titled; or if the same ariseth out of personal estate or effects, let him state of what nature and where situate such personal estate or effects are, and what interest he hath in such personal estate or effects, and upon what securities and in whose names the same are vested] as hereunder set forth.'

"The said declaration shall be made before the returning officer at any election, or a commissioner for that purpose lawfully appointed, or any justice of the peace within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and the said returning officer, commissioner, or justice of the peace before whom the said declaration shall be made is hereby required to certify the making thereof, when the same shall have been made in England or Wales, unto the High Court of Chancery or to the Court of Queen's Bench in England, and when the same shall have been made in Ireland, unto the High Court of Chancery or to the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland, within three months after the making of the same, under the penalty of forfeiting the sum of one hundred pounds, to wit, one moiety thereof to the Queen, and the other moiety thereof to the use of such person or persons as will sue for the same, to be recovered, with full costs of suit, by action of debt or information, in any of Her Majesty's Courts of Record in Westminster or Dublin respectively.

"No fee or reward shall be taken for administering any such declaration, or making, receiving, or filing the certificate thereof, except one shilling for administering the declaration, and two shillings for making the certificate, and

two shillings for receiving and filing the same, to be paid by the person or persons requiring such declaration to be made, under the penalty of twenty pounds, to be recovered and divided as aforesaid."

These words, "reasonable request," were unsuccessfully argued, Dundalk case, 1848, to excuse a man at a distance from home until he should have time to return home and consult his legal advisers. Mr. McTavish made the declaration in London eight days after the request had been made in Dundalk, but the Committee unseated him.

If, after the request, the required declaration be not made within twenty-four hours, notice may be given of the fact, and all future votes given for that candidate will be thrown away. The seat may thus be claimed by the candidate who is in the minority on the poll.

Even if the declaration has been made, a notice may be given that the candidate making the declaration is not duly qualified. In one case, a candidate, fully believing the legality of his qualification, had taken the oath which was at that time equivalent to the present declaration, but his opponents, better informed, persisted with their notice of qualification. The Election Committee decided that the votes given after the notice were thrown away, and they seated the opposing candidate. The question was one of great legal nicety, and the voters could not possibly have known that it was safer to believe their opponent's notice than their candidate's oath. (See the Belfast case, Falconer and Fitzherbert's Election Cases, 601.)

But if the request is not made until the poll is

closed (or probably until a number are polled for the candidate in the majority greater than that the candidate in the minority ever attains) then the election is only void, and a new writ goes, for the electors, having had no notice, do not lose their votes.

Every prudent candidate, therefore, will have his declaration of qualification in his pocket when he appears upon the hustings.

Appointment of agent for expenses.-The "Corrupt Practices Prevention Act" contemplates that, on the nomination day, the candidate shall appoint his agent for election expenses. Sec. 31. enacts that "every candidate shall, before or at the nomination, or as soon after as conveniently may be, declare to the election auditor in writing the name or names of his agent or agents for election expenses, who shall be appointed in writing, and that he has not appointed and will not appoint any other agent without in like manner declaring the same to the election auditor, and no other than such agents shall have authority to expend any money or incur any expenses of or relating to the election, in the name or on the behalf of the candidate ; and such agents may pay any of the current expenses of the election necessary to be paid in ready money, provided that such agents shall make out, to the best of their ability, and render from time to time true and particular accounts to the election auditor of all such payments; and every such agent shall, as soon as conveniently may be after his appointment as aforesaid, make and sign the following declaration'I, A. B., being appointed an agent for elec

tion expenses by [X. Y.], a candidate at this election, do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare, that I have not knowingly made, authorized, or sanctioned, and that I will not knowingly make, authorize, or sanction, any payment on account of this election, otherwise than through the election auditor, save as excepted and allowed by the 'Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1854.""

On the nomination day the candidate's power of paying expenses either by himself or his agents ceases. Thenceforward the election auditor's duties come into operation.

"Sec. 25. Any candidate, and his agents by him appointed in writing, according to the provisions of this act, may, at any time before the day of nomination, pay any lawful and reasonable expenses in respect of the election which he or they shall bona fide believe fit and proper to be paid, in ready money, and the payment of which cannot conveniently be postponed; provided, that the candidate and his agents shall, upon or before the day of nomination, make out to the best of his ability, and deliver to the election auditor, a full, true, and particular account of all such payments, with the names of the persons to whom they have been made, signed by such candidate or his agents respectively, and no payment so made shall be a legal payment within this act unless such account thereof shall be duly rendered to the election auditor."

These election auditors receive a fee of ten guineas from each candidate, and a commission of two per cent. upon all payments audited. Seeing that under their supervision the expenses

of the contest for the Borough of Marybone amounted to 80221. 9s. 103d., it is not quite easy to recognise the efficiency of this machinery. The fact, however, should be borne in mind, that from the day of nomination inclusive neither the candidate nor his agents can make any payment except for his personal expenses and the expenses of advertising in newspapers. "Personal expenses" are, by the interpretation clause, explained to mean "the reasonable travelling expenses of the candidate, and the reasonable expenses of his living at hotels or elsewhere for the purposes of and in relation to such election."

Certain other matters connected with the nomination day may here be conveniently mentioned.

Soldiers.-Formerly it was necessary, under the provisions of the 8 Geo. II. c. 30., to remove all soldiers quartered or billetted in the place of election to the distance of two miles at least one day previously to the day of election. That act, however, has been repealed by the 10 and 11 Vic. c. 21., by which it is provided, "that on every day appointed for the nomination, election, or poll, no soldier within two miles of any city, borough, town, or place, where such nomination or election shall be declared or poll taken, shall be allowed to go out of the barrack or quarters in which he is stationed, unless for the purpose of mounting or relieving guard, or for giving his vote; and every soldier so going out shall return to his barrack or quarters with all convenient speed so soon as his guard shall have been relieved or vote tendered." Soldiers