SELECT COMMITTEE ON FICTITIOUS VOTES, IRELAND. AT 4i a Air. James Lane. 821. You say that you iu your judgment, consider the 10 /. qualification good one, provided it be bond fide possessed ?— Most decidedly 822. Mr. Beamish.] Are not the 40 s. freeholders now left'on by the Reform 9 February 1838. Bill, merely left on for their own lives ?— Merely left on for their own lives 823. Consequently that class are daily diminishing? Yes , 82f 7° U uCOn" kier thSvf] f constituency, upon the whole, are a better class than before the Reform Bill ?— I think so. 825. Mr. Serjeant Jackson.] Can you say how it came about that, in making the registry under the Reform Bill in October 1832, several persons cr0t regis- tered who ought nol, in fact, to have been registered ?— I cannot say & 826. Do you think there was time enough allowed for examining the notices of persons that claimed to be registered, considering the vast extent ot the con- stituency ?— I think the business was new, and the number of persons to be registered prevented that scrutiny that might otherwise have taken place. 827. You are aware that there were several thousands of notices served of persons that claimed to be registered ?— Yes. 828. Are you aware that there were but 10 days allowed for scrutinizing those notices ?— Yes. 829. Are you of opinion that 10 days were at all adequate to enable persons who were bond fide intending to examine into the claims and rights of those parties to do so ?— I think not. 830. It was therefore unavoidable, in a certain degree, that a number of per- sons should get in who ought not to have got in 1— I should think so. 831. Are you aware of the arrangements that were made, preparatory to the registry, in making out the lists; are you aware that the lists were made out in a mere alphabetical arrangement, without reference to the districts and parishes ? — Yes. 832. Are you not of opinion that that, of itself, must lead necessarily to a great deal of difficulty and perplexity, and embarrass those that wanted to investigate the claims of the different parties ?— I think so, certainly ; and that if the registry was in parishes, it would be a great deal better. 833. Supposing persons were bond fide intending to examine into the claims of the respective parties to register, those persons must, in the nature of things, have been greatly embarrassed, and found great obstacles in their way from the want of a district arrangement ?— I think so, certainly. 834. Are you of opinion that it would be a favourable change, with a view to securing a bond fide constituency, to require that the lists of claimants to register should be made out in such a manner as to have reference both to the districts and to the alphabetical arrangement of the names?— I think that a parish registry would insure a bond fide and good registry better than the way in which it is done now. 835. When you say a " parish registry," you mean making out parochial lists?— Yes, and even registered in the parishes. 836. Would you likewise have a similar arrangement with a vigw to the elections; would you have a parochial arrangement as well as alphabetical ?— Exactly so. . 837. Is there any other suggestion that you would offer, with a view to pro- ducing a bond fide constituency, and excluding fictitious votes ?— Nothing occurs to my mind at present. 838. Chairman.'] You have stated, that under the Reform Bill a class of very proper persons has become voters, namely, the householders ; and that it the pro- visions of the Reform Bill were strictly attended to, as you suppose they ought to be attended to, that class of voters would be a very proper class to be admitted to the elective franchise ?— Very much so, I think. 8QQ And in consequence of that class being admitted, you have stated that your general opinion is, that the present constituency is a better constiUiency than the former one ?— As being composed of those who were entitled to the fran- chise, but were deprived of it before. _ aT, ntW 840. Although that class of persons has been enfranchised, has no an very numerous class of persons been disfranchised ?- None but the 40 faee- holders, who as long as they live will be entitled to then- votes 841. Have not the non- resident freemen been disfranchised ?— That ha, been decided one way and decided the other. g jg 0.46. G '