ers--some 525,000--is relatively
small, but when it is remembered that a single voter may cast during a
parliamentary election as many as fifteen or twenty votes it will be
observed that the number quite suffices to turn the scale in many
closely contested constituencies. An overwhelming proportion of the
plural voters are identified with the Conservative party, whence it
arises that the Liberals are, and long have been, hostile to the
privilege. Following the Liberal triumph at the elections of 1906 (p. 090)
a Plural Voting Bill was introduced requiring that every elector
possessed of more than one vote should be registered in the
constituency of his choice and in no other one. The measure passed the
Commons, by a vote of 333 to 104, but the Conservative majority in the
Lords compassed its defeat, alleging that while it was willing to
consider a complete scheme of electoral reform the proposed bill was
not of such character.[126]

[Footnote 126: May and Holland, Constitutional
History of England, III., 48-49. It may be noted
that an able royal commission, appointed in
December, 1908, to study foreign electoral systems
and to recommend modifications of the English
system, reported in 1910 adversely to the early
adoption of any form of proportional
representation.]

*94. The Franchise Bill of 1912.*--Soon after the final enactment, in
August, 1911, of the Parliament Bill whereby the complete ascendancy
of the Commons was secured in both finance and legislation[127] the
Liberal government of Mr. Asquith made known its intention to bring
forward at an early date a comprehensive measure of franchise reform.
During the winter of 1911-1912 the project was formulated, and in the
early summer of 1912 the bill was introduced. The adoption of the
measure in its essentials is not improbable, although at the date of
writing[128] it is by no means assured. In the main, the bill makes
provision for three reforms. In the first place, it substitutes for
the present complicated and illogical network of suffrages a simple
residential or occupational qualification, thereby extending the
voting privilege to practically all adult males. In the second place,
it simplifies the process of registration and, in effect, enfranchises
large numbers of men who in the past have been unable to vote