Mr. Albert Grey, M.P. for South Northumberland, addressed some of
his constituents at Hexham this day week, in a speech which virtually announces his intention, in case of the intro- duction of a Franchise Bill without a Redistribution Bill, to form a Cave for discontented Liberals, of which Cave he himself seems prepared to be the month. He declared that he had no objec- tion to the abolition of the 40s.-freehold franchise, and to the enforcement of residence as a condition of every franchise, on condition that minorities should be proportionally represented in the new constituencies ; and he means by proportional re-
presentation, the adoption for every constituency entitled to several Members, of Mr. Hare's plan of voting, under which every elector would give in a list of the Members whom he would like to see returned in the order of preference in which he held them,—the understanding being that if his vote was not needed to ensure the return of the first on the list, it should be passed on to the second, and if not needed for the second, to the third, and so on, till it reached a candidate short of the number required for success. That system Mr. Albert Grey would apply to all the counties. Northumberland, for instance, being en- titled, according to his statistics, to eight Members, he would allow each county elector to give in a list of eight Members in his own order of preference, and leave it to the returning officer to use his votes in the manner suggested, so as best to carry out his wishes. This is Mr. Albert Grey's impracticable ideal for the new Reform Bill, and he declares that he will vote in the House in the manner which seems to him best adapted to promote the success of this scheme. In other words, be nails his colours to the mast (if a vessel bent on a visionary and impossible enterprise.
