Mr. Brand, the new Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, writes to
last Saturday's Times to protest against the disfran- chisement of all property-owners, as owners, under the County Franchise Bill,—a course which had been sketched out as not improbable in the recent speech of the Attorney-General at Bridgwater; and he suggests instead that all the rates should be divided between occupiers and owners, and that all rate- payers, whether ratepayers on property or ratepayers on occu- pation holdings, shall have a vote for the property or holding on which they are rated. In this way, non-resident owners in the boroughs would obtain votes for the boroughs in which they have property, as well as occupiers in the counties votes for the counties in which they reside, the franchise in each case depend- ing on the payment of rates. For our own parts, we should be inclined to approve this suggestion. There is no reason why the possession of property should not be regarded as constituting a 'political qualification at least as good as the residential quali- fication, and the more variety of qualification we have,—so long as the qualification be a thoroughly popular one,—the more truly representative our House of Commons will be.
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