23 8 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE TIIE t r r, rd 6284 Were not these defects pointed out at the time the Reform Bill was ' ' ulK|~ r discussion ?— They were ; both the want of the annual revision and the March 1838. other When the Bill w: as first published, it occurred to me that those were two very « reat grievances, and would be likely to operate very unjustly, the one generally and the other locally; and I prepared some observations, of which I have a copy in my hand, with the concurrence of the common- council of Cork, as their observations, and, in order to induce attention to them, had them printed, and sent to each member of the Government, and to each of the law- officers ' of the Crown, copies of them; and the two passages that relate to the circumstances I have mentioned bear exactly upon the present state of affairs. 6285. What is the date of that document ?—' The first Irish Bill to which it relates was printed by order of the House of Commons on the 30th June 1831. This document bears date 29th of July 1831. The first observation relates to that part of the Bill which required the citizens of Cork to go to such distant places, and it is this: " According to this provision, any person who shall not have registered at the first special sessions must, at any other time of the year than the month of September, go off to some of those distant places, in the county of Cork, from 12 to 30 miles, and take with him his papers and witnesses to prove the sufficiency of his claim; and any person who is desirous to resist the admis- sion of a registry, must either employ an agent at the county session^ or go off himself to the place where the sessions are to be held, and take witnesses with him; and those officers whose business it shall be to keep in charge the records of the city registries, must go the circuit of every sessions for the purpose of receiving and making entries of the affidavits that may be sworn. It would not be very easy to devise a system of proceeding more calculated to produce incon- venience, expense and confusion, and which appears to be at the same time so uncalled for. The registry of freeholds for the city of Cork has hitherto been made before the recorder of Cork; a judge whose talents and integrity are attested by the united opinion of the bench and the bar of this country. That gentleman sits in sessions of the peace in the city of Cork once a week through- out the year, and holds pleas in civil rights of unlimited amount. A citizen of Cork, as he now acquires a right to vote, registers it before him. It must have been inadvertently that the Bill was so framed as, at the same time, slightingly to supersede such an officer, and to deprive the citizens of Cork of the opportunity to register their votes, as their right shall from time to time occur." Then with respect to the annual revision, the observations submitted were these : " By the proposed Bill it appears as if it were sufficient to have registered within eight years next before the teste of the writ of election. It is to be apprehended that if such a distant registry be permitted, a main object of the Bill will be in a great measure defeated, namely, to make generally known all persons who are really voters'. It has been already found, with respect to 40.?. freeholders registered for Cork, that the greatest difficulty occurred to determine, of those appearing 011 the panel, how many really continued to be voters: the names of those registered within eight years were annually published, but of that number, by reason of deaths and removals, re- registries and registries of distinct freeholds, the largest portion ceased to be efficient votes. The same ill consequences, but to a much more injurious extent, would result from the present Bill. Mere annual tenants are by the proposed Act qualified to register, and being once registered their names must continue on the list for the eight years, and be annually pub- lished during that time among the entire body of voters. What an immense number of names must be accumulated in eight years in the city, suburbs, and liberties of Cork, if the successive tenants of every house, warehouse, or lot of land let at 10/. per annum, within that period, are to be at liberty to register and remain in the list. The confusion and expense which such a continually increasing list must occasion would be quite formidable. If the registry is to last for eight years, there ought at least to be a revision once a year, in some such manner as directed by the 14tli section of the Bill intended for Scotland." (> 2Sb. Does that document appear upon the face of it to have had the sanc- tion of the corporation ?— It had; a copy of it was sent with a letter from the mayor of the day to each of the members of Government, and the law- officers of the Crown. 6287. Was any notice taken of it?— There were answers received; I believe the