A. letter addressed to Tuesday's Times by Dr. Macaulay Posnett
gives a striking sketch of the unfair difference now existing between the English and Irish system of voting, both political and municipal. But it is on the municipal side cer- tainly that that difference is most mischievous, for, so far as we can see, there is hardly a county or a borough in Ireland which would return a different class of representatives under a more English franchise, than it returns under the existing fran- chise. But in local matters it is different. For example, in Ireland ex-officio members of the Board of Guardians may constitute one-half of the Board,—in England, only one-third ; in England, two-thirds of the Board is elected, in Ireland only one-half; nor is the ballot allowed in poor•law elections. In Ireland, again, county taxation is administered by twenty-three Crown nominees, who impose the county cess, one-third of the whole local taxation of the country. No wonder the Irish cry out for more genuine local self-government. All good English Liberals ought to aid them in their demand for this reform.
Previous page
