SELECT COMMITTEE ON FICTITIOUS VOTES, IRELAND. sJ7' 24T be operated upon, produced a different effect in Ireland from what it do, England m counties of pi ripe nat " does counties of cities. 6252. Win you state why it does so?— Out of 1 counties of towns in England, only four have frekolde s S^ T to ™ h? se are Exeter Lichfield, Nottingham, and Norwich, and those llacel have not extensive liberties connected with them. iuo. se places nave not flj' 25- 3- TIn Ij* land, Jlow man) r counties of cities and counties of towns are there'- In Ireland there are eight counties of cities and counties of towns 11 all of winch the freeholders are eligible to vote. The names of those, and ' the extent of them, are as follows : Cork, containing 45,000 acres, Limerick 26 000 Galway 23,000, Carrickfergus 16,700, Kilkenny 16,400, Waterford 9 478 Drogheda 5,800 and Dublin, which is the only one that is of a small extent' 3,538; the result of that is, that the counties of cities in Ireland all except Dublin, are placed under different circumstances from counties of cities in England. O254. That is to say, there is included a considerable rural space which is inhabited by persons having tenements that might entitle them either as free- holders or as 10 /. householders to register ?— Yes. 6255. The consequence of that is, there is a considerable rural constituency let in upon those cities and towns ?— There is. I can show in England how the same restriction operated; there is a case which is almost parallel to Cork, that of the county of the city of Coventry. The city of Cork and its suburbs are defined, and the suburbs comprehend a space of ground of reasonable extent round the city. The boundaries of the city and suburbs of Coventry are also well defined, and they comprehend a reasonable extent of ground. The county of the city of Cork, which is different from the city and suburbs, comprehends lands within a circle of about 30 miles, including a large rural population; the limits of the county of the city of Coventry contain about eight miles in length, and an area of about 20 miles in circumference. The jurisdiction of the corporate officers extends throughout the whole of each county of the city ; the assizes are regularly held by twro judges of assize for each city; the quarter sessions are held by the magistrates in each. There is a court of record in Cork called the Court of the Mayor and Sheriffs, and, in Coventry, the Court of Mayor and Bailiffs, the jurisdiction of each of which extends over the whole county of the city ; juries are empanneled by the sheriffs, and the expenses of witnesses, and the maintenance of the gaol, are defrayed by a rate levied upon the county of the city, throughout the whole county of the city, in each case. But because in Cork the freeholders happen to have a franchise, the whole county of the city is made the city; whereas, in Coventry, they strictly limit it to the city and suburbs,, handing over the whole of the country district to the county of Warwick, and so with respect to other places; Lincoln is in the same way, and others; in short, leaving no rural district attached to the city at all. 6256. Practically speaking, with regard to the city of Cork, it would appear from the evidence you have given, that the town constituency, properly so called that is the inhabitants of the town and suburbs, are in fact overwhelmed by the rural population ?— I consider that they are quite outnumbered, and that the intention of the legislature was not carried into effect; for I conceive that the original instructions given, to include so much as would comprise what may be fairly considered as part of the town or the suburbs, show the intention of the framers of the instructions, and that they never imagined that the rules which they gave would produce such opposite effects in the two countries. f. or- In fact is not the greatest proportion of what constitutes the liberties of the city of Cork as much a rural population as that which belongs to the county at large ?— It certainly is ; I have seen persons coming to register and to vote in Cork that were not able to speak English J. C• Betr. ard. March 1838, approved of, to let the parties who live in the liberties v upon a county qualification. voters for the county at large 1— Yes. 6260. It 0.46. 0 0 3