the Poor Law is a branch of local administration which has a sinister history behind it, and which demands special qualifications and capabilities from those who undertake it. It becomes essential to inquire whether its administrators possess these qualifications, and whether the electorate itself is becoming better qualified to judge as to those who will serve it best.
The method adopted has been as follows. Information has been collected from all parts of London with regard to the election in question, including statistics as to the polls in each union, election addresses of candidates, local newspapers, and other contemporary expressions of opinion. The information is not absolutely complete, because in some cases it was found impossible to obtain the particulars asked for, even within a short time of the election, which is rather a significant sign of the ephemeral nature of the interest awakened. However, a large amount of matter has, through the kindness of various correspondents, been brought together, and it is hoped that it may be considered of sufficient importance to establish the necessity of further inquiry upon some of the points indicated.
First of all, with regard to the polls, statistics were obtained as to the number of wards in each union contested or uncontested. When there were contests figures were asked for as to the number of voters upon the register and as to the number of those who actually voted. A detailed table of the results will be found at the end of this article, but the following is a summary.
Information was furnished from twenty-seven out of thirty-one unions. In these twenty-seven unions there were in all 236 wards. Of these 122 were polled; 115, or nearly half, remained unpolled. In two of the twenty-seven unions there were no contests; in three, though there were contests, it proved
