3 OCTOBER 1868, Page 2

The Registrations are likely to turn out a mess. The

officers who prepared the registers have frequently made blunders extend- ing through whole parishes, and the revising barrister has by the present law no choice but to strike all these claims off the list, and has absolutely no power to order the properly qualified voters thus struck off for no fault of their own to be restored. This is a great defect in the law. In Scotland, where they have never been accustomed to a ratepaying franchise, the matter is still worse. All the tribunals are at sixes and sevens about the various claims, and cannot at all agree about them. The Scotch Members who went over to Mr. Disraeli and supported his ratepaying franchise will now be fairly rewarded for their infidelity to their own leader.