AMENDMENT OF THE MUNICIPAL ACT.
TIIE provincial newspapers furnish evidence that local ques- tions at present excite far more iaterest among the middle classes than general politics. The incorporation of Binning; ham and Manchester has been the subject of earnest and
even bitter contention in both of these towns; and a perusal of
the journals published in Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, and Bristol, shows that while the Parliamentary registration has been ne- glected by the Liberals, the approach of the Municipal elections and the revision of the Municipal lists of voters are regarded as really important. glected by the Liberals, the approach of the Municipal elections and the revision of the Municipal lists of voters are regarded as really important.
The English Corporation Reform Act has been generally con- sidered the best measure of the MELBOURNE Administration; but this week a circumstance has occurred which proves the ne- cessity of amending it in an essential part. The Mayor of Bristol having found it, as he says, "mathematically imprac- ticable" to complete the revision of the burgess-lists within the
time prescribed by law, namely, by the 15th instant, wrote to the home Office to inquire what course he ought to take. He was
told that the proceedings could not be continued beyond the 15th; and accordingly, on that day he closed his court, with the an- nouncement that the burgess-roll of 1837 "will regulate the en- suing elections."
One of the Assessors then remarked, that he was aware of the impossibility of trying 2,500 nisi prim cases in fifteen days, on the plan adopted by the Mayor, of allowing counsel to examine witnesses at length in support of, or opposition to votes.
The mischief here is of the same nature as that which renders the Parliamentary registration so wearisome and expensive—the
qualification is not sufficiently simple. Questions of residence and rate-paying may be opened up and discussed ad infinitunt. The advantages which the Tories derive from the costly process of establishing Parliamentary votes, will soon be manifest in the mode of conducting Municipal revisions. At Bristol, it seems
that the Tories gained their point by preventing the completion of the new list — they cheered the Mayor whom the Liberals hissed; and we may be sure that they will not be slow to follow
so successful an example. In addition to the Parliamentary regis- tration, the Liberals must annually expect a fortnight's expensive work in the Municipal Revision Courts ; and it is not clear that the Municipal franchise will not affird greater opportunities for disputing claims than even the Parliamentary franchise.
Contemplate the means of anno■ance, which may be con- verted into the instruments of obtaining majorities, thus placed in the hands of the wealthier party. No time should be lost in at- tempting to procure the amendment of the Municipal Act; and there is perhaps a better chance of success on this question than on Parliamentary Reform, inasmuch as it comes home more closely to the ordinary business and common sense of men, and to the natu-
ral English love of" fair play." There ought to be a simultaneous
movement on the part of the Town-Councils. Petitions should be forwarded to Parliament from all of these bodies, at least where the Liberals have a majority, for the simplification of the Muni- cipal franchise. Without this amendment, it appears inevitable that the old Corporation party will regain their ascendancy in the Municipalities, by the means which h ive proved effectual to so great an extent in the Parliamentary Registration Courts.
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