. 41. How long before the actual business of registration was that list published ? — 1 en days. 42. Do you think that it was possible to investigate that list of 8,600 claimants to register, so that any person could know whether they were persons entitled to register or not, in the space of 10 days P— I did not make any endeavour to do so because I did not busy myself about it; but I am sure it was perfectly impos- sible, because the names followed each other according to the initial letter; and in order to ascertain whether any individual was in the list, one might have'to o- o through the whole number of names in that letter, of 1,000, for instance ; and^ if you wanted to make out a district list to ascertain how many persons were in any parish, or in any townland, you should go through every name in every list of every letter; so that I think it would be perfectly impossible to ascertain them, to class them, and make any investigation of their rights. 43. Sir Robert Ferguson.] Did not the list specify in what right the free- holder claimed, and the townland out of which he claimed, so that by going- over the list of townlands, you might find out what his right was ?— The town- lands were not specified. 44. Were they not in a separate list?— Not at all. The names went on, Such a one, of such a street, in the City of Cork, freeman; such a man, in such a place, calling it by the name of the townland; but very often they gave not the name of the townlands on which they resided, but the fanciful name that any gentleman chose to give his own place, without specifying the townland at all. 45. Mr. Beamish. J Did he not add the ploughland or townland?— By no means. Generally, whenever a townland was given, it was given as the resi- dence. There was no arrangement whereby the townland was necessarily dis- tinguished. 46. Chairman.'] Does not the Act of Parliament say that each claimant to vote shall, in the notice, state his name and residence, the right in respect of which he means to appear, and the nature of the qualification relied upon by him as entitling him to register ?— Yes, that is all; and he might say a house and land, choosing a townland of 1,500 acres; or he might say that it is Kitt's Borough, or any name he chose to give it himself. 47. Mr. Serjeant Jackson."] Then you are understood to say, that the names of the freemen and freeholders and householders were promiscuously in the list, not separating the one from the other, but following without order or arrange- ment, so that it was impossible for any person to go through the entire of them, and classify them, and investigate the rights and claims, and the sufficiency of their fight, within the 10 days?— I conceive it would be perfectly impossible over such a district as that. m . _ 0 48. Mr. Beamish.] Was there any effort made to ascertain those rights I am sure there was not by me; but I saw numbers of persons there of both parties in attendance. . . 4q Did you ever hear it alleged that there was any difficulty in ascertaining those rights'?— I heard it universally exclaimed against as matter of impossibility, from the confused manner in which the thing came on. 50 Mr. Serjeant Jackson. 1 Were there professional gentlemen attending there, in different interests, to investigate the claims ?— There were. 51 Do you mean to say, that amongst them at the time you heard complaints made of the impossibility of doing the business ?— I did. _ < 2 Mr Lucas.] Does not it increase the difficulty oi examination very much, that the claims are not classed according to the local situation, but simply by the initial letter of their names ?— Most undoubtedly. noi( vbbours 53. Must not a person who wished to give evidence as to attend on various days, and, attending on those various days, b. qui*^ uncerta n when the cases of his neighbours may come on P- Yes ; when I jaspresent each barrister would call the names as they appeared on the list, calling at onetime 0.46. 2 1 7 February 1838.