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great evil with which they had to contend in securing purity of election arosa from bri-- bery. They all knew how extensively bri-- bery was used in all the elections in the coun try. They had had very striking illastra-- tions of it in their own country within the last few years, (Hear, hear ) While bribery was possible under any system to some ex-- tent, beyond all doubt enormaus TUifisulties wculdberhced in the way of bribsry by a properly constituted systom of secret voting, amd a very largo amount of bribery ° that otherwise woubl take [l;l:ce woull be avoided. Thero would no use in paying a man $5 or $10 for his vote if there were no means by which the briker could afterwards tell whethor tho man had given his vote in favour of one candidate or the other, No doubt a system of bribery 'might be inungnntod by niioh the money shculd be paid in the event of the candidate, for whom the voto was purchased, baini ro-- turned. _ Bribery of this conditional kind wust be limited in its extent. None of the advocates of the Ballot Bill would say that it secured pertect freedom or sacurity from cortuption, but it did secure a very large measure of purity and frssdom which _ an _ open system _ of voting would not, He hoped there was no member of the House who did not recagnize th6 im-- portanco in our representative institutions of every man voting according to his convic-- tions. They allg knew, as a matter of fact, that Curing a canvacs all sorts of personal considerations were used 'to make an elector vote for one candidate rather than gnother, But such considerations would be entirely unavailing where no one !tow how the man was going to vote, Now, it was a very seri-- cus thing to know that in every general clec-- tion there were thousands, probably tens of thousavds, of dollars given for votes which were recorded contrary to the convictions of the electors. if a man in the exercise of this very important duty acted in o position to bis own convictions, it would Enve the effect of demoralizing him, and the repetition of a few elections would hbe quite suificient to complete the demoralization The whole life of every such mon as this, as far as politicsl matters were ~con-- cerned, becamso a lic. OUne of the objections of the opponents of the Bill was that the tranchise was a trust, and therefore ought to be cxercised in the light of day. It was some-- times said that it was not correct to spesk of the franch'so as a trost, but for his own part, ho wes quite willing to recognize that as the true character of the frarchise. But then he would say, its being a trust, it was their duty to see that the recipient of the trast was in a position to dischargse his duty froe from bias or inflgaerce by which he ought not to be -- influenced. _ They ougcht to #ee tbhat no usdue influence which wou'd irduco him to betray his trust or any consideration should be forced upon him, -- They knew as a matter of fact that, uarder the open system «of voting, that trurt was comstautly betrayed by inflasnces such as thore be had mvutioncg. Another fa-- vourite'objection made to the Bill was that i; was more mmanly for a voter to go to the polls, and there publicly staie the man for . whom he intends voting. ~ This was meraly . a sentimental objection, and had not been ! urged so much lately as it was at one tims, If a man wae free to vote as ha . thought fit be would have lenty . of opportumity of showing his m\nrineu. without this matter of giving his vote in . public. _ That was a matter tfiu was trans. | _ _ acted once and for all, but he would have an . to vote against their convictions. It was quite true that they might have elections car-- ried on under the system of epen voting with-- out violence being used and it was quite true that if they had the ballot systom some-- times violence might be used, because soms men would know how others would vote ; but ho believed the ballot would diminish a large amount of violence that otherwise migbt be expected. _ The 'other of _ intimidation and < the. exercise of undue influence of every kind. Thera was actual intimidation or undue influoncse between egmployer snd employed, between l"mmers and tradesmen, betwoen land ords and tenants, debtors and creditors ;"d persons in various positions in which all new there was an opportunity for the exer-- cise of Influence which led many electors SuCuUsOE BHOWE REWM MAT CE( . 00 e oc & in regard to the candidate for whom he voted, and it was the first duty of the Logis-- lature to do what they coald to remove tha influences which tended to deprive a m n of this free use of his franchiso _ No action ot the Governmentijwould be'likely to secure a greater advantsgo for the people than ths endeavour to remave the probability of _ intimiAatinn -- and <« the exercise of widaCIE aQ ARAROR PMR PPR E eet moment to the couutry, was that evory elector should give his free gnbtused opinion which it had in view, which was o{ Eh'? high-- opportunity in 2 manly way of showing his political sentimente every d&dy of his life, and »almost every beur of every l{. Thero was no advantage of this kind by tho voter boing obliged to state publicly how hs is going to vote. If he was free there was every opportan-- ity for himto manifost hia manliness if he de-- rited to do go; if he wa* not free there was ro power to compel himt» vote. The next a"fmmmt was that it would lead mon to make false promises Thoy wight promise to vote for " l o thonts ucaie a man, and then g£0 and vouo agaiuen SLNTS Now if a promiso. were givel honestly, and ' if a man were free to vote as he chose. he would keep that Yromine whether the vate | were giv(n ublicly or secretly. On_ theo i other hand, i?tho promise were exacted un-- | 'der circumetances which would Bot loave | him free--when,t e had to choose botween two | Svis, the one of breaking his Kromiu, and -- the cther of violating hi duty to the country--and _ were |. ho _'indusel to promiro that which he could not con-- scientiously perfor®, ho would be doing a double wrong if he voted contrary to his conviotions. _ (Hear, . boatr ): When one came to propose for the first time a Bill of this nature, it became neoesnr{ to conaider tho different rystems en whic measures had been con«+ructed for 'the %u-- pose of accomplishing the ends in view Oas system was that which prevailed in tha United States, whore a vory large share af publicity belonged to the eystem notwith lh_l_\dingthowt_hstm voting was nomi L mt °_ _ curme nviiiner aniniet rratt se WOmEdiIR LHC EBMRM MERCM OO CE « h nally sg:ret. Theorc were many contrivandes } I for arcertaining how the votos were given, and it wis found they did not make many mistakes in their estimates of the votes re-- corded. Each candidate or party provided . voting papers, and these were distributed to ' those going to support the candidates, Thesa papers were of different shapes and priats 1 on different coloured paper, and it was casy ascertain for whom the vote was givea re was / little or no contrivance for the purpose of preventing stuffing the ballot--boxes, avd is was importairt that they should have a system by which this evil would be avoided. Then they kno# that whero this system prevailed in the Uanitcd States, there was stuffing of the bal | lot hoxes, and therg Tas no way in snour sy=-- | tem of remedying this. Whoever by !ranrfi- ' lent means got 1,000 votes put into the ballot 1,000 forged ballot papers were put into the ballot box on behalf of a certain candidats, ana 2_. 2f that box 1,000 pagers were drawa indiscriminately, &A v8ry large number of vote?, belonging to the other side would be drawn out, _ So there was a large gain in favour of VUCs 12 d 1 24 14 03 Lsnt cfi -- 25 Eu0T ' the guilty, There were other ovile arising from that system. -- There: was a constant personation of vaters, and there werse numsor. us instances where men had voted many times, and thore was no way of preventing this, In consequence of these evils it was desirable that they should find a system in 'which they could be prevented or greatly _diminished. Stufficg the ballot boxes with forged ballots should be nearly impossible Hion, members were awaro that in some of tho Australian colonies a system was adopte1 by which those evils of the ordinary ballot aystem were avoided to a very large ext: When this systom was shown to be a suc «.--», snd an improvement on the old system many of its old opponents wers couverbai, and it was adopted in England, In that system ballot p3pers were pre-- pared 'by the Returning--oflicer, | and no ballog--papers which wero prepared by the candidates or taken to the poli by the voter were allowed to be used. He was com. gdled to make use of the papers given to im for the purpose by the Returning--officar or his deputy. Then there was a contrivancs by which, without interfering to auy import ant extert with the secrocy of the voting, it could be ascertained if any man gave a vote without having the right to give it; and on its being adjudged that the voter had no right to vote, and that the. vote was a bail ien's memstfigb 1, UIU voues dput into the Dallot boxeg, obtained a decide ndvanh';e. It 1 NNN foroad hallat nanars arora nnt jnta tha one, it could be ascertained for whom that vote was g{?von; thereby that evil was pre vented, _ 'The mode of procedure was shortly this :--The ballot--papers woere priatod with counterfoils, and to every counterfoii there was a number corresponding to the written or printed _ part of the ballot paper, so that when the Rotnminfi-otfioer gave the ballot paper to the voter he wont into hi« private sputme:;mand there P:t a cross to the pame of the candidate he intended to va's for. ~After having filled up the bailot papar, he lm'xdeq it to the Returning--officer, who identifies it by having his initials ugon it, ar by some other means, _ He then drops it into the ballot box i~ the presence of tha cardidates or their agents, If it was found, on a eubsequent occasion, that the majority was small, and if it is believed that proof can be given that there aro 100 bad votes, ani his manliness if ho do-- : 13 not free there was \ n ta vote. Th. next ould lead mon to mike 'sht promige to vote for d vote .g.i.l.llt him, , givea honestly, and vote as he chose. he nise whether the vate } r secretly. On_ tho § mise were exacted un-- | U3 42-- cuasld4 mnk Ioauva ' ROy D WHC | indusel -- to ; l not con-- \ 14 bs doing itrary to his When one first time a ne neoesnr{ ems en whic for ths pur-- | LE\ 14 ) +t {1 }