8. To amend the Isolation Hospitals Act, 1893.

This Act provides for the transfer by any local authority which has provided a hospital for the reception of the sick to the Council of the County within which the hospital is situated, for use as an isolation hospital. Any hospital so transferred is to be appropriated to a district formed under the Isolation Hospitals Act, 1893. The power conferred on a County Council by section 21 of the principal Act, to contribute to the expenses of an Isolation Hospital, is to include the power to contribute to any hospital provided by a Local Authority within the meaning of the Public Health Act, 1875, for the reception of patients suffering from infectious disease. The Hospital Committee of any hospital district under the principal act may make and give effect to agreements for the use of any hospital, or for the reception into any hospital of the sick of their district, upon the payment of such sums, annual or otherwise, as may be agreed on. In the case of any contributory place the Rural District Council is to be the local authority to the exclusion of any other authority.

9. To regulate the Employment and Attendance of Children at School in Scotland.

10. To amend the Larceny Act, 1861. 11. For enabling local authorities to empower School Boards temporarily to carry on certain schools; and for sanctioning certain School Board expenses.

Where a School Board has at any time during the twelve months immediately preceding July 31, 1901, maintained out of the school fund any school or class to the maintenance of which the school fund is not lawfully applicable. the Council of the county or county borough within which the school, &c., is held, may empower the School Board to carry on for the period of one year from that day the work of the school or class to such extent or on such terms as may be agreed on, and to apply to the maintenance of the school, &c., such sum out of the school fund as the Council or local authority may sanction. Any expenses incurred by a School Board in respect of any such school, &c., before the said day which are sanctioned by the Local Government Board shall not be questioned in any Court.

12. To provide for raising money for the service of the year ending 31st March, 1902. 13. To continue the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, the Tithe Rentcharge (Rates) Act, 1899, the Agricultural Rates, Congested Districts, and Burgh Land Tax Relief (Scotland) Act, 1896, and the Local Taxation Account (Scotland) Act, 1898.

14. To amend the Law relating to the Militia and Yeomanry.

15. To enable His Most Gracious Majesty to make an Addition to the Royal Style and Titles in recognition of His Majesty's dominions beyond the seas.

16. For the acquisition of certain land, near the National Gallery in London, and for purposes connected therewith.

17. To amend the Law relating to Lunatics in Ireland.

18. To amend the Law with reference to International Arrangements for Patents.

19. To amend the Acts relating to Public Libraries, Museums, and Gymnasiums, and to regulate the Liability of Managers of Libraries to Proceedings for Libel.

20. To amend the Law relating to Youthful Offenders and for other purposes connected therewith.

This Act provides, that where a child or young person convicted of felony is discharged in accordance with sec. 16 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, or the Probation of First Offenders Act, 1887, or otherwise, or is punished with whipping only, the conviction is not to be regarded as a conviction of felony for the purposes of sec. 15 of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, or of any disqualification attaching to felony. Where there is reason to believe that the parent or guardian of a child charged with any offence has conduced to the commission of the alleged offence by wilful default or by habitually neglecting to exercise due care of him, the parent or guardian may be summoned on the charge of so contributing to the commission of the offence. Where a child is ordered to pay costs in addition to a fine the amount of such costs shall in no case exceed the amount of the fine, and a Court of Summary Jurisdiction on remanding or committing for trial any child may, instead of committing him to prison, remand or commit him into the custody of any fit person who is willing to take him to be detained for the period for which he has been remanded or until he is delivered by due course of law. Any borough, or county council, or school board may defray the whole or part of the expenses of the maintenance of children in custody. The power to commit children to industrial schools is extended to courts of assize or quarter sessions. When a Court of Summary Jurisdiction makes an order for a child to be sent to a certified reformatory or industrial school, the Court may make at the same time such order for the maintenance of the child, or his parent or guardian, as may be made by justices or a magistrate under secs. 25, 26 of the Reformatory Acts, 1866, or under sec. 40 of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, or under any local act relating to reformatory or industrial schools. A County Council which has contributed to the support of a child in such schools may contribute to the ultimate disposal of the child. In Scotland, in addition to any other registers required by law, a separate register of convicted youthful offenders must be kept for every summary court by the person charged with the duty of keeping registers of convictions. With certain modifications the Act applies to Scotland and Ireland.

21. To apply a sum out of the Consolidated Fund to the service of the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1902, and to appropriate the Supplies granted in this Session of Parliament.

22. To consolidate with Amendments the Factory and Workshops Acts.

This Act is divided into 10 parts. Part I., which deals with health and safety, provides for the sanitary condition of every factory except a domestic factory. A factory or workshop shall be deemed to be so overcrowded as to be injurious to the health of the employees if the number of cubic feet of space in any room bears to the number of persons employed at one time in the room a proportion less than 250, or, during any period of overtime, 400 cubic feet of space to every person, but the Secretary of State may by special order substitute higher figures for any period during which artificial light other than

E

In textile

electric light is employed for illuminating purposes. Provision must be made for adequate ventilation, sanitary conveniences, and reasonable temperature, for the fencing of machinery, periodical examination of boilers, and means of escape in case of fire; no child is to clean any machinery when in motion. Notice of accident causing death or bodily injury must be sent forthwith to the inspector for the district. Part II., which deals with employment, places restrictions on the period of employment of women, young persons, and children. factories their period of employment, except on Saturday, shall either be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; on Saturday either from 6 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., if not less than one hour is allowed for meals, or from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.; if less than one hour is allowed for meals, then from 6 a.m. to noon. Children must not be employed except on the system either of employment in morning or afternoon sets, or of employment on alternate days only. In non-textile factories the period of employment may be from 6 to 6, 7 to 7, or 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Special provisions are made as to employment in women's workshops, and meal times are to be simultaneous, employment during meal times being forbidden; special exceptions are made in certain cases as to the employment of male young persons in lace factories, bakehouses, and certain textile factories, and women, young persons, and children shall not be employed on Sunday in a factory or workshop. Part III. provides for the attendance at school of children employed in a factory or workshop, for the obtaining of a school attendance certificate by the occupier of the factory, &c., and for the payment by the occupier of a sum for schooling. Part IV. deals with dangerous and unhealthy industries. Every medical practitioner attending on or called in to visit a patient whom he believes to be suffering from lead, phosphorus, arsenical or mercurial poisoning, or anthrax contracted in any factory, &c., must at once notify the case to the Chief Inspector of Factories, Home Office. Suitable ventilation by fan must be provided where any process is carried on by which dust, or dry vapour, or impurity is generated and inhaled by the workers; where any poisonous substance is used suitable washing conveniences must be provided and no meals may be taken in any room in which such poisonous substance is used. Where mercurial processes are used or white lead is made or glass melted or annealed, or in any dry grinding in the metal trade or the dipping of lucifer matches, a child must not be employed. The Secretary of State is empowered to make regulations for the safety of persons employed in dangerous trades. Part V. deals with tenement factories, cottoncloth and other humid factories, bakehouses, laundries, docks, buildings, and railways. The owner of a tenement factory, instead of the occupier, is liable for the observance, and punishable for non-observance, of the provisions of the Act with respect to cleanliness, the fencing of machinery, the notices to be affixed in a factory with respect to the period of employment, &c., and the prevention of the inhalation of impurities.

No place shall be occupied as a bakehouse unless the following regulations are complied with :-A water-closet, &c., or

ashpit must not be within or communicate directly with the bakehouse; every cistern for supplying water to the bakehouse must be distinct from any cistern supplying water to a water-closet; a drain or pipe for carry. ing off sewage matter must not have an opening within the bakehouse. In every laundry carried on for gain the period of employment, exclusive of meal hours and absence from work, shall not exceed, for women 14 hours, for young persons 12, and for children 10 hours in any consecutive 24 hours; nor a total for women and young persons of 60 hours, and for children of 30 hours in any one week, in addition to such overtime as may be allowed in the case of women! Part VI., which deals with home work, provides that a list of out-workers shall be kept; making wearing apparel where there is scarlet-fever or small-pox renders the occupier liable to a fine not exceeding £10, and home work is prohibited in places where there is infectious disease. Part VII. deals with particulars of work and wages; in every textile factory the occupier must, for the purpose of enabling each worker who is paid by the piece to compute the total amount of wages due to him, cause to be published particulars of the rate of wages applicable to the work to be done, and also particulars of the work to which that rate is to be applied. Part VIII., which deals with administration, makes provision for the appointment and duties of inspectors, and fixes their powers, also for the appointment and duties of certifying surgeons; for the purpose of their duties with respect to workplaces under the Act and under the law relating to public health, the District Council is to have all the powers of an inspector. Part IX. deals with legal proceedings, and fixes the fines for contravention of the Act. Occupiers of factories or workshops not kept in conformity with the Act are liable to a fine not exceeding £10, and in case of a subsequent conviction for the same offence within two years from the last conviction, not less than 1 for each offence; in case of death or injury through neglect to observe any provision of the Act to a fine of £100, and in case of a subsequent conviction, &c., not less than £1 for each offence; for the employment of persons contrary to the Act, to a fine not exceeding £3, or, if the offence was committed during the night, £5 for each person so employed. The parent of a young person or child employed contrary to the provisions of the Act is liable to a fine not exceeding 1 for each offence, unless it appears that the offence was committed without the consent or wilful default of the parent. Where an offence for which the occupier of a factory or workshop is liable to a fine has been committed by some agent, servant, workman, or other person, such agent, &c., shall be liable to the fine. Part X. deals with definitions and the application of the Act, which comes into operation on Jan. 1, 1902. The Factory and Workshop Acts of 1878 and 1883 are repealed, also all the Act of 1891 (excepting secs. 8, 9, 10, 12, and the 1st schedule), the Act of 1895 (excepting sec. 12, sub-sec. 3 of sec. 24, and sec. 28), the Cotton Cloth Factories Acts of 1889 and 1897; and in sub-sec. 3 of sec. 13 of the Railway Employment (Prevention of Accidents) Act, 1900, the words "factory workshop or," wherever they occur, and the words "the occupier of the factory or workshop or."

23. For legalizing marriages heretofore solemnised in certain churches and places. 24. To amend the Law in regard to the Sewerage and Drainage and Water Supply of Burghs in Scotland.

25. To enable the Secretary of State in Council of India to raise Money in the United Kingdom for the purpose of paying off or redeeming Debentures of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company.

26. To amend the Law with respect to Districts for registration purposes and the appointment of Superintendent Registrars of Births and Deaths in certain Unions.

27. To prevent the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors to Children.

The Act of 1886 is repealed. Every holder of a licence who knowingly sells or delivers, or allows any one to sell, &c., save at the residence or working-place of the purchaser, any intoxicating liquor to any one under the age of 14 years, excepting intoxicating liquors in corked and sealed vessels in quantities not less than one reputed pint for consumption off the premises only, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £2 for the first offence and not exceeding £5 for any subsequent offence. Every person who knowingly sends any one under 14 years of age to a place where intoxicating liquors are sold or delivered or distributed, for the purpose of obtaining intoxicating liquor, excepting as aforesaid, is hable to the same penalties. Nothing in the Act is to prevent messengers of licensees from delivering intoxicating liquors. The Act comes into operation on Jan. 1, 1902.

28. To amend sections 54, 56, 57, and 71 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, and to make provision with respect to the making of rates in certain urban districts in Ireland. 29. To confirm certain Acts of Coloniai Legislatures.

30. To extend the purchase of Land (Ireland) Amendment Act, 1889.

31. To provide for the Construction and Working of a Submarine Cable from the Island of Vancouver to New Zealand and to Queensland.

32. To amend the Law with respect to Customs Duties in the Isle of Man.

33. To continue various Expiring Laws. 34. To amend the congested Districts Board (Ireland) Acts.

35. To grant money for the purpose of certain Local Loans out of the Local Loans Fund, and for other purposes relating to Local Loans.

36. To provide for the Payment of another of the Light Railway Commissioners.

37. To make provision with respect to Valuation Lists and Rates in cases of a revaluation under Section 65 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898.

38. To amend the Steam Trawling (Ireland) Act, 1889.

39. To make further provision for the Construction of Works in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for the purpose of the Royal Navy. 40. To make further provision for Defraying the Expenses of certain Military Works and other Military Services.

(1.) The TOTAL NUMBER OF ELECTORS in the United Kingdom is shown below to be 6,822,585. There being 670 representatives in the House of Commons, the AVERAGE NUMBER OF ELECTORS PER SEAT is 10,183.

Yet one member (Newry) represents 1848 electors.

And another (Romford) represents 33,558 electors.

(3.) Divide the total electorate into two nearly equal parts, thus: 3,417,513 and 3,405,072. 3,417,513 are represented by 239 members. 3,405,072 are represented by 431 members. One part has 192 more representatives than the other!!

(4.) There are 7 constituencies with over 20,000 electors, and 69 with over 15,000; the representatives of these are elected by an average of 17,341 per seat, and there are 48 constituencies with less than 5,000 electors each, whose representatives are elected by an average of 3581 per seat.

INEQUALITY OF WEIGHTS!

1848 equals 33,558.

In all Divisions of the House the 1848 electors have equal power with the 33,558!!

(2.) See how unequally the voting power is given to the different countries.

No. of Represen

tatives.

INEQUALITY OF VOTES!!
1 equal to 5.

In all Divisions of the House 1 of the former has equal power with 5 of the latter !!

(5.) In the present House:

402 Conservatives and Unionists represent 4,237,548 electors, or 10,541 per seat. 108 Radicals and Liberals represent 2,013,192 electors, or 10,823 per seat. 82 Irish Nationalists represent 571,845 electors, or 6973 per seat.

No. of Electors.

Average

per member.

COUNTIES.

Persons entitled to the Franchise in Counties

are:

Freeholders, also persons seised of a freehold estate for life, of the annual value of 40s., who actually occupy, or were seised on June 7, 1832, or acquired their estate after that date by marriage, settlement, devise or promotion to a benefice or office; persons seised for life in copyhold lands of the clear annual value of £5.

Leaseholders of an original term of not less than 60 years of the value of £5 per annum ; or of a term of not less than 20 years of the annual value of £50.

Occupiers, as owners or tenants, for 12 months preceding July 15 in any year of land or tenement of 10 clear yearly value.

Dwelling-houses.-The inhabitant householder (owner or tenant) for 12 months preceding July 15 in any year of any dwelling-house; including also the service occupation of any man who inhabits a dwelling-house by virtue of any office, service, or employment, provided that the person under whom he serves does not inhabit the house.

Lodgers.-Inhabitant occupiers, as above, of lodgings furnished or unfurnished in the same house of the clear yearly value of £10 or upwards.

BOROUGHS.

Persons entitled to the Franchise in Boroughs

are:

Occupiers (owners or tenants) for 12 months, as above, of any land or tenement within the borough of 10 clear yearly value, provided the voter has resided within the borough or 7 miles thereof (City of London 25 miles) for the 6 months preceding July 15.

Householders.-The inhabitant householder for 12 months, as above, of any dwelling-house within the borough. Service occupation is also included as in the County franchise. In neither case does absence on duty for not more than 4 months disqualify.

Lodgers.-Inhabitant occupiers, as above, of lodgings furnished or unfurnished of the clear yearly value of £10 or upwards.

Freemen, etc.-Persons possessing rights under the Reform Act of 1832, including freeholders and burgage tenants in cities and towns which are counties of themselves, and freemen and burgesses by servitude (except in London), and freemen and liverymen in the City of London.

COUNTY COUNCIL.

The electors (male or female) must be of full age, not subject to any legal incapacity, and must not, within the 12 months preceding the 15th July before the election, have received parochial, other than medical, relief. They must also, during the same period, have been in occupation, joint or several, of a house, shop, or other building in the parish, or have been an occupier, as owner or tenant, of some land or tenement in the parish of the clear yearly value of £10. Non-resident owners, lodgers, and service occupiers are now entitled to vote both for county and borough councils. Electors must have resided in the county or within 7 miles thereof (in the case of London, 15 miles) for 12 months prior to July 15th (or, in the case of the £10 qualification, 6 months). The elector or someone else must, during the 12 months, have been rated in respect of the qualifying property to all

poor rates, and all rates due down to the preceding Jan. 5th must have been paid on or before July 20th.

PARISH COUNCIL.

The persons qualified to vote at a parish meeting as parochial electors are the persons registered in such portion either of the Local Government register of electors or of the Parliamentary register of electors, as relates to the parish. Women, whether married or single, are not disqualified from being electors.

RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL.

The Councillors are elected by the parochial electors of the parishes or areas which elect Guardians, and the persons who are elected as District Councillors for the parish are the representatives of the parish on the Board of Guardians.

URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.

The parochial electors of the parishes in the districts are the electors of the councillors of the district, and, if the district is divided into wards, the electors of the councillors for each ward are such of the parochial electors as are registered in respect of qualifications within the ward.

SCHOOL BOARD.

The persons qualified to vote are-in a borough -those whose names are on the burgess roll of such borough, and--in a parish not situate in the metropolis-the ratepayers. The members of the School Board in the City of London are elected by the same persons and in like manner as common councilmen are elected, and in the other divisions of the metropolis by the same persons and in the same manner as vestrymen under the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the Acts amending the same.

N.B.-Ratepayers are responsible for seeing that their names are entered in the Rate-book as ratepayers one month before the date of any School Board Election.

BRIBERY.

It is bribery to give, lend, or promise money or valuable consideration in order to induce an elector to vote or abstain from voting for a particular candidate. The consequences are the same whether the payment is made directly or indirectly, and whether before, during, or after an election.

It is bribery to give, offer, or promise any employment to or for a voter, or anyone connected with him, with the same object. [No persons must be employed for payment at an election except by the election agent, who is strictly limited in the numbers he may engage.].

Any person who gives money to be spent in bribery, or who repays it afterwards, is guilty of a corrupt practice.

It is bribery to make a gift or promise to any third person in order to secure an elector's vote. It is bribery to pay the day's wages of any voter, or to give him money for railway fare, loss of time, &c.

An employer may give his workmen or servants reasonable leave of absence (without deduction of pay) for the purpose of voting, on condition that all voters in his employment are treated alike.

The elector who receives a bribe for his vote, or who bargains for a promise of employment or reward of any kind, is equally guilty of bribery, whether it is done before or after the election.