The Elections and Registration Bill was read a second time
in the Commons on Friday week. It provides that municipal and local elections shall not take place during the national crisis. Mr. Long explained that by suspending work on the Register after' July 31st the ratepayers would save £100,000. The Government hoped to deal later with Parliamentary elections. Objections were raised on behalf of revising
barristers who have contracts. But it would surely be absurd to continue making a Register which would be a bad Register —half the men lodgers must be away—in order to bold elections that are not needed. Any cases of :real hardship can be dealt with in Committee. The objections really amounted to a plea for national. economy. without persOnal sacrifice—an impossible thing. Let the pennies be saved as well as the pounds, and the nation will soon find itself in the right spirit to exercise the thrift without which we cannot win the war. The Bill was read a third time on Monday, and was passed by the Lords on Wednesday.
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