Mr. Meldon moved on Tuesday a resolution "that the re-
stricted nature of the borough franchise of Ireland, as compared with that existing in England and Scotland, is a subject deserving the best attention of Parliament, with a view of establishing a fair and just equality of the franchise ;" and he urged that not only is the franchise in Ireland now a £4 rating franchise, instead ofa household-suffrage franchise, but by a law of 1850, which is still in force, all rates must be paid by the occupier, whether due from him personally or not. This provision greatly impeded the operation of the £4-franchise Bill of 1868, and in effect made the desire for the franchise in Ireland a mere screw for enforcing the payment of rates. Sir Michael Hicks Beach admitted that before long some extension of the franchise in Ireland would be necessary, but thought the matter not pressing, and objected to the terms of the motion ; while Mr. Bright said that a £4 rating meant a £6 house, remarked that in Ireland, in certain cases, engineers with a hundred a year and upwards did not occupy a house of so high a rental as £6, and maintained that there was no adequate reason for not giving Irish boroughs the same franchise as English boroughs,—namely, the household
franchise. Doubtless it would introduce a certain num- ber of voters who are not politically competent to vote, but that is no sufficient reason against the measure, if the ma- jority of electors so enfranchised were fit. In point of fact, if the headship of a family and the occupation of a house is the beat rough test for fitness in England, why not in Ireland too ? The resolution was rejected by a narrow majority of 13,-1,79 voting against and 166 for it.
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