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"It is more than twenty years since I was actively engaged in sanitary work, but I remember well the epidemic of relapsing fever in 1871, and the difficulty we had in impressing upon the authorities that it was anything more than a 'bad cold.' Meanwhile hundreds and thousands of people were being prostrated, so that in many instances families could not apply for parochial relief owing to being all down with illness. We had at last to open soup kitchens and other means of furnishing food and bedding, in order to prevent absolute starvation and cold becoming a widespread cause of mischief."

In some places within the last few years influenza, in regard to which we had no returns, might be said to produce results hardly less than this. Again, Mr. Sampson Gamgee had said that the unscientific, hurried, and slovenly treatment of our out-patients' rooms acted more powerfully than any other cause to fill our workhouse infirmaries. This might be an over-statement. Still, in all matters of relief, registration was the beginning of all reasonable and responsible organization, and perhaps returns of the sickness in out-patients' departments, of which a necessary preliminary was proper registration, might lead to more careful treatment and better after-results, if hospitals, as some had done in the past, were to register and notify voluntarily. He concluded by proposing a very cordial vote of thanks to Dr. Newsholme, which was carried unanimously.

PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION in ENGLAND illustrated by the ELECTIONS of 1892 and 1895. By J. A. BAINES, C.S.I.

[Read before the Royal Statistical Society, 21st January, 1896. The Right Hon. Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., in the Chair.]

1. Ir may appear to some, perhaps, that in my selection of a subject I am trespassing upon a field of discussion from which the Society has hitherto kept studiously aloof. Those, however, who are acquainted with our proceedings will be under no apprehension on that ground, and will require from me neither explanation nor apology. It falls as legitimately within the scope of our labours to collect and discuss facts bearing upon the political, as upon the economical, life of our country, and any misconception which may arise on the subject is due, no doubt, to the generally prevailing confusion of party with politics. To many, indeed, it may seem impossible to keep the two apart. In one of Mr. Gilbert's topsyturvy plays, which I confess to being old enough to enjoy, free though it be from passion, purpose, or problem, there is an anomalous guardsman, who consoles himself for being posted where he has no business to be, at the very door of Parliament, by reflecting that we are all, boy or girl, affiliated from our very birth to one or other of the two parties then recognised. Nowadays, he would perhaps allow a wider field of choice. He is not the only one who holds this opinion, I believe, and if the conclusion be correct, we, who dabble in statistics, may take credit, without unduly flattering ourselves, for being able, within these precincts, to transfer our allegiance from faction to fact, and to discuss political subjects with strict impartiality, unweighted by the bias of party or other interests.

2. A question which naturally suggests itself at the outset of an inquiry on this subject is, how far do the facts respond to the touchstone of statistical treatment, or, in other words, to what extent are the conditions susceptible of being adequately expressed by figures? Before I answer this, it is as well to specify briefly the limits to which I conform in my survey of so wide a field. For a special reason which I give hereafter, I touch but cursorily on the question of enfranchisement, merely comparing the present circumstances with those of various periods in the past. I then pass on to the system of representation as it is seen in operation,

beginning with the question of how far the franchise was exercised on the occasions of which I treat, and proceed, finally, to the results of the voting upon the distribution of parties in the representative body, including the relation between the voting and the results. Now it is clear, I think, that in respect to all but the first topic, the test of statistics is the only one applicable, so far as my present purpose is concerned, and it was on this consideration that I made the selection. I must therefore lay special stress on the fact that in setting forth the results of the elections, I abstain from offering any explanation whatever as to the causes which produced them, and I draw no conclusions from other sources than directly from the figures. I am contented, that is, with what may appear to some to be a mere juggling with dry bones, instead of demonstrating from the live organism. As regards the first question, the relation between population and electorate, there are considerations involved, of course, of higher moment than mere arithmetical uniformity. Nevertheless, the latter, with every extension of the franchise, with every scheme of re-distribution, and with the gradual abolition of class or local privileges-and how few are now left-the arithmetical test, I say, is growing into more and more prominence as a factor in the case, and is taken into more account, not only with reference to existing circumstances, but when proposals for their modification are brought forward for consideration. It appears to me, then, that even with regard to the franchise, the figures of population and representation must form the preponderating element in practical arrangements, whilst in dealing with the results of the system adopted, statistical handling is probably the only means by which the data can be got to yield their full tale of the kind of information of which cognisance may here be taken.

I.—THE REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM.

3. The franchise, its distribution, and the proportion borne by the electorate to the population at large, are questions which have been from time to time before the Society since the latter was founded. In the very first volume of its proceedings is to be found a compilation of the electoral registers for the years immediately following the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832. As the need of further extension of the franchise forced itself on public attention, the subject was twice discussed here with great fulness by that distinguished statist, the late Mr. Newmarch, who thus cleared the path of reform before 1867. Between the first and the second measures dealing with this question an interval elapsed of no less than thirty-five years. In such matters the nation moves slowly, and takes no action until full discussion and

deliberation have shown the change to be necessary, and to involve no material breach of continuity in the tendencies originating in the system already in operation. If I may be permitted to draw upon the East, where so much of my life has been spent, for a simile, I would quote, without disrespect, the conduct of the elephant as a parallel. Above other animals he has a keen appreciation of his own weight and value, together with a remarkable aptitude for, so to speak, cataloguing his experiences for ready reference whenever new and untried conditions arise in his path. The smallest stream will not be crossed until every foot of the bottom has been carefully tested for unseen traps or pitfalls. Nothing under propulsion by a steam roller, or, under favourable circumstances, the wiles of a popular favourite, generally of the fair sex, will get him to trust himself to anything which sounds hollow under his tread. Caution such as this is doubtless exasperating to a rider who looks mainly to speed, and trusts to his star for safety; but the majority prefer it to the sprawling indifference of the camel, or the reckless excitability of a mettlesome horse. To return to our own country-take, for example, the six points of the charter so strenuously pressed upon public notice in the early forties. The cud was chewed for thirty years before action was taken. Effect was then given to two of the points, and since that time a very material advance has been made in two more. This is the result of half-a-century. Of the two remaining points, one has, I believe, been modified by those who inherit the responsibility of its advocacy, and the other, though recognised by the last Parliaraent, has not yet secured substantial support from public opinion. So long does it take the prophet to be acknowledged by his fellows of the crowd. The necessity having become once apparent, however, the political machine moves faster. The interval between the second and the third Reform Acts was but half that which separated the first plunge of 1832 from Lord Derby's "leap in the dark" of 1867. The work previously undertaken in this Society by Mr. Newmarch, was effectively continued by Mr. John Martin, whose paper of February, 1884, turned out a remarkably close forecast of the numerical results of the assimilation of the county to the borough franchise carried out in the same year. Since that date there have been no general or welldefined demands for further extension. Such proposals, indeed, as have been made, partake rather of the nature of curtailment of the privilege. Questions of distribution and adjustment are necessarily outstanding, but as no general measure of enfranchisement has as yet entered the field of practical politics, Mr. Martin will not be required to trouble himself with a new forecast until there is imminent prospect of the removal of the barrier of sex, in

the case of those at present disqualified for that reason only. Then, indeed, his talents will again become necessary.

4. On these considerations, then, it is not necessary to discuss in the present paper the franchise question in connection with any action likely to be taken regarding a material accretion to the ranks of voters. This subject, indeed, was not included in the scheme of my analysis as first drafted. On second thoughts, however, it appeared to me advisable to preserve the continuity of the series of papers on the subject which has been begun. There is, moreover, a certain interest, as I have no special recommendations to offer or defects to point to in connection with the franchise system, in reviewing the results of the measure adopted since Mr. Martin gave us his anticipatory exposition. Before going further, therefore, I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Martin for the materials he collected, and which I have incorporated in the first table appended to this paper. I have done no more than add the figures for 1892, in order to bring the statistics up to date, and to make use of those of 1871, for which I have to thank Mr. Ellis, from whose paper of 1883 I borrowed them.

5. I will now call attention to the title of my paper, from which it will be seen that I propose to treat of the statistics of England alone, to the exclusion of the three other sections of the United Kingdom. For this selection there were several reasons which seemed to me to be sufficient. Apart from the fact that England contains considerably more than double the number of seats assigned to the whole of the rest collectively, and is in other respects the predominant partner of the concern, it is more uniformly and definitely distributed between the two main shades of political opinion. In Wales the distinction of nationality has of late years been prominent enough to justify (only in connection with our present subject, of course) separate treatment. Scotland, again, presents special factors of importance which are not found further south. Over Ireland I ask leave to draw, statistically speaking, a veil. The multiplication of rivals at different elections, the number of unopposed, as compared to contested, returns, the return of a few popular members for more than one constituency, and so on, place its election figures out of line with those of England. I could give other reasons, but perhaps, as in the case of the mayor quoted the other day by Lord Salisbury, one will suffice, and that is that England is the only division of the kingdom with the political conditions of which I am personally acquainted. From the standpoint of pure statistics, no doubt, this reason may not appear adequate, but I must explain that the laborious compilation of the returns and their reduction to

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