The French Chamber met on Wednesday for the first time
since the General Election. The Times correspondent says that electoral reform will be the most important work of the Session, but the Government intends to deal with the status of officials, and may also introduce an Income-tax Bill and judicial reforms. As regards electoral reform, the scheme will provide for a departmental serutin de liste, with a system of proportional representation. The correspondent continues :— " The electoral districts will not in all cases, however, be con- terminous with the boundaries of the present Departments. Several of the smaller Departments will be combined into larger constituencies for the application of the serial:a de Ziste. At the same time certain large Departments like the Seine and the Nord, which are more densely populated, will be subdivided so as to establish something like equal electoral districts throughout the country The Government Bill, moreover, will embody the Prime Minister's original proposal for the prolongation of the electoral mandate from four to six years, combined with a system for the renewal of the mandates of one-third of the whole number of Deputies every three years."
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