View report page

20
der the Metropolis Management Acts, for the District of Wandsworth,
which comprises the parishes of Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting
Graveney, and Wandsworth, having an area of over fourteen-and-a-half
square miles, a population of about 202,000, and a rateable value of
£1,311,416.
2.—That the Precepts of the School Board for London for the
Wandsworth District are served upon your Petitioners, and the amounts
of such Precepts raised by your Petitioners and paid by them into the
School Board Fund.
3.—That a Bill (hereinafter referred to as "the Bill") has been introduced
into your Honourable House, intituled "A Bill to alter the
"Divisions of London for the Election of the School Board and thereby
"abolish the Cumulative Vote."
4.—That the fourth clause of the Bill provides that for the purpose
of the next triennial election of Members and of all subsequent elections
of Members of the School Board for London every undivided
Parliamentary Borough in the Metropolis, and every division of every
divided Parliamentary Borough in the Metropolis, shall be a Division
entitled to return one Member of the School Board for London, except
that the City of London shall be entitled to return two Members.
5.—Your Petitioners are of opinion that many of the existing
School Board Electoral Divisions are too large; and this is especially the
case with regard to the West Lambeth Division, of which your Petitioners'
District forms part. Such extensive areas for electoral purposes are
in all respects disadvantageous, inasmuch as Members are not so accessible
nor so well known to their constituents, and it is difficult for them
to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the requirements of
their District. The expense of contesting these large constituencies also
throws a heavy and unnecessary burden upon candidates.
6.—Your Petitioners are further of opinion that the cumulative
system of voting now in force at the School Board Elections ought to
be abolished, as it results in the election of candidates who obtain the
support of fewer voters than some of the unsuccessful candidates
obtain.
7.—The provisions of the Bill, if carried into effect, will to some
extent remedy the above mentioned defects of the law which now regulates
the election of Members of the School Board for London, but
they will not meet the justice of the case so far as regards your Petitioners'
District.
8.—-The Parliamentary Borough of Wandsworth comprises that
part of your Petitioners' District which consists of the parishes of