7. Returning Officer's Expenses.—These expenses have really nothing to do with the preventible expenditure at elections, but affect merely its incidence. The question involved is whether the candidate shall continue to bear the heavy expenses, which are forced upon him by the State, and are in no way voluntary on his part; or whether the State, having elaborated a costly machinery of election, should not itself bear the burden. It seems to be generally allowed that the transference of the "official expenses" to the rates or taxes would be fair and advantageous; but the question is complicated by the necessity which would arise, if all compulsory expenditure at elections were abolished, of devising some simple and efficacious means whereby any unseemly multiplication of unworthy candidatures would be prevented. Probably,—in default of second ballots, such as they have in France, and elsewhere, and which we may hope some time or other to see introduced into England,—a scheme such as the following would be workable, and also satisfactory: That each candidate should be obliged, as at present, to deposit or give security for a certain sum to the Returning Officer,—which sum should be the same in every case,—to be refunded in its entirety after the election, if he had polled say a third or a quarter of the total number of electors. If he failed to poll as great a proportion as that, the deposit would, be forfeited, and would go to the relief of the rates or taxes charged with the official expenses.
8. Before turning to the question of direct bribery, I would add a word of regret at the omission from the Bill of all reference to a very important subject, namely, the advisability of prohibiting all Systematic Canvassing at elections, volunteer as well as paid, and that also on the part of the candidate. Canvassing at elections is a fruitful source of extravagance, bribery, intimidation, undue influence, perjury, etc., and utterly useless as an educating power. That canvassing could without much difficulty be defined and prohibited, I do not think it would be hard to show; and I am convinced that no legislation respecting corrupt practices can be final which does not provide for its total prohibition.
II. We now come to the second part of the subject—the Prevention of Direct Bribery.
